"CWA, America's largest communications and media union,
represents over 700,000 men and women in both private
and public sectors..." -excerpt from cwa-union.org/news website-
CWA Local 4309
2012 Members Website
Communication Workers of America
Local 4309
2728 Euclid Ave, Suite 300
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
Main Phone #: 216-579-4309
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CWA4309 Represents the following entities:
AT&T
OPPAHYATTCSUC&T
OPPAHYATTCSUC&T_____________
CWA4309 Watchdog for Members Use
(this website now works on behalf of CWA4309 members)
Starting in 2012, members and stewards can report issues or problems they are having with the current CWA Local 4309 administration (the Executive Board/Officers) regarding how responsive they are to members and how their complaints and
issues are treated. Although we have no direct authority, valid
messages may be sent higher up for review and consideration.
It is important that members know they are the union and that the stewards and officers, including the President of the local, work on their behalf using members union dues.
As an example ... if you have a grievance that goes to third level, it would by typical for either the President or Vice President to meet with you prior to the third level grievance (review board) to prep you and prep themselves for handling your case in front of labor relations so as to make the best possible case. You need to be present at the review board meeting or you lose your right to arbitration. This should not happen. The union officer handling the third level grievance should prep you and invite you to participate in the meeting.
When you initially have a grievable situation and you contact your steward to file the grievance, there is a total of 45 days from the date of the incident for the grievance to be filed and heard at first level or it "times out." Stewards are juggling a number of grievances at once so please call or contact your steward or union office it you feel nothing is happening with your grievance as you get close to the 45 day limit.
If you wish to report an issue or complaint about how the new union administration or President is handling your situation, please email us at: support@cwa4309.com
In addition, do everything you can to have your local union office handle your situation. This site is now a member's site and no longer the official CWA4309 Local site.
(if you click on this link and cannot send an email, use this email address to send us an email directly from your personal email account. Do not send any emails during your work hours as it is against company policy.)
on 'Right to Work' ...
Quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as 'right to work.' It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.
Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions for everyone ...
Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped. Our weapon is our vote."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking about right-to-work laws in 1961 (h/t Economic Policy Institute)
... and if our weapon is our vote, then the Republican leadership is also trying to disarm us with voter suppression laws demanding identifications that most financially disadvantaged citizens do not readily have.
When a few dollars means whether your children eat today or not, we cannot expect these citizens who have a right to vote, to spend that money on getting an ID from a state run BMV which will try to make them prove their identity to get identification.
Call and/or write your legislators to demand these voter suppression attempts stop now. Call for yourself, your family and for those who cannot do so for themselves.
New officers will be taking their positions on the Executive Board of CWA Local 4309
This website, including writiing and editing has been donated by a retired member of CWA Local 4309 due to a friendship and trust with the former Vice President and President 2006 thru 2011.
This website is now the "unofficial" website for union members.
I believe in the value of Unions to members and even non-member workers all over the country. Unions are under massive attack from large Corporations, Republican leadership in congress, and Repubican State Governors. It is a well planned and well funded attack using methods currently beyond the reach of labor laws. Only Union members can stay united, get others to understand the value of unions to all workers, and fight back with your voice and your vote. You can fight back with your voice bvy staying informed as to what is happening in politics (beware of the spin and lies from the Republican puppets of Corporate America). Spread the word wtih firends face to face, by email, by social media, writing your federal legislators on issues, writing your governor and state legislators, writing letters to the editor of your local newspapers.
I will continue to write for union members providing news about events of concern to union and non-union workers in the U.S.
This website will remain a resource for Union members and other workers wanting to fight back against the pressure to lower wages, reduce or eliminate benefits, pensions, social security, medicare, and other essential safety net programs paid for by your tax money and provided by your government.
Let me start with this ...
Business Friendly and what it means ...
Repubicans say they can create jobs by making the U.S. "business friendly." This is "bad spin" from the Repubican dirty politics playbook. Business friendly means no say in your job, low-wage levels, few benefits if any, demands for higher productivity, work schedules that are not confined to day shift or weekdays and will vary for the needs of the business and demands of the boss. Here is what history tells us that "business friendly" means to big corporations ... slavery (govt abolished), indentured servants (govt abolished), illegal immigrant workers (govt abolished ... but still occuring), child workers in early 1900's to about 1930 (govt abolished), taking advantage of low-wage female workers (govt laws to equalize wages within job titles) ... and when these were abolished, trade laws were changed, lies told about the benefits to the U.S. and consumers about the value of Free Trade without import fees, resulting in millions of U.S. workers out of work as their manufacturing and assembly jobs were moved overseas so corporations could take advantage of desperate low-wage workers in foreign countries ... using children, teens and and anyone who will work 12 hour days in unbearable locations for pennies a week. No wonder big business and their Republican puppets want to shrink government and eliminate government regulations for business (with the excuse that it will lower costs for U.S. business operations so we can compete and hire more workers). But this is a fallacy. Regulations create jobs. There is an even playing field in this respect for U.S. businesses ... but foreign imports don't have these costs and they can underprice U.S. businesses because of the low-wages in their countries. So don't ruin our country like their country. Instead, charge the appropriate trade import or tariff fees to equalize the cost of doing business between the trading countries. This eliminates the huge profits big companies get when they move business from the U.S. to low-wage countries. Business would no longer have the motive to move jobs out of the country and foreign companies could no longer out compete U.S. businesses because of their low-wages and low-standard of living.
These jobs have not become obsolete. They are being done by foreign workers. Almost everything in the store you pick up is made or assembled in a foreign country with a U.S. company distributing it. Even if exports could match the imports in volume, this doesn't help workers. The U.S. has millions of people of different education, different backgrounds, different physical abilities etc. We need our vast array of decent paying jobs that Republicans call "low-level" jobs. There is value and honor in all labor. The physical and mental efforts and time of every individual should be valued and not taken lightly. Time, physical labor, mental capabilities, skill use are all part of a person's life ... and if Republicans value life as they say they do, then let them start valuing the life and labor of the average worker in the U.S. fix trade policies and bring back our jobs.
... more to come!
Thank You for all your efforts informing others about Issue 2 so we could repeal SB5 ...
All our efforts paid off ... Issue 2 was voted down and SB5 will now be repealed saving collective bargaining rights for public employees ...
... and you have stopped more than this. SB5 in Ohio and similar legislation in many other states was just the beginning of a nationwide strategy to end unions forever both in public and private sectors. The less union members there are overall, the less leverage and impact workers have in influencing legislators to the workers concerns. Unions are one of the largest unified voting block that typically side with Democrats. The more unions Republicans can shut down, the easier it will be to shut down the rest ... like dominoes falling.
Republican leadership is now using the budget problems to shrink the post office with over 500,000 postal worker union members. Support our Brother and Sister Union members of the Postal Workers Union by writing your congressmen and senators telling them to keep local post offices and workers.
Occupy Wall Street Movement
Our efforts in occupying state government for the purpose of repealing SB5 and similar efforts in Wisconsin that were on the news seemed to have triggered the occupy Wall Street movement. AFL-CIO supports the occupy Wall Street movement and encourages our members to be involved.
Occupiers may not be able to express a single focused reason why everyone is there to protest but that's because there are many reasons for the protest, many reasons for wanting to change the status quo. Protesters may not know exactly why the U.S. has changed, but they feel and know that legislation is no longer being passed for the good of U.S. citizens, the majority, the working class people ... many who no longer have a job or a job that can support a family.
How is it that with one person, one vote in the U.S. that 99% of the population is losing ground while the top 1% are profiting.
The only way this can happen is when legislators are working on behalf of the wealthy 1% and not listening to the 99% who they were elected to represent. The reason is that it takes too much money to run a political campaign. Politicians need to raise massive amounts of money and leave them owing those who donated large amounts to their election campaigns.
Efforts to stop legislators from passing legislation that hurts workers and increases Corporate profits hasn't seemed to work at all on the Republican leadership and even some of the Democratic leadership.
Get the Money Out of Politics
Starting on MSNBC's Dylan Radigan show, Dylan and a former lobbyist came up with a plan called "Get the Money Out" with efforts to create a constitutional ammendment that would eliminate political fundraising causing an "I owe you" attitude towards big contributors. For more information, type in Google search bar "Dylan Radigan, Get the Money Out."
Until we eliminate the big contributions to legislators, the working class majority will not truly have the voice they should have when it comes to passing legislation that supports the majority of voters and citizens. 94% of elections are won by those raising the most money. I don't know who said it but it rang very true when I heard them say "that's an auction, not an election!"
Check this website out ... unbelieveable boldness on major corporate involvement in writing "OUR" legislation:
Over 300 Multi-National Corporations have come together to plan, fund and lobby Republican leaders to enact legislation they wrote that sets the rules in their favor, often against the American workers best interests. They have been in existance since 1973, but have recently become more bold. it is believed that they are the force behind all of the anti-worker legislation being enacted in every state with a Republican Governor.
(excerpt from ALECWatch.org)
"The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) boasts �During the 1999-2000 legislative cycle, ALEC legislators introduced more than 3100 pieces of legislation based on our models, and more than 450 of these were enacted. . . . In the legislative Sessions of 2000, there were more than 2150 introductions promoting ALEC Policy.�
So why haven�t we ever heard of this group?
Because corporate America doesn�t want us to know. Close scrutiny reveals that ALEC is little more than a screen for hundreds of big corporations and trade associations to advance their legislative agendas in state capitals from coast to coast. "
AFL-CIO need all of us to join their "We Are One" Campaign ... and we need them. Click here to go to "We are One." Union members get their political leverage only because of our large number of members who will stand together for a common purpose. We need to rally our current members, our retirees, and even the supporting public, our friends and family.
- If it's not good for U.S. Workers,
it's not good for America! -
"First they came ..." is a famous statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892 - 1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. The text of the quotation is usually presented roughly as follows:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
(excerpted from Wikipedia)
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Why Labor Unions are Important to All American Citizens has been moved to its' own page titled
Thank You for Visiting the 2012 members version of the
CWA Local 4309 Website!
This page was last updated: February 8, 2012
www.cwa4309.com
www.cwa4309.com
Membership Meetings
for CWA Local 4309 are
1st Thursday of every
month at 6pm.
*******
- WORKING AMERICA -
"Building a Better Future
for Working Families"
Not a union member?
You can still Join ...
... a community affiliate
of the AFL-CIO.
Workers issues:
- Health Care
- Good Jobs
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- Quality Education
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"Building a Better Future
for Working Families"
To learn more about
Membership Benefits,
go to:
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providing extended job opportunities and resources
in areas of Digital Media, Telecom, Criminal Justice, CCNA/LT. Courses and Lynda.com (access to free online library of training resources)
Visit CWA / NETT at
*******
Why We Wear Red
on Thursdays ...
Chief Steward Gerry Horgan
of CWA Local 1103 was killed
on Picket Line in 1989.
He was run down while on a NYNEX picket line in Vahalla, N.Y.
Horgan was the first, and until 2003, the only CWA member killed while picketing.
His death is the reason why CWA members still today wear red in solidarity on Thursdays.
The four-month strike over
health care benefits was just
two weeks old when the daughter of a plant manager hit Horgan, 34, with her car while breaking through a picket line.
He died the following day, Aug. 15, 1989, leaving a wife and
two small daughters.
In January 2003, in another strike over health care,
Michelle Rodgers was struck
by a police car while picketing the GE Appliance plant in Louisville, Ky.
A member of IUE-CWA Local 83761, Rodgers was an enthusiastic union activist who was hit while crossing the
street as strikers gathered before dawn.
Continue wearing red on Thursdays in remembrance
of the sacrifices made by
Gerry Horgan, Michelle Rodgers and their families. In Solidarity.
###
BOOKS OF INTEREST ...
Visit Our Books of Interest
page to learn about trade
issues, the economy, the
origins or labor unions, how
to negotiate better, steward
handbook, organizing, etc.
SAMPLE - CLICK BELOW
What else would you like to see on our CWA 4309 Website?
Not all things are possible or appropriate for our website, but send me your ideas and I'll see what we can do.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Send them to:
The Union Triangle ...
The union triangle has three sides, each one representing a critical activity of Unions.
- Organizing
- Political/Community Action
- Bargaining/Representation
- click on image above -
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CWA Website Navigation
PICTURES, PICTURES ...
Have any recent relevant union pictures of our members at rally's, informational pickets, union meetings, or at other union activities???
If you want them considered for publication on our website, please email them to:
or drop them off in an envelope with a note to the CWA4309 union office to V.P. Colleen Moughan or President Annie Murrell. Include your name and address if you want them returned to you.
- Website and Website Development donated by CWA Retiree,
SEO Webcopywriter, Member of Professional Writers Alliance -
The unofficial/former official website for CWA Local 4309
NEWS
FLASH!!!
WE'VE ADDED THIS SIDE COLUMN DUE TO THE VOLUME OF NEW IMPORTANT NEWS IMPACTING OUR UNION MEMBERS .....
A Brief History of Unions
Updated webpage ...
History of Labor Unions
with YouTube interesting
and informative videos
you will want to watch.
The videos include info on the real purpose and mission of big corporations, capitalism according to Michael Moore, History of Labor Unions in the U.S., use of Child Labor that will bring tears to your eyes, and a very useful set of five videos that are excepts from Confessions of a Union Buster.
Click on the History of Labor navigation or below to go to this webpage ....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STAY INFORMED ON ISSUES
THAT MATTER TO YOU MOST ...
GET CWA ACTION ALERTS VIA TEXT MESSAGE ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE
(Do Not Use a Company Owned Phone): type CWAAction to 69866 on your personal cell phone.
Hot Current Issues:
-Call Center Bill ... keep call
center jobs in the U.S.
-Hands Off Our Medicare
-Voter Suppression Bill ... we
got enough petition votes to put
it on the next ballot to repeal
this bill that keeps honest U.S.
citizens from voting because
they are poor or in college ...
votes likely to go Democratic.
- - - - - - - - - -
CWA4309 EXEC BOARD ELECTIONS
01-01-2011 ... The election results runoff has been completed. Terez Woods will become the new President of CWA Local 4309, Kim Wynn will become the new Vice President,
Vicki Hart will be the new Secretary/Treasurer ... and I do not have the names of the other representatives elected to the remaining board positions.
CWA4309 EXEC BOARD ELECTIONS
12-29-2011 ... The election has not yet been certified according to the election committee. The President and Vice President position votes will be counted on Friday, December 30th. No one leaves their current position on the Executive Board until the election has been certifed by the election committee.
12-11-2011
A Run-off Election for CWA Executive Board Officers was necessary because a vote of 51% or higher is required to win an election.
Some candidates, where three members were running for the same position, did not get 51% or more of the votes... the offices of President and Vice President.
Re-run election ballots will be mailed out on monday, Dec 12, 2011.
Many members did not vote last month. Please take the time to vote this time around.
As members, you may not see your union reps and officers frequently but they are working behind the scenes fighting unfairness, overturning or shortening suspensions, and saving many jobs every single week.
Union work involves a great deal of phone work, planning with members who have filed grievances and members going into grievances who have been suspended or fired.
Union Reps and Officers spend the majority of their time in meetings fighting for you against unfair managers and/or management practices while you're at work at your desk.
If a union rep or officer stops an unfair practice or unfair firing for one member, it will often stop the unfair practice from being used on other members.
Some work problems and unpopular management decisions are not always within fightable limits of your CWA local or contract.
Officers are also responsible for meeting budgets, making sure union time and your union dues are not being misused on unnecessary or foolish activities.
Your union reps and union officers are important to your future at work.
So don't think that it doesn't matter if you vote or not. Every vote counts, especially in a close run-off election.
Please Vote!
11-18-2011
CWA elections are under way. It takes 51% of the vote for a nominee to win any seat on the Executive Board. Since there are three candidates running for most positions, it is unlikely that any candidate will win office in the first election in which case there will need to be a run-off election. Until the final election is finished and decided, the current Executive Board stays in place.
10-21-2011 Governor Kasich does it again with state legislation that was easily passed through a Republican majority state legislation. The new legislation cuts the medicade budget. Medicade helps those most desperate with incomes of less than about $9000 for a family ... many families that want to work, but lost their jobs for lack of job opportunities and families with serious medical issues like having adult children with mental and emotional deficits that make it necessary to have them raised in group homes by professional caregivers and educators.
click here to
visit the
website
Click below to view many books on
LABOR UNIONS, LABOR HISTORY, THE LABOR MOVEMENT
and more.
Click below to view many books on
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS
Seth Rosen, V.P. CWA District 4
