(Click Here) for the numbers per state.

(click here for more)

(Click Here) for the numbers per . . . → Read More: AT$T Announces another surplus]]> AT$T has declared a 2nd Quarter surplus.  46 of our co-workers in North Carolina impacted.

(Click Here) for the numbers per state.

CWA members in Washington, D.C. (left), and Puerto Rico (bottom of full page), were among huge crowds that rallied in cities nationwide in support of workers in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states where their collective bargaining and other rights are threatened.

What began in Wisconsin and Ohio is spreading . . . → Read More: Protests Sweep Nation; Poll Shows Americans Support Public Unions]]> Feb 25, 2011

CWA members in Washington, D.C. (left), and Puerto Rico (bottom of full page), were among huge crowds that rallied in cities nationwide in support of workers in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states where their collective bargaining and other rights are threatened.

What began in Wisconsin and Ohio is spreading like wildfire across the United States, with huge pro-worker rallies in cities nationwide and a new poll showing Americans strongly support collective bargaining rights for public employees.

The USA Today/Gallup poll, released Tuesday, showed that 61 percent of respondents would oppose a bill in their state like the one being pushed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to kill public sector collective bargaining.

From New York to Alaska, Washington state, California, Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina, Massachusetts and other states as well as Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of Americans are demonstrating in support of the Midwest’s embattled workers. Thousands of others are standing up against their own state lawmakers’ attempts to kill workers’ rights.

In Washington, D.C., CWA members were among more than 1,000 activists who rallied Wednesday in front of the Capitol Hill offices for Walker’s lobbyists. Walker set off the firestorm of protests two weeks ago when he announced his intent to end public employee bargaining and threatened to use the National Guard if workers demonstrated or went on strike.

In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and other public officials boldly rallied with a crowd supporting Wisconsin’s workers. Dayton said he would stop any so-called "right-to-work" legislation and other anti-union measures. "There’s no justification for drastic action in Minnesota," he said. "We will not let Minnesota become Wisconsin."

As the protests grew this week, even some Republican governors distanced themselves from Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and others trying to repeal collective bargaining for public workers. A spokesman for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said the state would conduct public sector contract talks "in good faith." Tea Party-backed Gov. Rick Scott in Florida said, "My belief is as long as people know what they’re doing, collective bargaining is fine."

Click here for a full and frequently updated list of workers’ rights rallies and other events around the country. The four stories that follow update events this week in New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana.

View the original article here

The National Labor Relations Board is threatening lawsuits against four states for violating federal law and the U.S. Constitution in their attempts to restrict the rights of workers to organize unions.

At issue are state constitutional amendments that voters in Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah approved Nov. 2, acting . . . → Read More: NLRB Warns States Not to Restrict Workers’ Organizing Rights]]> Jan 20, 2011

The National Labor Relations Board is threatening lawsuits against four states for violating federal law and the U.S. Constitution in their attempts to restrict the rights of workers to organize unions.

At issue are state constitutional amendments that voters in Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah approved Nov. 2, acting on misinformation spread by anti-labor groups. The new amendments bar private sector workers from organizing by any means other than secret-ballot elections.

The National Labor Relations Act specifies that voluntary recognition, when an employer agrees to recognize a union after a majority of workers sign cards seeking representation, is a legal option for organizing.

The Board has warned the states’ attorneys general that enforcing the new laws requiring elections would conflict with the NLRA and the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which says states must uphold the rights of citizens guaranteed by federal law. “The state amendments impair the rights that federal law grants employees and employers,” the NLRB said.

In South Carolina, the amendment is only one of the major challenges facing workers, who have a powerful enemy heading the state’s labor department. Anti-labor attorney Catherine Templeton was appointed by newly elected Gov. Nikki Haley to help stop Boeing employees from organizing the company’s plant in Charleston. “We’re going to fight the unions and I needed a partner to help me do it,” Haley said.

The political attacks on unions have spread to the West Coast, as well, where an Oregon House bill proposes an amendment to the state constitution to let voters decide whether or not to approve public workers’ collective bargaining agreements. Under Republican Rep. Kim Thatcher’s bill, cities, counties, the state and other public employers would be prohibited from executing a negotiated contract until it can be placed on a general election ballot and approved by voters in the affected jurisdiction.

View the original article here

Members of CWA Local 4630 in Madison outside the Wisconsin statehouse, where the nation’s firestorm of workers’ protests began nearly two weeks ago.

Proving that Gov. Scott Walker is using budget concerns as a cover for union-busting, leaders of state employee unions said they would accept the governor’s demands for . . . → Read More: Wisconsin: Walker Rejects Workers’ Offer to Take Cuts to Save Unions]]> Feb 25, 2011

Members of CWA Local 4630 in Madison outside the Wisconsin statehouse, where the nation’s firestorm of workers’ protests began nearly two weeks ago.

Proving that Gov. Scott Walker is using budget concerns as a cover for union-busting, leaders of state employee unions said they would accept the governor’s demands for pension and health care cuts as long as he stops trying to kill collective bargaining rights.

Walker flatly refused, showing no respect for the offer or the tens of thousands of people continuing to demonstrate outside the state capitol and in cities throughout Wisconsin.

Below on right: CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen addresses thousands of protesters Thursday in the Wisconsin capitol building.

He’s now threatening to start sending layoff notices to state employees next week if Senate Democrats don’t return to Madison so his bill can become law. The 14 Democrats fled Wisconsin last week in order to prevent a quorum and a vote.

Despite the best efforts of sleep-deprived Democrats in the state Assembly, Republicans there passed the bill Thursday after a continuous three-day session. GOP leaders left the roll call open for only a matter of seconds, and just 13 of 38 Democrats were able to vote in time.

Walker continues to claim that the state is in a budget crisis, even though Wisconsin was set to have a budget surplus before he handed out $140 million in tax breaks to corporations and the rich during his first two months in office.

"We’d love to come back today," Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach said, quoted in Wednesday’s Wisconsin State Journal. "We could be up there this afternoon and pass this if he would agree to removing the (collective bargaining) language that has absolutely nothing to do with balancing the budget."

Walker has been touring the state trying to sell his union-busting plan and was supposed to speak this week at a Milwaukee food bank. He didn’t show up "but our members did and brought 200 pounds of donated food at a ‘can the bill’ rally," CWA Local 4630 Steward Mark Frey said.

View the original article here

-The significance of Red on Thursday-

But the long wait for repair work on your phone service is because AT&T has . . . → Read More: Long Wait for Phone Repair]]> It’s a fact that more and more people are relying on their cell phones to communicate, but there is still a large number of landline users counting on their landlines to work for them when they need it. 

But the long wait for repair work on your phone service is because AT&T has been cutting its workforce that deals with landlines.

AT&T says more and more of its workforce is focusing on newer technologies.

Consumer groups are saying that the company doesn’t care much any more about its landline business.
Regina Costa of ‘The Utility Reform Network’ says:  "They (AT&T) don’t want to maintain that service.  They want to put as little as possible into that service."

Telephone service woes after rain