PHONE WORKERS STRIKE VERIZON

Verizon Refuses to Bargain Seriously
Verizon Proposals Would Take Workers Back Decades

Washington, D.C. -- More than 45,000 workers are on strike today at Verizon Communications. Bargaining continues. Since bargaining began on June 22, Verizon has refused to move from a long list of concession demands. As the contract expired, nearly 100 concessionary company proposals remained on the table.

As a result, CWA and IBEW have decided to take the unprecedented step of striking until Verizon stops its Wisconsin-style tactics and starts bargaining seriously.

Even at the 11th hour, as contracts were set to expire, Verizon continued to seek to strip away 50 years of collective bargaining gains for middle class workers and their families.

CWA and IBEW members are prepared to return to work when management demonstrates the willingness to begin bargaining seriously for a fair agreement. If not, CWA and IBEW members and allies will continue the fight.

Verizon financials

• 2011 annualized revenues are $108 billion and annualized net profits are $6 billion.
• Verizon Wireless just paid its parent company and Vodaphone a $10 billion dividend.
• Verizon’s top five executives received compensation of $258 million over the past four years.

The contract covers 45,000 members of CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers from New England to Virginia.

Read updates at www.cwa-union.org/verizon

Media Inquiries

Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1347 (office), 202-415-6566 (cell), cjohnson@cwa-union.org, and Robert Master, CWA District 1, 212-344-2515 (office), 917-657-6483 (cell), rmaster@cwa-union.org

PHONE WORKERS FIGHT 4 MEDICARE

CWA Activist Call Focuses on August Accountability Actions, Medicare

The fight to save Medicare is one of several key topics being discussed in tonight's virtual town hall meeting featuring House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Tonight, thousands of CWA activists will join another "virtual union meeting" and talk about actions planned in the home districts of members of Congress in August and September.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will join the call, along with Justin Ruben, executive director of Move On; CWA President Larry Cohen and activists gearing up for community actions.

CWAers have events planned in 30 locations so far, with the Legislative Political Action Teams coordinating events, worksite leafleting and other actions. All CWA events and union events are being posted at http://www.we-r-1.org/.

Yesterday, CWAers joined Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Tx.) at a demonstration and news conference at the Houston Airport, where Lee called on Congress to return to Washington and pass the FAA Reauthorization, which has been blocked by representatives doing the bidding of Delta Air Lines. Delta wants to eliminate the democratic voting standard for union elections covering airline and transportation workers. (See related story.) "We must not allow the safety of passengers and the security of American jobs to be compromised for political gain," she said.

To join the call, dial 1-888-886-6603, extension 16979. And check out CWA's website, www.cwa-union.org, for updates on the August-September actions.

WHY A PEOPLES' CONGRESS?

WHY A PEOPLES' CONGRESS No. 1?

A recent Pew Poll revealed that the US Congress was respected by an all time low 6% of the American people. The other 94% distrusts all Bank-Wall St. corrupted Congress members.

The recent Blue Dog Democrat-GOP “Debt Limit” agreement eviscerates grants to 50 States' Medicare, SSI disabled allowances, child lunches, a dozen job creation bills, green infrastructure and road building programs, and thousands of FAA Safety investigators. No Media mentioned the loss of 1.8 million UNION JOBS. 100,000s Layoffs of more Union teachers. Critical first responders, Park care workers, and crucial childcare workers will all lose their jobs. The Blue Dogs and GOP knives even sliced away meager food stamps for former middle class Americans, now foreclosed and evicted. They are now part of the working poor, many even homeless. They are everywhere. They and their children wander our cold city streets, hungry.

The Citizen-Candidate of our Founding Constitution can no longer be Elected in America.

It takes $1 million to $5 million to run for Congress. Candidates need to raise $10,000 a day to win each House seat. Every 2 years. The Supreme Court' decision in “Citizens United” allows Monopolies to spend $5 or $500 million to support, or kill any progressive Congressional candidate. These Billionaires can afford to air 25 Swift Boat political ads, two weeks before an Election. What chance does Abigail Adams or Joe Average have today?

The Progressive Peoples' Congress No. 1 will be a lively discussion of the issues really hurting working families: Jobs, Wall Street control of President, Congress, Media News, no tax on the Luxury Class, Wall St corruption of both political parties.

The Event: Similar to a Senate Subcommittee meeting seen on C-SPAN every day.

Economists testify. Union Officers speak. Other Experts. Our volunterr 'Congress' members ask questions. Friendly ping pong.

The most crucial issues. Jobs, War, Peace, Banks repay, EFCA, Oil, Phone (tapping) monopolies

** However, even these issues will become BORING, without comic relief **

COMIC RELIEF “GOP Senators” in Tuxedos Shout Faux News talking points and bang on drums. They disrupt the Hearing. But the “Leader” of the Peoples Congress calls them “Out of Order”. Then the GOP, in black formal wear, suddenly fall silent.

The Peoples' Congressional Hearings continue with exciting Testimony from Union shop stewards, expert Professors, Teachers, progressive activists, fire fighters, maimed Vets in wheelchairs, Nurses from Iraq, Economists, Historians, et al.

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC WORKERS for AMERICA

http://www.pdwamerica.blogspot.com

SAVE FIFTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS

112^th Congress 2011-2012 Budget July 4^th, 2011

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC WORKERS for AMERICA

"PROMISE to

AMERICA”

112^th Congress - Progressive Workers Budget

Promise to America

Hire America First

Gov't hires 4 million for green infrastructure, 4 million Veterans hospital Doctors and Nurses, 4 million Teachers, 4 million Fire and Safety, and 2 million Youth Bicycle Service Corps.

Longest unemployed hired first. Women/AA/Latino/Asian fair adjustments. Cost

$ 400B

All Federal purchases (DOD, DOE, DOL DHHS) must be 80% Made in America.

Bank 'Casino' Bailouts Must be Repaid (www.FCIC.gov)

Recapture Trillions Fed used to cover Wall St. gambling losses. Earn $ 16,000B

'Glass/Steagall Act'. Recover Wall St. tarpsters illegal bonuses. Earn $ 150B

Big Monopolies Too Big for Democracy

Break up each Wall St. 'shadow bank' / swaps-casino into 12 clean, lending banks.

Freeze 10-15 million deed-less, robo-signed, and fraudulent Home Foreclosures.

• Move Families back into their Homes. Workout fresh, affordable loan terms.

Pres. Reagan jailed 1000 S&L Execs. Silent DOJ risks a deeper 2nd Wall St. Crash

Penny fee on swaps, derivatives, mega opaque Wall St fantasies. Earn $ 250B

Investigate speculation/price fixing/inside trades by Oil/Bank traders. Earn $ 50B

25% Severance fee for Oil/Gas Corps. Repeal $21 Billion oil subsidies. Earn $ 121B

Federal Reserve Reform and Agency Trimming
Dissolve the Fed into Treasury. Hire Reich, Stiglitz, Ribini, Krugman, R.D. Woolf.

Defund World Bank, IMF, WTO, US AID, NED, OTI, IRI, NDI et al. Save $ 100B

Defund all Foreign Aid until the current financial crisis subsides. Save $ 100B

Close FEMA camps. Cut Homeland Security budget 75%. Save $ Billions

Emergency Labor Reform

Pass E.F.C.A. DOL helps workers organize Unions in new green industries.

DOL assists Patriotic efforts to halt off-shoring factories by filing for Eminent Domain.

DOL assists Patriotic American workers' right to collectively bargain as Unions.

Government and Corp Spying on Americans Must Stop

Repeal un-Constitutional “Patriot” Act. End phone spying; net/email snooping.

Reduce Security clearances, declassify documents 75%. DOJ: Prosecute FOX USA hacking.

Nuclear Weapons and Feeder Plants

Close 63 Nuclear 'water-boiler' plants on earthquake fault lines, cities, and rivers.

Repeal Modernization of Nuclear Weapons/Delivery Systems. Save$ 208B

Cancel Launch on Warning status of 2500 US Nuclear missiles aimed at Russia / China.

Congress Creates 50 Special State Banks (eg North Dakota)

Deficit crises crippling our States can be Assets of 50 new State Banks (viz. Ellen Brown).

DOJ Breaks Up Monopoly TV, Internet and Cell MegaCorps

Anti-trust vs. strangle hold of illegal Monopolies. Reverse AT&T & NBC/Comcast mergers.

Launch FM, local access / control TV in 100,000 towns and villages across America.

Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, which worked effectively for over half a century.

Raffle unused wavebands to Youth/Senior Co-operatives. Program news / music.

Secure the Peace, Not Permanent War Machine

Exit 800 Foreign bases, 150 CIA rendition sites. Prosecute torturers. Save $200B

Exit Iraq/Afghan/Pakistan/Yemen/Libyan blood-soaked quicksand. Save $200B

Cut DOD Budget. 'Exceeds all world's defense budgets combined.' Save $150B

Presidents Lincoln and FDR/Truman fines for obscene War profits. Earn $ 25B

Collect fines from 200 defense Corps found guilty by DOD of fraud. Earn $ 10B

Breakup 5 Defense monopolies. Transform weapons industry into not-for-profit.

Emergency Foreign Trade Reform

Repeal NAFTA, Cafta plans to off-shore jobs. Halt all Corp subsidies. Save $ 100B

25% Tariff on off-shoring Corps who import products back to USA. Earn $ 50B

Close EX-IM Bank. Recover tax funds to export jobs and factories. Save $ 100B

Lower Small Business & Personal Income Taxes
Reduce personal Income tax rate under $1 million to 22%. Cost ($) Billions

Lower small business tax under $2 million Profit to 22% rate. Cost ($) Billions

Close International Corporate Tax havens and loop holes. Earn $ 100B

Pres. Nixon's Wartime personal Income rate (74%) over $2 million. Earn $ 85B

Capital Gains same as Income tax. Remove cap on SS Payroll tax. Earn $ Billions

Double Social Sec./Medicare to maimed hero Vets, Seniors, disabled. Cost $ 50B

Political Posts Available to Average Americans

Public financing for Congressional campaigns. Contests limited to only 30 Days. Outlaw Lobbying (Tax Code: Eliminate Tax Deduction for Corporate Lobbying)

Forbid foreign, Corp, or Union donations to corrupt Politicians. Save $ Billions

Supreme Court Reform 9-11

Expand an over-worked and increasingly activist Supreme Court to eleven Justices.

Comprehensive 'New Americans' Reform

Full Citizenship after certified period of bona fide work-study-family status.

Pass D.R.E.A.M. Act for serious students/new Citizens brought to US as children.

Close ICE / FEMA 'prison' camps. Release all New Americans, or grant bail.

Direct PC Vote for National Referendums, Local Initiatives

Secure Email Voting for National Referendums, and people-first, local Initiatives.

Black Farmers Justice

Deliver $1.5 Billion to tens of thousands of African-American Farmers discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over two decades. H.R. 4783

PTA 2-3 wf

Native American, First Nation Lands

Delivery on Court Ordered payment of $3.5 Billion for royalties on billions of barrels of oil and natural gas extracted from Native American, First Nation Lands. H.R. 4783

Health Emergencies and Current Crises

Emergency Moratorium on 500 Hydraulic Fracturing wells poisoning water in 32 States.

Emergency Moratorium on Keystone's dirty tar sands trans-America Pipeline (leaks).

FDA investigates unsanitary and cruel animal / fowl treatment at 1000s of Factory farms.

Non-Intervention, Respect for Sovereignty

US and DOD apologize to the People of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Libya.

US provides Iraq adequate Reconstruction Funds for safe water / 24 hour electricity.

US finances radiation clean-up of fragments of depleted Uranium (Iraq/Afghanistan).

Freedom of the Press – Protection of Whistleblowers

US Congressional Medal of Courage award to Free Press hero Julian Assange

and WikiLeaks. Cessation of all DOD and DOJ investigations of WikiLeaks.

DOJ launches investigation of the psychological torture by Quantico Marine Brig Commanders of American-British dual citizen Bradley Manning. Manning has not been found guilty of any crime. His degrading confinement violated habeas corpus, US Code of Military Justice, the Geneva Laws, as well as our own Laws Against Torture.

Fresh DOJ Investigation of V.P. Cheney's Role in 9-11

DOJ investigation of VP Dick Cheney's role as Senior Politician in charge of five NORAD Exercises. Cheney's exercises removed crucial fighter plane defense from New York, New England, and Washington DC on Sept. 10^th and Sept. 11^th, 2001.

Repeal Un-Constitutional DOMA

Repeal Defense of Marriage Act. DOJ must vigorously enforce Equal Rights for all LGBT.

New US Embassy

US recognizes Palestine as an independent Nation State. US builds Embassy in Palestine.

US helps Palestinians export their crafts, and products from Gaza. US accelerates imports of emergency food, medical, building materials, and all business products into Gaza.

Saluting The Women's Caucus in The U.S. Congress

The Family and Medical Leave Act, The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),

The Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science,

Engineering, and Technological Development Act are proud and seminal

achievements of the Women's Issues Caucus in the United States Congress.

"PromiseToAmerica" by William Floyd

Progressive Democratic Workers for America

CWA UNION RALLY for JOBS & JUSTICE

Historic March for Jobs and Justice

Set for Aug. 27 on National Mall

CWA will join in a major rally for jobs and justice Aug. 27 on the National Mall. Pictured, thousands of CWA members turned out on the Mall for last October's One Nation rally, where speakers included CWA President Larry Cohen.

A massive march for jobs and justice on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., will cap an action-filled August as CWA members and allies nationwide fight for workers at town hall meetings, rallies and festivals.

The Aug. 27 march, being called "From the Emancipator (Lincoln) to the Liberator (King)," takes place one day before the unveiling of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the National Mall.

In a resolution at the CWA convention last week, delegates endorsed the march and are urging members to take part. Fellow unions, civil rights groups, social justice networks, clergy and other progressive organizations are involved in the event, being coordinated by the National Action Network.

The weekend of the march also marks the 48th anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech on the Mall. "For those who may be quick to forget the legacy of Dr. King, let us remember that he died while fighting for workers' rights and the basic human dignity of all," Rev. Al Sharpton said.

In connection with the march, the AFL-CIO will host a national symposium one day earlier on "The American Dream: Jobs and Justice," honoring King and the vital connection between workers' and civil rights. It will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 26.

The National Mall events will begin with a noon rally Saturday, Aug. 27, at Constitution Avenue and 17th Street, with a march to the new MLK memorial at 1:30 p.m.

Click here (PDF) or go to NAN's main website, www.nationalactionnetwork.net, for more information, as well as NAN's Facebook and Twitter pages.

LABOR and DEMOCRATS

Maddening Time

This is a maddening time for anyone concerned about the lives of working-class Americans. The frustration and anger that suffused AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s declaration last week that labor would distance itself from the Democratic Party was both clear and widely noted.

Not so widely noted has been a shift in the organizing strategy of two of labor’s leading institutions — Trumka’s AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union — that reflects a belief that the American labor movement may be on the verge of extinction and must radically change its game.

It took a multitude of Democratic sins and failures to push Trumka to denounce, if not exactly renounce,the political party that has been labor’s home at least since the New Deal. In a speech at the National Press Club last Friday, Trumka said that Republicans were wielding a “wrecking ball” against the rights and interests of working Americans. But Democrats, he added, were “simply standing aside” as the Republicans moved in for the kill.

The primary source of labor’s frustration has been the consistent inability of the Democrats to strengthen the legislation that once allowed workers to join unions without fear of employer reprisals. American business has poked so many holes in the 1935 National Labor Relations Act that it now affords workers no protections at all.

Beginning with Lyndon Johnson’s presidency, every time the Democrats have held the White House and strong majorities in both houses of Congress, bills that strengthened workers’ rights to unionize have commanded substantial Democratic support — but never quite enough to win a Senate supermajority. And during that time, the unionized share of the private-sector workforce has dwindled from roughly 30 percent to less than 7 percent.

Many union activists viewed the 2009-10 battle for the most recent iteration of labor law reform — the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — as labor’s last stand. EFCA could never attain the magic 60-vote threshhold required to cut off a filibuster, despite the presence, at one point, of 60 Democratic senators.

Given the rate at which private-sector unionization continues to fall (which in turn imperils support for public-sector unions), many of labor’s most thoughtful leaders now consider the Democrats’ inability to enact EFCA a death sentence for the American labor movement. “It’s over,” one of labor’s leading strategists told me this month. Indeed, since last November’s elections, half a dozen high-ranking labor leaders from a range of unions have told me they believe that private-sector unions may all but disappear within the next 10 years.

While some unions still wage more conventional organizing campaigns, the campaign that best captures the desperation of American labor today is that of the SEIU. Perhaps the best-funded and most strategically savvy of American unions, SEIU has embarked on a door-to-door canvass in the minority neighborhoods of 17 major American cities. The goal isn’t to enroll the people behind those doors in a conventional union but, rather, into a mass organization of the unemployed and the underpaid that can turn out votes in 2012 and act as an ongoing pressure group for job creation and worker rights during (presumably) Barack Obama’s second term.

“We realized we could organize one million more people into the union and it wouldn’t in itself really change anything,” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry told me earlier this year. “We needed to do something else — something more.” The SEIU’s program — like its semi-counterpart in the AFL-CIO’s Working America program, a door-to-door canvass in white working-class neighborhoods — will surely help Democratic candidates, despite the frustrations that nearly all labor leaders feel toward the party.

But, like Working America, it signals a strategic shift by American labor, whose ranks have been so reduced that it now must recruit people to a non-union, essentially non-dues-paying organization to amass the political clout that its own diminished ranks can no longer deliver. Since labor law now effectively precludes workplace representation, unions are turning to representing workers anywhere and in any capacity they can. It’s time, they’ve concluded, for the Hail Mary pass.

The unions’ support for the Democrats’ party committees has already diminished considerably, though, as Trumka made clear last week, they will continue to support individual pro-union Democrats. But the greater change in union strategy is the one that’s been forced upon them. They are going outside the workplace. They have no place else to turn.

meyersonh@washpost.com By Harold Meyerson, Published: May 24- 2011 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/labors-hail-mary-pass/2011/05/24/AFHWwiAH_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics Maddening Time

CWA UNION: BOTH STREETS and CONGRESS

COMMUNICATION WORKERS of AMERICA - C.W.A.
Phones, cells, PDA devices, TV, and Satellites

In her remarks, Secretary-Treasurer Annie Hill said CWA has a great deal to be proud of despite the union's many challenges. She especially praised CWA's aggressive and growing Legislative Political Action Team (LPAT) led campaigns to fight state and federal attacks on workers' rights and the economic security of working families. One important way the LPAT program is succeeding is by building new alliances and joining together for major collective action, such as last October's One Nation march in Washington, D.C., Hill said. More than 1,600 CWA delegates, retirees, family and friends attended the 73rd annual CWA Convention in Las Vegas this week. "Many natural allies and supporters exist within the human rights communities outside CWA and we have come a long, long way in the last few years to strengthen and add meaning to these relationships," she said. "It is not enough anymore to send dollars, attend conferences and to support their causes. We need them to support us also and understand and work to restore collective bargaining rights in our country. It is the first step to make our country a better place." In closing remarks to delegates, some of whom supported opposing candidates for various CWA offices, CWA President Larry Cohen said, "We saw what democracy looks like at this convention." "We march out of here as one union, stronger than ever," Cohen said. "When we work, when we organize, when we fight, CWA is there together. It's what we stand for: That we are one union." Cohen: 'We Need to Be in the Streets As Well As at the Ballot Box' Today's tough economy and political attacks demand a "broader, deeper" movement, organizing not just new union members but building alliances that will make it clear where America's true majority stands, CWA President Larry Cohen said Monday in his convention address. "We need to be in the streets as well as at the ballot box," Cohen told the 1,600-plus delegates, retirees, family and friends at the 73rd CWA convention. "We need the energy and intensity of Madison, Wisconsin, or Cairo, Egypt. We need to unite with non-labor groups who share our vision of restoring the American Dream for working families." As history proves, collective bargaining rights are essential to that dream, Cohen said. In both the United States and Canada, as bargaining coverage grew from the 1930s to the 1960s, "we negotiated real improvements in living standards — better health care, better pensions, higher wages and expanding organizing rights, and we expected that our children and grandchildren would have a better life," he said. But as bargaining rights declined, everything changed. Despite still-growing worker productivity, workers' wages have stagnated while "CEOs keep getting richer because they are writing the rules," Cohen said. "Bargaining rights are critical to any functioning democracy," he said. "And they are critical for a functioning economy." Drawing rousing cheers from delegates, Cohen unveiled a short new video showing CWA in action with its partners in recent battles. Click here to watch it. "This is movement building. This is what democracy looks like," Cohen said. Click here to read President Cohen's full speech, which is posted on CWA's website.