July Monthly Meeting

The July executive board and membership meetings have been moved from Tuesday, July 3rd to Thursday, July 12th to allow our members to enjoy the holiday with our families.


CWA Political Action Fund

Right now we are in the process of fundraising for the CWA Political Action Fund. This is a voluntary fund which does not affect membership status in any way, and any funds contributed to it will be used for political purposes, on a local, statewide and national level.

This is an important election year, and now is the time to begin contributing if you are not already doing so. Right now, we are able to offer pens with integrated 2GB USB Flash Drives to all members who can either begin contributing a minimum of $2/wk ($4 per pay period) when you sign up). Existing contributors are eligible for the same reward by increasing their contribution by at least $1/wk ($2/pay period) as well. For new contributors who are only able to commit to $1/wk ($2/pay period) we will still be able to reward you with a handsome CWA tumbler through the mail.

It is vital that all members who are able to participate do so. As many of you know, our rights to organize and collectively bargain have come under direct, aggressive attacks. These attacks are aimed directly at all of us; at our families. This affects each and every one of us right now, and if we do not stand united, it will have lasting effects for generations to come.

Please commit to giving two dollars a week, more if you are able, to helping to protect everything we’ve worked so hard to secure. This is for all of us, our children, and our grandchildren.

We will have the contribution forms available through stewards ASAP, or if you would like to have one brought to you at work or home, you may call or text Curtis at 806-786-5192.

Thanks for helping out!


CORE Mobilization

Over the coming days and weeks, we will be reaching out to our CORE employees to verify contact information. Newer employees may be presented with a contact information sheet to fill out and return while employees who have been with the company for several years will likely be contacted via telephone to confirm current information.

We are in extremely early stages of organizing and information gathering, and will have more information available as time progresses. While we are still many months away from contract negotiations, we would like to make sure that we are prepared to fight for the contract you deserve.

Many of our members will have experience with mobilization surrounding contract negotiations, but for those of you who do not, the contact information we are updating is simply a way to get up to date information dispersed to our members in a timely, efficient manner. Our Local mobilization coordinator will pass updates and information on to worksite mobilization coordinators such as chief stewards, who will pass the information forward to group coordinators, who will pass information forward to their assigned group of employees.

This means that everyone will have someone to look to for up to date, accurate information, not rumors and hearsay.

Additionally, when there are mobilization activities, this will be the structure used to help mobilize the members of our local. Mobilization activities include things like wearing red on Thursdays (we encourage members to do this every Thursday!) and the 10-2-4 standups to informational pickets, and if called for, strikes.


Block Walking for Delwin Jones

On Saturday, 5/12/2012 we will be meeting at the United Supermarket at 50th and Avenue Q in the east side parking lot. We need volunteers to spend a few hours block walking in support of Delwin Jones. Volunteers will be hanging flyers on doors and speaking briefly with interested residents in support of this candidate.

Delwin Jones is a longtime supporter of labor concerns, who is seeking to win back his former seat in the Texas Legislature. This seat is currently held by Tea Party member Charles Perry.

If you can help out please call the event organizer, Mike Torres. Mike is a member of the Texas State Employees Union and Lubbock Central Labor Council. He can be reached at 632-7690. It is important that we get as many of our members as possible involved in this movement and remember — the more volunteers, the quicker the walk will go.

If you have any questions, please contact Mike Torres at 632-7690.


Continuing Education Opportunity

There will be an Education Meeting on Friday, 5/4/2012 at 6:30 PM at the Union Hall. Applied Professional Training will be presenting information on some 5 week, 2 day per week classes which it will be offering. These classes are technology classes which will allow students to work towards an associates degree. The cost of the classes is covered by your education benefit with AT&T.

Food will be provided at this meeting, so if interested please RSVP to David Patton at 806-793-6203 or local@cwa6203.org ASAP.


MAY EXECUTIVE BOARD & MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS

Please remember that the Executive Board & Membership Meetings will be held on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at the following times.

Executive Board Meeting 5:30pm

Membership Meeting 6:30pm

We look forward to seeing you there and providing updates.


T-Mobile Call Centers

Last week we asked our members to join with the CWA International organization in sending a message to T-Mobile — don’t close seven US call centers and “offshore” 3,300 American jobs.

The AFL-CIO is asking us to make our voices heard again. If you didn’t act last week, this is a second chance to do so. If you did, why not put your name to both petitions and remind T-Mobile that there’s never a right time to close US Call Centers. You can sign the new petition here.


AT&T To Sell Its Yellow Pages Business Units

AT&T is announcing that in a deal expected to be finalized later this year, AT&T is selling 53% of its Yellow Pages related business units, including YP.com to Cerberus Capital Management. A new, independent company to be called YP Holdings LLC will be formed to manage these business units.

This announcements affects 8,400 current AT&T Employees. AT&T has stated that as a condition of the sale, will recognize The Union and accept the applicable labor contracts for affected members.


AT&T Core Bargaining Committee Elected

Your AT&T Bargaining Committee for the upcoming District 6 contract negotiations was elected during the District 6 Conference in Forth Worth, Texas. The six members of your committee are:

  1. Glynne Stanley of Tyler, TX

    Glynne has over 30 years of service in Outside Craft and has served on multiple bargaining committees in the past. Glynne has also served multiple terms as CWA Local 6214 President in Tyler, TX. Glynne is the only member of the previous bargaining committee who was elected to this committee.

  2. Jason Peavler of Austin, TX

    Jason is a Vice President of CWA Local 6132 in Austin, TX, and has served multiple terms as an officer in multiple roles for his Local. He works as a Splicer for the Company, and has over 11 years of service.

  3. James Henney of Houston, TX

    James is a Vice President of CWA Local 6222 in Houston, TX as well as a member of that Local’s Women’s Committee.

  4. Chad Barnhill of Tulsa, OK

    Chad is the President of CWA Local 6012 in Tulsa, OK. He has 15 years of service as a Splicer for The Company.

  5. Josh Kiser of St. Louis, MO

    Josh is a Premise Tech and member of CWA Local 6300 in St. Louis, MO. He comes highly recommended by Mike Mehringer, the well-respected President of CWA Local 6300.

  6. Gerald Murray of Little Rock, AR

    Gerald Murray is the President of CWA Local 6507 in Little Rock, AR and a service rep for the Company.

Our Local President, David Patton knows most of this bargaining committee personally and feels that we will be very well served by this new, vibrant committee. As we prepare for bargaining here in District 6, we are keeping a close eye on the negotiations currently happening in Districts 1, 4, 9 and Legacy AT&T; it’s clear that AT&T intends to attack workers hard-earned gains on several fronts.


Ratification Payment and Wage Adjustment : CORRECTION

The $1000 ratification bonus will be on the 4/20 paycheck.

However, due to the work involved with changing the payscale to a 13 step scale, step raises and backpay for those raises (from 2/25 on) will not appear until the 6/1 paycheck.

Additionally, the changes to Article 21, section 6 (sick time) will be implemented on 4/29.