|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Vol. No. XXXIV May 2008 UNITY Communications Workers of America - Local 3403 www.cwa3403.org lcl3403@bellsouth.net
“ADT” On April 29, 2008, ADT tried to have CWA decertified as the bargaining unit of their represented employees. In a certification election requested by ADT, CWA was able to hang on by a slim margin. Bargaining will resume on May 30. We hope we can now get a contract and we hope ADT management is tired of playing around. To the employees of ADT and all CWA Members, if you think working in a represented work place is tough, try working in a non-represented work place. You need to talk to your fellow employees and let them know about the good things that the Union has done for them. If they question you about what things you are speaking of, remind them of the wages they earn, and the benefits they receive because of collective bargaining. Businesses don’t pay living wages and provide health benefits because they have a big heart. ~ Tom Fontenot ~ “Outside Plant”In the next few days we will begin to feel the heat. Summer time weather is knocking on the door. It is time to start drinking more fluids and taking shorter breaks to cool down. Nobody is telling you to take thirty (30) minute breaks, a fast five minute break under a shade tree could mean the difference between having a heat stroke and not having one. Take care of yourself and when possible check on your fellow employees to make sure everyone is okay. There is an on-going problem with our new time reporting process. Check your check stubs close and if you have any questions about your pay, please call the CWA Hall at (225) 928-1110 and let us know. Some people are being shorted on their pay and some are being overpaid, either way it is a big problem. There has been an executive level grievance filed to try to force the Company to fix the problem with the time reporting system. In Unity, ~ David Ringe ~ “safety first”In early 2006, CWA’s Occupational Safety and Health Department developed and distributed the survey “Electrical Hazards, Accidents, Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities” to all telecomm locals. The survey indicated that many members had near misses or minor accidents, while some suffered serious injuries and even fatalities. The risks identified for outside technicians included aerial work, confined spaces, buried plant, as well as problems during inclement weather. Hazards were also cited inside central offices and residential and commercial buildings. The data collected from the survey differed from what local union leaders say is reported to employers. The reason for this is believed to be that affected members hesitate to report incidents for fear of retaliation. CWA’s concern is that the hazard doesn’t get fixed when the problem isn’t reported. Therefore, a technician who performs the work at the same location could be exposed to the same hazard. Three main reasons have been identified for the increase in near miss incidents. 1. Increased workload and productivity measurements 2. Inadequate work procedures and practices 3. Cutting back on the amount of workplace safety education and training Employers are requiring technicians to complete more tasks during their tour. This puts pressure on them to cut corners without thinking of their own personal safety just to meet the company’s demands. The faster pace, along with increased overtime hours and exhaustion, is a big part of the problem. No matter what kind of numbers are posted on the board, the safety and health of CWA members should always take precedence over employers’ concerns about productivity. If you have encountered a hazard on the job, please report it. It could keep your fellow employees alive and healthy. Dwaine Henderson-Safety Committee “Consumer and small business”AT&T has received approval to transition “some” term employees to regular full-time positions in Consumer and Small Business. The criteria to be eligible to transition to regular full-time are: 1. Nine months or more net credit service 2. No disciplinary entries in personnel file 3. Satisfactory appraisal 4. Satisfactory attendance Eligibility does not guarantee a term employee will be made a regular full-time employee. It just means they will have the contractual right to bid on permanent jobs as they become available. Term employees are advised to apply for the vacancies via the web. Upon becoming regular full-time, the employee will become Tuition Aid eligible, Concession eligible, 401K eligible, and eligible to receive 2008 Impact Award, provided they were an active regular full-time or part-time bargaining unit employee as of December 31 of the award year and have worked in the bargaining unit for three full months during the award year. For more detailed information, ask you supervisor or call the CWA Union Hall at (225) 928-1110. ~ Tom Fontenot ~ “employee free choice act”If this piece of legislation was to pass the following things would happen: 1. Employees would be able to form unions if a majority signed cards for representation 2. There would be stronger penalties for violating employees rights to form unions 3. Mediation and arbitration for first- contract disputes During the Employee Free Choice Act Clouture on the floor of the U. S. Senate:
Mr. McCain; “Mr. President, I am strongly opposed to HR800, the so called Employee Free Choice Act of 2007. Not only is the bill’s title deceptive, the enactment of such an ill-conceived legislative measure would be a gross deception to the hard-working Americans who would fall victim to it.” Congressional Record - June 27, 2007 Mr. McCain, if you want to talk about deception, try these: Right-To-Work; anti-union legislators left out the part about working for less pay and no benefits. Family Friendly Act – This is the legislation that anti-union people failed to pass, that would have allowed business to let you work 60 hours in the first week of a two (2) week period with no overtime pay, and then allow you to go home after only twenty (20) hours in the second week because you had reached eighty (80) hours in a two (2) week period and should now be with your family. You better be friendly with them because you will not be able to go anywhere or do much of anything but talk to them. Overtime pay only comes into play after eighty (80) hours in two (2) weeks. “Family Friendly Act” just a little bit deceiving. ~Legislative Committee~ “changes in consumer”In life, changes are inevitable. In Consumer changes come fast and aren’t always for the best, as far as representatives are concerned. Our new director is bound and determined to get better results, while forcing us to work under the same conditions. Low call volumes and links that constantly go down. Morale is at an all time low and the words “I Quit” are coming at a rapid pace. Attendance is still a problem and the Company can’t understand why. People wear down after being forced to work overtime for extended periods. Remember you can only be forced to work 12 hours overtime in a week. “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” (Randy Pausch) We must offer on every call, use CPNI, read our disclosures and most importantly we must Recap on every order. Remember, if we recap our orders, we will be covered!
“partnership” The rule for processing requests for educational assistance has changed. The new online process has been a nightmare and HR One Stop has been useless. When they don’t know the answer they refer you to Partnership and when you tell them you are Partnership, they still don’t know. For some employees it’s taken several weeks to get answers and for others, we still don’t have answers but maybe as time passes the process will improve. On the local level, I am looking for employees that are interested in 3 particular classes: Basic Electricity, Basic Electronics and CISCO. If you are interested in either of the classes, please call me at (225) 295-5180 or send me an email, Naomi.Riley@att.com. Include in your message your ATT UID, your hire date and a contact number and which class or classes you are interested in taking. Once this information is received, you will be notified of the date, time and location of the class. Naomi Riley, Chief Stewart/Consumer and Partnership Representative
“AT&T Mobility” Recently, the Baton Rouge call center has taken on a new function. The call center now includes a Customer Service group, that services Data Support and Laptop connect issues. The group reports to an area manager within the call center, that manager in turn reports to a director in Atlanta, Ga. Representatives who apply and are accepted into this group must be prepared to stay with the group for at least 1 year, before being allowed to transfer to another group. So far, due to the extended nature of individual calls required to perform the function, of this group, and the high call volume handled by the group, it has been impossible for the group to meet its accessibility goals. There are a very limited number of slots allowed for vacation days, or exchange time, to representatives within the group. This may present problems when your schedule conflicts with other events in your life. Please consider all these factors before accepting a position with this group. ~Chinazo Okolo~
I would like to take a few moments for a heart to heart with some of our members who may not be aware of what CWA does for them. Because of CWA you have a living wage, and just as important medical benefits. For those of you who may be unaware, our benefits will expire on June of this year; however we will continue to be covered until the end of 2008. It is important at this time that we present a united front, because CWA is bargaining for our new benefits package. Some other issues brought up at meeting each week with H.R., are scheduling and the safety of our members on the company premise. Have you noticed the trees being cut down so security can view the entire building? The lights in the parking lot are being maintained and serviced on a regular basis. This corrected the problem of no lights at night for our over-night people. These were safety issues brought to the attention of the company by your CWA stewards. For more information on other issues being discussed, you may contact one of the following stewards. Sheila Farrar-Thompson, Chinazo Okolo, Thelma Williams, Mark Mobley, Cynthia Jackson, Jaime’ Coffey, Jamie Smith, Bill Dupre, Daria Glasper, and Brandi Michelli. These people are your job stewards, not the Union. You are the Union! Union meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every other month. Our next meeting is July 8th at 7 p.m. Sheila F Thompson Chief Stewart AT&T Mobility
“AT&T/bst benefits snafu” The employees who were caught up in the system error that caused the deductions for their Basic Life, Supplemental Life, and/or Accidental Loss Insurance coverage amounts to be incorrectly adjusted based on a mid-year change in pay, either have or will soon receive a letter from the Benefit Center, explaining the error and how it will be corrected. Other AT&T benefits coverage(s) were not impacted by this error. You do not need to take any action; this notice is for your information only. For AT&T benefits information you can access from home, log on to http://access.att.com and go to benefits section. If you have questions, call the AT&T Benefits Center toll free at 1-877-722-0020 (domestic) or 1-847-883-0866 (international).
“small business”
On May 15th, six new employees joined the small business teams. Jakerta Holiday, Katreba James, Jameica Lyons, Candace Matthews, Laquanda Mitchell, and Courtney Sanford are now part of the team. Congratulations and please keep in mind that the older members of the team will be more than happy to help you anytime you may need it. Personally the best advice I can give you is, always recap. “CPAT” is still catching reps that fail to recap all services on each order. The 5 days off you get for not recapping is not a vacation, they are without pay. We also said good-bye to a dear friend and co-worker; Vesta Barbier has retired. Vesta we wish you the best on your retirement, and will miss you. We also would like to welcome the new class that just started. ~Myra Broussard~
“a good man in the house”
For the first time in more years than labor cares to talk about a Louisiana politician actively sought the backing of organized labor, and was elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. While Don Cazayoux is a Democrat and a strong supporter of organized labor, I really believe the reason he was able to pull out a victory in a close election is because he is neither far left nor far right in his thinking. It seems that people are ready to elect someone that is willing to sit down and talk to people from the other side, and try to find common ground to solve the nation’s problems. When a person is willing to do that, then they can represent all the people from their state, not just the ones that are of the same party as they are. In November there will be an election for a complete term in the house, vote for the candidate of your choice, but vote. It isn’t just your right, it is your responsibility. ~Tom Fontenot~
“coming soon att/bst”August 2009 is fast approaching, don’t let it sneak up on you. At this time we are all working as much overtime as we want.“SAVE, SAVE, SAVE”
First, let’s put to bed the rumors of an early contract date. CWA will be in early negotiations; however our contract date remains the same. What is true is that many older members will be off the payroll before August 2009. These are the members, who in the past, have stepped up when needed. They are the ones who served as committee members in preparation for strikes and picket captains in actual strikes. Now is the time for younger, but experienced members to pick up the ball. Now is when you should get involved, start learning what needs to be done in preparation for a possible strike. If you wait until June or July of 2009, you will be too late. Meetings are every odd numbered month, on the second Tuesday, come to the meetings and get involved.
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS! BST/AT&TShondel Stewart Brittany Wilson Yolanda Moore Ebony Gray Michael O’Farrell Aneshia Sanders Michael Vice Alyssa Anthony Karen Eubanks Jennifer Platt Ty Hightower Tammy Shattuck Sharonda Cooper-Dunn Ayanna Odom Darious Porter Yolanda Scott Attallah Lewis Desi Grimes Llyod Nelson, Jr. Demetra Epps Marilyn Rogers Acolla Patterson Raquel Morton Megan Cage Khary Penn Chanal Caine Bryanna St. Andrew Betty Harrington Adam McBrayer Gaytha Bynum Ross Akpan Nello West Nicholas Sanford Brandie Small Latasha Johnson Brittney Gray Kendra Walker Trecia Walker Carmeka Randall Regina Chapman Francis Forrest Cady Kelly Latchie Karletta Le’von Hagans Davina McKnight Marchecia Monique Jones Aprelia Morgan Erica Price Quinta Shorts Lytoshia Thompson Derrick Variste April White Kylon Wishom Richard Willoughby, Jr. Dylan Barbier Mark Cook Kerry Hebert James Procell Joshua Peel Christopher McSwain Connie Smith Todd Tyrna Terry Williams Earl David III Lillian Roberts Gerald Schober Susan Schwaner Crystal Brown-Lang Regis Reeves Barry Sellers Donald Truse Brenda Bryant Colby Evans Toya Theirry-Domineck Kelli Howard Miechea Jones Ericka Kelly Toya Jordan Mark Lastrapes Tremeka Moore Rodrick Pitcher Rhionell Payadue, III Sherika Roseburr Kristen Snowbarger Megan Spillers Derrick Tate Tamara Veals Kimberly Walker Rebecca White Keisha Williams Justin Wright Jaketra Holiday Katreba James Jecinta Marchan Courtney Sanford Candace Matthews Jason Quint Laquanda Mitchell Glynn Veuleman Jemeica Washington Bradley Curtin Lakiesha Acker Natalie Carter Billye Jean Bosarge Tamisha Graham Wanita Knox Jacquinn Lee Jarryn Maloid Miriam Martinez Michelle Young Gerard Payne Valerie Watson-Pitts Lester Smith Cassandra Robertson Lakiesha Terrio Tima Wells Sabrina Jamison Urania Wilson Irina Cary Monica Ingram Brian Ordeneaux Jerona Baker Jordan Blank Patience Dance Lola Falowo Laquandra Johnson Alashia Jones Lakoya Kelly Cynthia Matthews Alfred Prelow Loretta Singleton Danielle Washington Yeal Turner Shere Jackson Bertina Lloyd Heather Self Brittney Smith Marsalena Thach Cingular/AT&T Mobility Jeffery Johnson Ericka Kimble Kristen Philips Kirby Brady Michelle Winfield Gus Harris Damien Anderson Melanie Bell Sandra Brooks Adrienne Carrier Kelly Darensbourg Renada Dixon Natalie D’Auvergne Erick Fields Shanerika Flemings Nissa Fulton Leann Hilliard Krystal Howard Thomas Johnson Genese Lavalais Ericka Matthews Gerald Smith Katrina McClinton Ashley Patterson Juequita Vaughn Avis Adams Jennifer Winchester Corthern Barnes Alva Caliste Amanda Cox Jason Hatch Jerlisa Hurt Jessica Johnson Tristen Johnson Kortney Kelly Valerie Lovely Bianca Matta Vicky McClain Darlene Reine Rodney Stweart Miracle Rothenberg Jonathan Swift Antonio Thomas Danielle Walker Raynard Wearing Karen White Kayla Williams Kevin Belgard Laura Cannon Uletta Carter Debra Harris Harri Hopkins Randi Krantz Belinda Mishey Joshua Noah Valery Powell Fredericca Scales Edith Smith Aaron Simington Katrina Smith Lamonica Williams Brandi Bryant Motilewa Akerele Courtney Butler Shasta Bumgardner Shannon Carriere Martina Ferguson Jarad Carter Brittney Freeney Terica Lane Martina Fulkerson Marquita Jackson Jessica London Jefery Maradiaga Kenterrilyn Matthews Erica Milton Theoshia Reese Twanna Simpson Kimberly Southall Latisha Bates Cuwanda Stevenson Zakaris Davis Barbara Gardiner Leon Garrett Michael Greenwood Sheena Horton Tarshan Johnson Alyssa Kohn Claudia Madden Mark Marks Tiffany McNulty Wanda Oliver Samantha Stracener Deidre Walker Kirschelle Williams Lauren Williams Tanisha Brown Scott Coogler Yentl Huggar-Cannon Phyllis Coshland Kaci Douglas Courtney Fleming Laqurada Franklin Esther Green Jonathan Holly Yolanda James Andria Jefferson Gary Jones Temmessia Rider Cassandra Sonnier Tramessia Stanley Rita Stevens Brittany Turner Denise Walker Javon Warner Paula Williams Yolanda Womack Edward Bryant Myeisha Alexander DeIndia Bates Clarence Crockett Clay Courville Cindy Cornelius Princess Dumas Karen Dunn-Morris Lee Fontenette, Jr. Vanessa Goins Tamika Hughes Andrea Johnson Rachael Lofton Natasha Lowery Carla McCullough Chad Obeidzinski Natisha O’Brien Brandi Pugh Amber Rowlen Brittany Worthy Crystal Wray NEWSLETTER TEAMTom Fontenot Jo Ann McCauley Lisa Harrison Rainwater Barbara Kennison Brittany Daigle CONDOLENCESPlease join us in extending our sympathies to those members who have lost a loved one recently. William Quirk Grandmother Roderick Paulin Father Nnekha Hamilton Self Sarah Robillard Mother Barbara Soileau Mother Thelma Williams Mother Les Hanson Father Dorothy Knighten Sister Roy Kennedy Mother Margaret Hanson Father-In-Law Philip Green Father Clara Pourciau Self Brad Purvis Grandmother Colby Blunt Father Walter Price Mother Christopher Cox Grandfather Colby Blunt Grandmother Cleveland London Grand Daughter Mary Sloan Daughter-In-Law Latalia Smith Self Tina White Grandmother Valerie Downing Aunt retirees november 2007 thru presentThanks for you loyal support over the years and best of luck in the future. Linda M. Harvey Mary Z.Wrigley Hilda T. Guidry Rose B. Mason Susan A. Lehrmann Leon Hardnett Cheryl L. Robertson Mary S. Piper Vesta O. Barbier
---------------------
Up-Dates
As of Today, Friday June 13, 2008 AT&T made the following Surplus Announcements for Louisiana:
3rd QTR 08 LOUISIANA SURPLUS DECLARATION
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
