Executive Vice President's Report

The Union for the Information Age

October 2007 Executive Vice-President's Report
by Stan Wylie, Vice President

Every time I write this report I try to narrow down the topics to express what is useful for the membership from what I did in the last month. I can tell you that it kind of all gets jumbled up because everything takes time. Nothing gets resolved with a simple phone call anymore. Really, you used to be able to pick up the phone or send a quick note and a manager would call you back. Not just for me but in whole for all the stewards communication with management was ok. It was a partnership. Not that everything got resolved that easily but at least you understood their position and the problem. Certainly we did not always agree but nowadays everything seems to be such a struggle. We used to ask for information and we would get it. Now we get “What is the relevance of your request.” We go back and forth a few times and eventually get the information. We make calls, leave messages and never hear back. I can’t put my finger on it (well have some thoughts) but it just seems management really doesn’t care about people anymore. I know that probably does not apply to all the managers but that said I don’t see any of them stepping out on a limb for their employees either.

Morale seems lower in all the areas of the company these days. More and more folks are calling to share their conversations with management and asking what can I do? I can only say “document.” Sad to say but a conversation is that, a conversation. Most of the time if I call management and repeat what I am told the answer is “They misunderstood what I said.” Trust me, I am kind of used to figuring out that when there is two sides of the story the truth is somewhere in between. I can only encourage our members to hold management to the truth. The simple way to do that is documentation. Communicate via email, after you have a verbal discussion you can always send an email, “Just to be clear you said…” or something to that effect. You can also pull out a notebook and let them see you are taking notes, that always makes them a bit nervous. The bottom line here is they hold us accountable every day--it is time we hold them accountable now. When moralee is low we have to remember we outnumber them. We collectively can make a difference. If we bitch among ourselves, that will not solve the issue, we all just get mad. Let’s turn the tables. Tell management when you feel they are wrong (respectfully of course) let them know we have expectations of them and they are falling short! Include your peers and remember as the IWW says “An injury to one is an injury to all.” Solidarity and team work will work to our advantage. It’s what we have and they don’t!

We have been getting more calls to the local with people asking questions, wanting information and volunteering to help. I think that is great. As you may know for several months the Local has been asking folks to get involved. Doesn’t really matter with what but involved with something. You can volunteer at a community service event; send an email to a decision maker regarding something your passionate about. Currently CWA has several major initiatives going on and they want everyone to be informed about so that everyone understands the importance of these items and how they relate to working families, The Employee Free Choice Act, Speed Matters, and of course Health Care Reform are three strategic initiatives. I have touched on all these at some point in previous reports and will just say there is plenty of information on our website, the district website, and the national website.

I attended the Tri-state meeting which I found to be quite informative. Annie Hill was present and spoke to us about several things. She reported out that the email poll initially sent to Local Officers regarding the upcoming presidential elections and the results of the poll. There was no clear majority but the participation was really high. So they have recently sent out another poll to as many members as possible to whom we have email addresses for. If you would like to be added to the list let us know…

She talked about the goals for the district; items included building up the retiree chapters within the district and the importance of having active retirees. Currently the district has tripled the number of retiree chapters since last year. The company and the district have changed the process on scheduling grievances and arbitrations to speed things up and currently have 80% scheduled and hope to have that process caught up in the coming months.

We also had training on organizing; we were given presentations by the education and technology committees which I hope to share with the executive board and stewards in the coming weeks. There was training on new federal reporting requirements for union officers. Truly if the republicans want small government the changes recently to the reports that need to be filed certainly don’t seem to fit the smaller government model…

Jeff Rechenbach Executive Vice President of CWA also came to speak with us. He had several items on his agenda as well. Legislative issues, health care, and he spoke about what he felt we need to remember in regards to keeping in touch with the members and understanding that representation is what is most important to them. He wanted to stress that CWA members expect representation and we should never forget that. He discussed how labor unions are responsible for the middle class. Before unions there was no middle class. Today there is but it is getting smaller and interestingly enough so are the number of union households. Could there be a correlation? One statistic he pointed out that you all have probably heard before but worth repeating is 2% of Americans control 80% of the wealth in this country.

We also discussed several Qwest related concerns. Of course bargaining was the main topic and the challenges that will be faced. Reed Roberts the Bargaining Agent said “There will be significant challenges not overwhelming” The biggest challenge of course is going to be health care. We have an obligation to the retiree’s and we can’t throw them under the bus… The costs increases have been staggering. For 2006 Qwest had close to 672 million in healthcare costs. We really need to make sure everyone understands what it means if retirees lose healthcare coverage or if they are burdened with huge premiums they may not be able to afford on fixed incomes. He also shared that while 8% of the private sector is unionized out of those only 13% have retiree healthcare.

There was also discussion regarding QDS. Carla Floyd shared with us that 4 out of 5 calls she receives are after the appeal. At that point there is not a whole lot if anything that she can do. We were asked to get the word out to members that they need to call the Local or her at the time of denial. She also would like to make sure folks are familiar with what doctors are writing on the forms for QDS and that they maintain a copy of them. If there are problems getting approval it would help to have those documents readily available. The other thing is to make sure you save fax confirmations as well. Many of you have experienced the QDS fax black hole…You will have to prove the documents were sent on time.

I realize this is getting kind of long, so to summarize we should keep these things in mind as we move forward. Practice solidarity within your work groups and hold management accountable for their actions. Get involved with something and participate to work towards something beneficial to either our union or our community or even our work group. Understand that bargaining is coming and it will require solidarity and team work to be successful and that we should remember the retiree’s and reach out to them as well for their assistance. If you’re having health issues stay on top of it and keep accurate records and verify any information your doctor is sending in to make sure it is correct.

I saw a bumper sticker that might say a lot “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!” I think that sums things up pretty well I just ask that everyone pay attention, educate yourself, and be a participant.