March '08 President's Report

The Union for the Information Age

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

On March 5^th, 2008, Qwest held a meeting with Supply Attendants throughout the District to announce that they were doing a show of interest to see who might be willing to leave the business through ZIP-VSPP. This was not a declaration of a formal surplus, or even an offer of a voluntary separation. The company stated that at this time they were just assessing staffing requirements and seeing if, and how many people would be willing to leave the business with a payout. The likelihood is that this show of interest, although not binding on employees, will be followed by an actual offer within the next few weeks.

This follows last month’s announcement of an Article 19 Force Adjustment within the Fleet Services organization under the Finance group in the Renton, Olympia and Spokane areas.

Grievances were filed last year based upon the October 2007 State of Washington Supreme Court ruling under the wage and hour law which stated that certain employees were entitled to be paid when their work assignment had them drive straight from home to their first work assignment and straight from the last work assignment back home. This is known as home garaging. The CWA District 7 office recently sent a questionnaire by email to every Qwest Network Technician, Broadband Technician, Customer Data Technician and Central Office Technician currently on the payroll in Washington State. The Local is also in the process of mailing the questionnaire to employees who have retired within the last three years. If you did home garage at any time during the last three year period and want to participate in this settlement process, it is NECESSARY for you to fill out the attached survey and furnish the District 7 Office with any records, in order for you to be part of any settlement that the Union negotiates with Qwest.

CWA Local 7800 Officers visited with technicians at the Lake City, 1^st Avenue and Airport Way Garages the week of February 25^th. Special thanks to NettWorth Financial for providing the coffee cart which helped us all get our morning started off with a smile. The two main topics of discussion were the challenges of upcoming bargaining with Qwest and the QJD/CTEP and CQUE performance measurements. With renewed emphasis by QWEST LNO management that employees not meeting the performance standards will be disciplined, 2008 is shaping up to be both a busy and frustrating year. Unreasonable performance standards and resulting unjust discipline are nothing new for the phone company, as they have been subjecting our members in the Consumer Sales and Collections Centers to such standards and fear tactics for many years now. Washington State CWA Locals held a special meeting in Olympia on Saturday March 8^th, to strategize on how best to deal with these issues. It is clear that 1^st and 2^nd level management neither understand nor believe in these measurements, and since many have never performed the work, are unable to assist those who are not making the numbers. Our best line of defense will be to utilize the grievance process and to keep logs of the work that we do on a daily basis.

The summer and Qwest bargaining are fast approaching. The Bargaining Committee recently announced that they had received 118 bargaining proposals from the Locals that were marked as that Local’s “top 5”. Additionally, they received another 101 proposals that were submitted by 11 of the Locals above and beyond their top 5. The elected committee will be meeting in Denver in April to review the proposals and to discuss what recommendations the committee will make at the Qwest Bargaining Council meeting scheduled May 6th and 7th, 2008 following the conclusion of the CWA District 7 meeting in Layton, Utah. At that meeting, the delegates will review industry bargaining trends and other information specific to Qwest such as financials, markets, etc. There will be a read-out on the proposals submitted by the Local Unions and comments and recommendations from the elected bargaining committee. The representatives of the 54 Local Unions that represent Qwest employees will then set the agenda for the 2008 negotiations with Qwest on a new contract. Following that meeting, the bargaining committee will meet again in June to prepare the Union’s proposals for 2008’s contract negotiations with Qwest. Formal negotiations are tentatively scheduled to begin on June 16, 2008 in Denver, Colorado.

In my absence this summer while serving on the Qwest Bargaining Committee in Denver, Stan Wylie will be stepping in to fill the Local President position. At the Executive Board meeting in March, I requested that those who are interested in backfilling the EVP position submit their names to me prior to next month’s meeting. If there is more than one interested party, the candidate will be selected by secret ballot at the April Executive Board Meeting.

There continues to be issues with Qwest Disability Services and getting Short Term Disability approved. QDS sends out paperwork to every employee when they go out on STD. It is very important to read the requirements as outlined in that letter and to understand the consequences of non-compliance. The most frequent issue is getting the objective medical information from the doctor’s office to the QDS Case Representative within the required time frame. In order to avoid having your STD denied, it is imperative that the information is provided to QDS within 21 days from the first date of absence. Unfortunately, as is oftentimes the case, the responsibility lies solely with the employee. Employees should always follow up with their doctor to ensure that all paperwork has been sent in a timely manner, and if possible request a fax confirmation and keep it safe should there be any question as to whether the information was sent within the required timeframe.

I would like to thank the members at DGM Controls for their solidarity and support over the last several years and throughout the recent negotiations process. A new three-year contract was ratified last month calling for annual wage increases equal to the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

We are continuing to focus on internal organizing at MV Transportation. MV is the Local’s second largest bargaining unit after Qwest, now with over 200 employees. The rapid growth from just around 40 employees four years ago to over 200 today has led to many unique challenges, including increasing the number of shop stewards required to represent the rapidly growing unit. I am pleased to announce that several new stewards have stepped up to the challenge, and have been approved by the CWA Local 7800 Executive Board. Stewards Training is scheduled for Saturday March 15^th.