Phone Workers Stand Up to Verizon

Thousands of CWA Activists Stand Up to Verizon in Philly    

Nearly 5,000 workers engulfed Verizon’s offices in downtown Philadelphia on Saturday morning, demanding that the company stop its assault on workers and bargain a fair contract.

The streets were filled with a sea of red shirts and chants. CWA International President Larry Cohen, District 2-13 Vice President Ed Moony and District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton fired up the people, and invoked the 37 IBEW and CWA members who were fired after Verizon workers went on strike last August.

CWA President Larry Cohen,standing with fired strikers, addresses a crowd of 5,000.
“Every day, especially this next week, think about your own life as if you’re walking in their shoes,” Cohen said. “Every one of these fired workers – they’re not giving up. They’re standing up, they’re fighting back. Can we do any less?”

One worker, Jennifer Travis, who worked at a call center in Pittsburgh, was fired after 15 exemplary years on the job. She told her story to 35,000 brothers and sisters gathered at the nearby Workers Stand for America rally.

“The company says that I assaulted a manager as he escorted a scab across our picket line. Those are outrageous and false allegations. And, together with my Union, we are fighting back,” she said. “But mine was not an isolated incident. Several of my brothers and sisters were fired or disciplined last

August for similarly trumped up charges. What many of us have in common is our highly visible status as union leaders and activists. It makes me wonder if the company retaliated against us in an effort to intimidate other members who would consider standing up for their union in the future. If that's true, it's flat out bullying, and it's disgusting.”

CWAers marched two miles through Philadelphia to join Travis at the rally, where sprinkler fitters, postal workers, teachers, and other union workers gathered at Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Cohen told workers, “We’re not walking silently!” And block after block, stopping traffic in all directions, they shouted, “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” and “What do we do when we’re under attack? We stand up, we fight back!”

There, workers demanded that politicians on both sides of the aisle sign on to a new Second Bill of Rights, a list of priorities that workers want featured at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

 After a great rally, CWAers are on the march to the Workers Stand for America event.

“We built this country, we wake it up and we put it to sleep and it’s time to take it back!” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the people. “Hard work alone has never led to decent wages and benefits and retirement for every American. It’s hard work and activism.”

And when Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz mentioned that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had chosen Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate that very morning, the crowd booed loudly.

"I couldn't agree more," she said. "What a devastating impact a Romney-Ryan administration would have for America’s working families. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are both top-down and backward for the American worker."

Construction Jobs at Universal

PLA for NBC Universal Redevelopment in L.A. Means 13,000 Construction Jobs

by Mike Hall

A new project labor agreement (PLA) between Southern California Construction Unions and NBC Universal for a major redevelopment of the company’s movie and television studios and the Universal City theme park in Los Angeles will create about 13,000 local construction jobs.
  
The PLA reached between the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council and NBC Universal on the 10-year project in the east San Fernando Valley was announced yesterday.

PLAs are pre-hire agreements between labor and management that require all construction jobs be filled by local workers; include diversity requirements; establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution; and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.

A study last year by Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School (ILR) found project labor agreements offer a pathway to the middle class by providing job opportunities to low-income communities, minorities, veterans and others.

The $1.6 billion project will include new and improved production and post-production facilities, new media-related office space and enhancements to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park and CityWalk, along with hotels and retail and dining facilities. It also includes major investments in area transportation and mass transit facilities.

The 300-acre redevelopment project will create an additional 18,000 other jobs and help keep movie and television production in Los Angeles. The project is now proceeding through the environmental evaluation process.