President's Report

The Union for the Information Age

February 2008 President's Report to the
Executive Board and Membership
Submitted by Malachy Sreenan

On January 11^th, 2008 the Qwest LNO Organization announced a ZIP VSPP offer to the Network Technician and Customer Data Technician titles in Washington State. The original offer was seeking a minimum of one volunteer from each job title in the Seattle and Port Angeles RCA’s. In all, 22 employees from our Local showed an interest, and will be leaving the business with the VSPP provisions under Article 19 of the Contractual Bargaining Agreement. For all of those who remain, 2008 will see a continuation of the struggle over QJD and CTEP as the company threatens to escalate disciplinary action for anyone not making the standards. According to the latest Network Tracking Report, Bob Greenwood’s Organization has the highest percentage of employees not meeting QJD and CTEP standards, yet has the lowest level of discipline among all of the State VP’s. While this has been a good thing up to now, it is likely to change pretty soon. The company has made it clear that they will begin taking disciplinary action against those who are not meeting standards. Bearing in mind that we all agree that union members provide an honest days work for an honest days pay, what that means is that we need to remain vigilant in our opposition to these arbitrary standards and ready to defend ourselves when it comes to our job security. Remember, you are entitled, under both the law and the CBA, to a Union Steward in investigatory meetings or any meetings with management which you feel could lead to disciplinary action, and entitled, under the contract, to have a Union Steward present in disciplinary meetings. Always exercise that right. You should also continue to maintain a log of your work activities. It is a shame that it has come to this, but as union members we have the right and the responsibility to remind company leadership that hard work and customer service cannot be measured solely by spreadsheets and whatever statistics the managers’ blackberries may spit out on any given day. .

Qwest announced recently that it had made the decision to sell the Bell Plaza building in downtown Seattle. Plans are already underway to move all employees into the low-rise part of the building which will be leased back from the new owners. About 240 employees in IT and Finance will be moved to other locations. The company stated that it was “about putting our real estate assets to best use”, which, loosely translated means selling the property for short-term financial gain and the ability to write off the expense of leasing the space. Similar decisions were made with Qwest-owned buildings in Denver, Arizona and Portland.

On January 18^th, the CWA Local 7800 Bargaining Proposals Committee presented the top ten proposals submitted by Qwest members over the last several months. At the meeting, held at the Seattle Labor Temple, attendees voted on the top five proposals which will be submitted to the CWA District Office for inclusion in the upcoming negotiations. The top five proposals from each local will be compiled into one document which will be presented to and voted on by delegates to the District 7 meeting in Utah in May.

As we get closer to bargaining, we will be ramping up our mobilization and strike preparedness activities. What can we expect from Qwest at the table? In 2005 bargaining, Qwest pushed to put all active employees and post-1990 retirees on the Qwest Management Health Care Plan. CWA was successful in pushing back on that regressive proposal, in addition to ensuring that the caps on retiree healthcare were not implemented until at least 1/1/09. What we can expect from Qwest this year is more of the same. Since 2005 71% of companies have increased employee contributions, 34% have increased co-pays, 24% have increased deductibles and 12% have completely eliminated benefits for future retirees. Not to be outdone in the race to the bottom, Qwest will undoubtedly go after our healthcare yet again this year. In addition, they intend to implement caps, and in fact have already booked the caps on retiree healthcare for 2009. Using current health care trends, the cost above the caps for retirees with family coverage could be as high as $500 to $600 per retiree per month by 2009. Recognizing that this would be catastrophic for most retirees, CWA Local 7800 sent out a mailing to 550 retired members last month encouraging them to be informed and get active. We hope to have a Local 7800 retiree chapter up and running within the next couple of weeks. Retirees can then voice their concerns around changes to healthcare benefits; they can be visible in our communities and can mobilize should the company pursue its plans to break their promise to those who have dedicated most, if not all, of their working lives to this company. We must all do our part. This is the time that we must all stand together; young, old, active, retired, consumer or network, we must stand together in unity, in solidarity, with one common voice. Standing together and getting involved, as we have done in the past, is the key to maintaining our benefits, our living wage and our workplace rights and protections.

As MV Transportation continues to grow, I am happy to announce that we have had several members step up to leadership roles within their workgroup. I have received steward applications from four members, with a couple more on the way. We will be scheduling Stewards Training for the new Stewards in March. The Education Committee held initial Stewards Training for five new Qwest Stewards on Friday February 8^th and Saturday February 9^th. I would like to thank Kat Carroll and Brian Lynch from Bellingham, and Donna Carter, Tommy Streets and Josh Cain for stepping up to this challenging role, and look forward to working with them in the future.

Our members at Jobs with Justice have been negotiating a new contract over the last couple of months. I am delighted to announce that a tentative agreement was reached last week and is in the process of being ratified. I would like to congratulate Alex, Jake and Debbie for their hard work and perseverance which has paid off with the new 2-year agreement which calls for competitive wage increases, a newly-bargained cell phone allowance, and additional funds for training.

CWA Local 7800 was honored last year by the United Way of King County for the exceptional commitment of its members to those less fortunate in our community. Our local, from among all the unions in King County, was recognized for our ongoing dedication to, and support of volunteer activities and programs. As a result, the local will be featured in a video at the upcoming Spirit of Caring Celebration to be held at the Benaroya Hall on Monday March 3, 2008. Anyone who would like to attend should contact me at the local by February 15^th.