Tag Archives: Communication Workers of America

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Sign our Petition: Brooklyn NOT Busters!


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Dear TBI Friend and Supporter,

Over a year ago technicians at a Brooklyn Cablevision location overwhelmingly voted to join the Communications Workers of America, but they are still waiting for a fair contract. Why? Cablevision CEO James Dolan and his company have refused to bargain in good faith.

Not only does Dolan control one of the largest cable companies in New York City, he also owns the largest arena in Manhattan – Madison Square Garden. The NBA has announced that the 2015 All-Star game will be held in New York, either at Madison Square Garden or the Brooklyn-based Barclays Center.

We need your help: the NBA shouldn’t reward a union-buster with an event like the All-Star Game. Sign this petition to urge the NBA to hold the game at Barclays Center, not Dolan-owned Madison Square Garden.

As part of their anti-union campaign, Dolan and Cablevision gave everyone at the company a raise except the Brooklyn technicians. Later, Cablevision fired 22 workers who attempted to use the company’s open door policy to discuss the stalled contract negotiations. He refuses to pay these technicians fairly for their work, but last year he paid himself $11.45 million – nearly as much as all the Brooklyn techs combined.

Please step up and help us make sure James Dolan and his union-busting company do not get rewarded for their behavior.

Sign the petition here.

Bertha Lewis President & Founder The Black Institute http://www.theblackinstitute.org/

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They locked us out and fired us


 Below is an email from La’kesia Johnson, a Cablevision technician who worked with the Communication Workers of America to create a petition on SignOn.org, the nonprofit site that allows anyone to start their own online petition. If you have concerns or feedback about this petition, click here.

Dear MoveOn member,

I got fired just for speaking my mind about my working conditions. That’s not just wrong, it’s illegal.

I’ve worked as a Cablevision/Optimum technician for more than 6 years. A year ago, my coworkers and I voted to form a union, so we could have a voice on the job. But a year has come and gone, and Cablevision/Optimum management hasn’t negotiated in good faith for a contract.

Along with my co-workers, I asked to talk to my managers. They say they have an “open door” policy, but when we wanted to talk, they said they were too busy. Then they fired 22 of us, telling us we were “permanently replaced”.

They locked us out and fired us for speaking out about working conditions. That’s illegal and just plain wrong.

I’m without my paycheck just as my rent is going up. I have two children, Alexis and Rayshawn, one of whom has had serious medical care needs which has left us with a stack of bills. Meanwhile, Cablevision’s CEO, James Dolan, made $11.5 million last year alone.

That’s why I created a petition on SignOn.org to James Dolan, the CEO of Cablevision/Optimum, which says:

I urge Cablevision/Optimum to reinstate all 22 of the workers they illegally fired and locked out on January 30 and to bargain with the union in good faith.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–La’kesia Johnson

This petition was created on SignOn.org, the progressive, nonprofit petition site. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn Civic Action, which is not responsible for the contents of this or other petitions posted on the site. La’kesia and the Communication Workers of America didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

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Working Families Defeat Two Walker Republicans …support Unions


Photo credit: Unity@Verizon   

The strike by some 45,000 Verizon workers, members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Electrical Workers (IBEW), continued into its third day today as workers across the country offer support to the strikers, whose struggle reflects the situation for millions of workers.

Rather than reward the hard work of Verizon employees who have provided the quality service that earned the company more than $32.5 billion in revenue over the past three years, management continues to insist on cuts that total $1 billion. These workers have played by the rules—and now Verizon wants to break them.

Verizon’s concession demands would strip away the standard of living workers have gained through bargaining over the past 50 years, workers say.

 

It is all too common for workers to face the prospect of losing benefits even though you have worked hard and valued your work, IBEW President Edwin Hill says:

This is a company with a $100 billion dividend. The top five company executives were paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars over the past four years. If a company like this is not willing to provide wages and benefits to enable its workers to be part of the mainstream middle class in America, then all who work for a living have reason to fear.

Click here to demand that Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam value employees’ work and share his corporation’s success with those who make it possible. Click here for a list of picket sites in the New York and New Jersey area.

You also can click here to sign and tweet an act.ly petition demanding Verizon drop its outrageous concessionary demands.

To tweet about the strike, use the hashtag #verizonstrike and feel free to direct to @VZLaborfacts.

The company also paid nothing (that’s ZERO) in corporate income taxes. In fact, it actually received nearly $1 billion in tax benefits from the federal government during that time, according to the Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

In fact, if Verizon had paid its corporate income tax at the official rate of 35 percent, it would have owed more than $11 billion, according to CTJ. This alone would have been enough to avoid the recent cuts in the debt deal to student loan programs.

Read updates on the strike at www.cwa-union.org/verizon.

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Verizon strike … Jess Kutch, Change.org

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Verizon made billions in profits in just the last four years — but right now, the telecom giant is demanding $1 billion from its own workers in pay and benefit cuts.

Worse, rather than negotiate fairly with their employees, Verizon representatives cut off all negotiations and are refusing to talk.

So more than 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike demanding that Verizon stop its attack on the middle class. If Verizon sees the public and its customers behind the striking workers, the company can be forced back into good faith negotiations.

 Sign the Change.org petition by the Communications Workers of America asking Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam to restart negotiations and stop Verizon’s attack on the middle class.>>   http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-verizon-stop-attacking-the-middle-class?

If $1 billion in cuts is hard to grasp, consider this: Verizon is demanding each of its employees forfeit $20,000 in wages and benefits every year.

Verizon’s executives aren’t forced into outrageous cuts with their workers. In the last four years, Verizon’s top five executives were paid more than a quarter-billion dollars.

While Verizon makes record profits, its workers shouldn’t be made to suffer. Let Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam know you stand with workers against the company’s refusal to bargain. Click here to add your name to the workers’ petition on Change.org:

www.change.org

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Jess and the Change.org team