Industrial Workers of the World - Communications and Computer Workers Industrial Union 560

AT&T Workers, You Are Not Alone! Strike Flyer Handout

x359203 — Fri, 19 May 2017 21:18:47 +0000

If you are reading this then over 40,000 CWA union members have walked off their jobs as part of a three day strike against AT&T. The strike at the telecommunications giant is just one of the latest in a string of strikes by workers in the industry that have all pushed back against attacks on wages, health care, job outsourcing, and corporate globalization.

Despite tough talk from both major capitalist parties and Trump in particular, since the economic meltdown of 2008, the only thing that has changed is that billions of dollars have moved out of the hands of poor and working-class people and into the hands of the billionaires – who are now running the government.

IWW organizers say today’s rally just the beginning of actions in support of unlawfully fired worker at Star Tickets (GRIID)

x347647 — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 06:28:23 +0000

Boston IWW Joins Striking Verizon Workers on the Picket Line

x359515 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:12:05 +0000

Members of the Boston IWW joined striking Verizon workers for their second day of pickets at the regional headquarters in downtown Boston. Striking members of IBEW local 2222 were pleased with the show of solidarity as we marched together in the sometimes driving rain. The strikers were in good spirits as they walked the all-day picket line and confronted scabs at the local Verizon Headquarters.

The workers went on strike after Verizon, taking advantage of the current economy and widespread attacks on the working class, demanded concessions from the workers while the company and its top executives have taken in billions of dollars in profits. In fact, the company has made more than $15 billion in profits in the past four years while at the same time paying no federal income tax from 2009-2010 and instead receiving over $1 billion in tax refunds. The company was demanding that workers contribute more to healthcare costs, the elimination of pensions, a reduction in sick pay and elimination of Veteran’s and Martin Luther King day as paid holidays. Further, the company was pushing to have more work outsourced to non-union workers. As a result of these demands the negotiations broke down and 45,000 workers from CWA and IBEW walked out, including 6,000 in Massachusetts.

At times tensions rose during the picket as scabs exited the building. At one point food was delivered to the workers inside by the notoriously exploitative Upper Crust Pizza, who previously had their windows smashed on May Day because of their abuse of workers. Picketers attempted to block the delivery of the food while police protected those making the delivery. Tempers flared and at one point 100s of sodas were knocked from a palate and later thrown at the delivery van. Workers also attempted to encircle and block the van until finally cops and union bosses convinced them to let the van flee the scene. The picketers showed a degree of militancy and class outrage not commonly seen at other pickets and labor rallies. One Verizon worker who was not familiar with the IWW was given a flyer explaining the position of the IWW and was very receptive. The Verizon workers plan on being out on the picket lines every day for at least two weeks. The Boston branch plans on supporting them as long as the strike continues while at the same time spreading the idea of revolutionary unionism to the rank and file workers.

IWW.ORG Wins Shmoop "Best of the Web" Award!

x344543 — Wed, 05 May 2010 07:53:26 +0000

On April 5, 2010, iww.org won Shmoop's Best of the Web History of Labor Unions!

"Shmoop is an education website for students and teachers (middle school through college ages). [Their] mission is to make learning fun and relevant for today's students. Each of [their] learing guides includes a "Best of the Web" section, where [they] point teachers and students to quality, reliable websites for further exploration, and [they] picked [our] site!

"[Their] writers (who are mostly Ph.D. students at Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, etc.) pick the sites that go into their Best of the Web section. Teachers and students rely on [their] expert writers to point out only the highest quality websites. . ."

Workers at AT&T Poised to Strike - Job action would be biggest U.S. strike in recent years, and first under Obama

x344543 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 05:45:03 +0000

By x359209 - IU 560 Job Shop (dual card CWA)

IWW/CWA dual-carders in the heart of the struggle

At midnight April 5, 2009 contracts for most of the component groups represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) at the telecom giant AT&T have expired. After weeks of mobilizing, around 90,000 workers are poised to strike one of the largest and most profitable multinational corporations. A job action by CWA would be the largest and among the most significant labor action in the United States since the UPS strike in 1997. It would also be the first major strike under the Obama regime. The brewing confrontation could set the tone for class struggle in the U.S. for the near future.

Attack on Healthcare

AT&T has been pressing hard for major concessions from its call center, billing & ordering, and technical workers, especially in the area of health care. The company is demanding harsh cost shifting in the form of premiums and huge deductables for current employees and even steeper cuts for “second tier” workers hired going forward. AT&T is also demanding concessions in areas of seniority, over-time, and discipline. Raises would be replaced for the first two years by one-time lump payments.

Billions in Profit

AT&T corporate PR hacks have been spinning that healthcare must be reduced to avoid a repeat of what has happened to the U.S. auto industry. But AT&T is not General Motors. It is in a growing, innovative industry - one where AT&T bosses made $12.9 Billion in profits in 2008 alone. Besides, the U.S. healthcare crisis and its skyrocketing costs are not the fault of workers and their families and we should not be made to shoulder its burden. Workers at AT&T are furious that such a rich company would attack their families’ access to healthcare.

Court Ruling on Blog could Make Employers Sweat

x344543 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:47:16 +0000

Disclaimer - The opinions of the author do not necessarily match those of the IWW. This article is reposted in accordance to Fair Use guidelines.

By Rick Haglund - Thursday, February 14, 2008, Grand Rapids Press, Detroit Bureau

We need your support - Donate to IWW.ORG and make us the Labourstart Website of the Year!

x344543 — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 22:45:00 +0000

For over ten years the IWW.ORG project has been helping workers around the world learn, communicate and organize. This web page is about how you can help the IWW.ORG project.

Together we provide the following services to IWW members and to workers everywhere:

We maintain these websites, including static content, news, forums, and RSS feeds.
We've signed up hundreds of new IWW members online.
We provide e-mail lists and email accounts to IWW members.

IWW.ORG is sustained by the financial support of membership of the Industrial Workers of the World, sympathetic donors, as well as volunteer efforts and equipment donated by many a IWW member.

A new online battleground for union campaigns

x344543 — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:17:00 +0000

By Eric Lee - Industrial Worker, February 2007; originally published here.

Several years ago, shortly after it was launched I looked into Google's keyword-based online advertising as a tool for trade union campaigns. I thought it seemed a really good idea, tested it, and promoted its use to unions.

Today, I think that more and more unions and campaigning organizations recognize that by using Google ads, we can send out a subversive message about corporations at a very low price to a very large audience.

Success to Report

x344543 — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:02:00 +0000

Do Internet campaigns work? Can solidarity be successful? Are the old time values expressed by members of the Industrial Workers of the Word-- "An Injury To One Is An Injury To All"-- still applicable in this era of globalization?

There is a school of thought that the Internet "isn't real life," and therefore, isn't nearly as vital as face to face organizing. While this assessment retains much validity, events this past week in Colorado and, in a sense, all over the world suggest that using the Internet can have a significant impact on the lives of working people. Online activists from Israel, Canada, Turkey, Sweden, Australia, the UK, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Russia joined Americans to "write" a wrong committed against two American workers, using Internet messaging as their favorite solidarity tool.

On the way to the annual Rainbow Family Gathering near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Giles Charle of Somersworth, New Hampshire and David Siller of Wayne, Pennsylvania went dumpster diving in the heart of the popular ski resort. Police detained them with a few fruits and vegetables liberated from the trash at Sweet Pea Produce, and promptly jailed them. They bonded out after three days to await trial.

The Rainbow Family has a very mixed reputation among the citizenry in upscale Steamboat Springs. The so-called "neo-hippies" are viewed as outsiders, and the fine citizens of middle America tend to be uncomfortable with alternative lifestyles. The Rainbow Family also routinely thumbs its collective nose at authority by ignoring forest service requirements for camping permits. Some clashes with authorities were reported at this gathering, as in the past, so the Assistant District Attorney prosecuting the dumpster diving case wanted to "make examples" in order to "send a message to the community." Under the circumstances, defense lawyers advised the two men to accept a misdemeanor plea bargain with a six month jail sentence, in order to avoid much more serious felony charges resulting from a reported, but non-existent burglary.

Individuals from the Rainbow Family were incensed with the penalty and began to deluge city officials and the Steamboat Springs newspaper with emails and phone calls. The Drudge Report linked to the community newspaper's website, which momentarily crashed as thirty thousand people tried to read the story. Meanwhile, one of the co-owners of the produce establishment spoke out in support of the two men, and against their sentence.

Yet the Routt County District Attorney's office aggressively defended their actions. On Tuesday District Attorney Bonnie Roesink and her assistant met before county commissioners and appeared pathologically obsessed with the idea that the only "true" facts in a prosecution case are those described in the initial police report. The D.A. also decried the media attention, calling it misguided and ill-informed, and lashed out at the owners of Sweet Pea Produce for not supporting the lengthy sentence after having (mistakenly) reported a burglary.

There seemed to be every indication the D.A. planned to stick by the outcome of the case. But more than anything else, that September 6 presentation to the county commissioners called into question the accuracy of a police report riddled with false allegations.

Fellow Worker Richard Myers has never been to a Rainbow Family event, but his awareness of this year's gathering was heightened when he performed some bindery work for the group's membership guide at an IWW print shop in Denver. An experienced graphic designer and denizen of the Internet, he elected to play a role in this drama. Myers believed that in order to be successful, the protest needed to go well beyond the Rainbow Family, so he launched an Internet campaign to free the two from jail. On Sunday afternoon, two days before the District Attorney's office went public, Myers set up an online petition, created a web page calling for action, and bombarded cyberspace with hundreds of emails, initially circulating the alarm on nearly fifty email lists. FW Myers reports having spent several eighteen hour days at the keyboard to get the word out. Wobblies, peace and justice folks, SDS'ers, Food Not Bombs, and many other activists joined the Rainbow Family protest, responding to the simple declaration that "Hunger Is Not A Crime!"

In Tuesday's Steamboat Pilot, ski resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus alluded to the industry's growing concerns about a possible boycott. On Wednesday morning Rocky Mountain News Columnist Bill Johnson picked up on the protest campaign and observed that "something's rotten in the story of the 'stolen' trash," and "somewhere, somehow, someone is flat lying their face off." Also on Wednesday, the Steamboat Pilot editorially recommended reversing the plea agreement. Steamboat Springs residents and a couple of city council members had become vociferous in their criticism, and the Pilot reported that "several community members have started a group to recall District Attorney Bonnie Roesink."

Under intense public pressure, the district attorney volunteered to set up a citizen's oversight committee to watch over her department's activities. On Wednesday afternoon the Assistant D.A. finally caved to the outcry and released the two young men, citing "what the public believes" as partial justification for his decision. Altogether, the pair served just ten days of their 180 day sentence.

FW Myers has since met David and Giles and describes them as polite, thoughtful and articulate. They're interested in careers in social work and teaching, but their thoughts are also turning with interest to this world of solidarity and activism that helped to spring them from jail. Meanwhile the struggle to free them is recounted on the webpage used to rally the Internet campaign:

http://www.rebelgraphics.org/coloradofreedom.html

Labor Struggles at KPFA / Pacifica Radio Network

x344543 — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:53:00 +0000

Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here because it is an issue with some relevance to the IWW. The views of the author do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.

LABOR DAY PICKET and SPEAK-OUT at KPFA Radio.

Protest the Banning of the KFPA Labor Collective.

Monday, September 4, 2006, 1:00 PM

1929 Martin Luther King Jr. Way (at University Avenue)

Berkeley, CA

In March, the KPFA Program Council banned the KFPA Labor Collective for one year. The KPFA Labor Collective has been producing labor programming at KPFA for more than three years. The collective has members from SEIU 1000, NALC 214, SEIU 616, IBT 70, IUOE 39, SEUI UHW, and other locals.

At present, KPFA has 20 minutes a week of regular labor programming. The San Francisco Labor Council, the Contra Costa Labor Council, SEIU 790, SEIU 616 and other locals have endorsed calls for more labor programming. Hundreds of trade unionists have signed petitions for a weekly one hour labor show called "Workweek".

For more information and background on the Program Council and the KPFA Labor Collective, see my statement below, and http://www.kpfalaborcollective.org .

Upcoming KPFA ELECTION MEMBERSHIP DEADLINE - September 1, 2006.

Elections for the KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) will be held at the end of this year. Ballots are scheduled to be sent out October 16, and must be received back by Pacifica (NOT postmarked) by November 15.

More urgently, to vote, or to be a candidate, you must be a KPFA member of record on September 1. Make sure your membership is current!

To join or renew your membership, go to http://www.kpfa.org/pledge , or call 800-439-5732 or 510-848-5732.

Although most of the world allows same-day registration for voting, and the federal government requires registration 30 days before an election, the Pacifica bylaws require listeners to be members 45 days in advance.

SI SE PUEDE! - A statement by Riva Enteen