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7717 Informer:
Qwest Bargaining Official bargaining begins today, June 22nd and will end on August 13th. Daily bargaining updates will be available through email so sign up today and stay informed. The CWA bargaining committee for the Qwest contract is currently busy gearing up for the start of official bargaining. Healthcare is our #1 priority for both current members and retirees. The committee knows everything that we have asked them to bargain for, in addition to healthcare, and they are setting priorities for what will be a long and hard struggle to secure gains for our membership. Mobilization It is paramount that our membership stand in solidarity with our bargaining team. While they are fighting for an improved contract for each of us, we need to support their efforts with mobilization activities that will show the “Company” what our resolve is. We MUST stand united in solidarity to win a favorable contract for every worker! We expect that every member will participate fully in all mobilization activities. Your Local Committee is updating member information for our data base. It is very important that we are able to reach you should there be a strike. The Scab—by Jack London 5/21/2004 After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles. When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out. No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British army. The scab sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer. Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family, and his class. -attributed to Jack London Why Should I Wear Red On Thursday? We have beaten back the company at every attempt in the past to reduce our benefits and weaken our contract. CWA as a whole over the past 20 years has resorted to striking only as a last resort against the companies it bargains with. The secret to our success as union is simple we all stand together. Members from across the country, 700,000 strong unite in picketing, emails, letters to politicians and even boycotts against the companies that test our will for a fair and equitable contract. So why, after being beaten so badly so many times, would management want to take us on again? The answer is that each time they tried, in the past, they believed we were unprepared, unorganized, and that there were enough non-union thinkers among us to break our ranks and force the union to end the strike quickly or not strike at all. They were wrong then and they are wrong if they think that now. However, the company has many new leaders making decisions that will have an impact on our future and we have many new members. It is natural for new members to be confused about who has given them the opportunity to make a career here-the company or the union? Message to New Members As part of mobilization, we must explain to them that the company has never given us anything out of kindness or good will. Everything we have achieved was fought for and won by union men and women standing together. How can we show management that we are
organized and prepared to take them on again if they are foolish
enough to challenge us? One way is to remind them every Thursday. When
they look out on a sea of red, they will know there are no
non-unionists here. Make them see red! CWA Local 7717 Flying Squadron The days of standing around a picket line are over. The problem with confronting an employer solely on the picket line at the struck work location is that this is where most employers are strongest and unions may be the weakest. The challenge for labor now is to find other fronts where workers can be more effective in their picketing and other strike support activities. One of the drawbacks of picketing, in any strike, is the essentially static nature of walking the line at your own workplace. At best union members can only occasionally block scabs or managers from entering a work location and then usually only for a brief period of time. At worst, pickets are reduced to hollering at the people who cross the lines and watching as police and security guards provide protection for the strikebreakers. In the past we have tended to picket only at our work locations, but recent events have taught us the effectiveness of having pickets “follow the work”. Forming organized units as squadrons to cover territories and report back to strike line captains as to where scab workers where has enabled us to be more effective in this capacity of following the work. CWA members becoming roving picketers would swarm areas reporting back to strike lines as to where the workers where and immediately establish formal picket lines in the community while awaiting reinforcements from other members. They would follow trucks out of the yard in the morning and set up a picket line each time the truck would stop and the scab would try to work. Some trucks have been reported to try to lose the Flying Squadron while wasting up to two hours diverting there way around town only to end up having a picket line established minutes after reaching their first job. As this next round of contract bargaining comes upon us your local is identifying interested members for this option of picketing. If you are interested in assisting us in preparing and formulating our Flying Squadron please contact your local steward. CWA Bargaining Proposal Article 1 Recognition and Responsible Relationship
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