Monthly Archives: August 2011

“A Tale Of Two Companies”

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Local 1101, CWA
275 Seventh Avenue (17th Floor) New York, NY 10001
(212) 633-2666 FAX: (212) 633-8337
E-Mail: CWALOCAL1101@AOL.COM
Jim Trainor, Secretary 

To the Members of Arms Acres and Conifer Park

Fellow Members:

Your union, Local 1101 is engaged in contract negotiations with Liberty Health Care and Verizon. Over 600 members are represented at Arms Acres and Conifer Park and over 46,000 members are represented at Verizon. These companies are vastly different. Verizon is a major corporation with billions in profits. Liberty Health Care is a privately held corporation which is profitable. 

Regardless of the size of the company, or the size of their profits, both companies have presented the same retrogressive proposals at bargaining. Corporate America has one agenda when it comes to their employees. Their plan is simple, cut wages, slash health benefits and pension, eliminate time off and reduce the workforce. This is how they make more profits. The company wouldn’t be in business if it wasn’t profitable for them. 

Liberty Health Care has hired the law firm of Jackson Lewis (anti-union lawyers) to conduct contract negotiations. This law firm is the most expensive and ruthless in the country. Their goal is to follow the corporate model and destroy the union, your contract and your job.

There are many challenges facing us in the Behavioral Health Care Industry. The union recognizes the changes the industry will face. We have all accepted the changes which have evolved over the years and we continue to provide excellent patient care. Liberty needs to face these challenges by innovation and creative marketing. Not by slashing wages and benefits.  The company needs to send Jackson Lewis packing and spend our money at the bargaining table and not in breaking the union.

We are at a critical stage in negotiations. We have conducted a strike authorization and it has been overwhelmingly approved. Most of you have completed your member’s relief applications and they have been processed. Your union is prepared to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract.

Whether we work at Verizon or Liberty Health Care only through membership mobilization can we achieve our goals. We all stand or we all fall together. Whatever benefits you have, your union negotiated them because you deserve them.  Stand up and let the company know we are not going backwards.

If you were employed during the 1999, 2002, 2005 or 2008 negotiations, you know union members stood together and we did not lose any benefits. Wear red on Thursdays to show the company that union members are not willing to give up their benefits.

We are doing updates via email. If you have not provided the union with your email, please send it to cwahealthcare@aol.com.

In Solidarity,

Jim Trainor

Your Bargaining Team

  • Paul Bouchard – National Union Representative
  • Jim Trainor – Secretary
  • Pat LaScala – Business Agent
  • Donna Sharron – Healthcare Coordinator
  • Janice Reed – Chief Steward, Arms Acres
  • Michele DeMarco – Steward, Arms Acres
  • Arlene Ricci – Steward, Arms Acres
  • Frank Lanktree – Steward, Conifer Park
  • Janice Baird – Steward, Conifer Park
  • Kathy Brindle – Steward, Conifer Park 

Thank you for your input and support.

Verizon Tape

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August 16, 11:00 PM

Transcript: Executive VP Angel Feliciano

The unions’ committees continued to review the proposals by the company and all the information we have received from the company. We are scheduled to resume talks tomorrow.

Today we filed unfair labor practice charges at the NLRB in Manhattan against Verizon for unilaterally changing the way our members got paid last Thursday. Our members were sent to places other than their regular reporting location to pick up their paychecks. Some members had to drive many extra miles to get their checks. Verzion did this to harass our members on strike and to cost them money. Verizon is also refusing to pay disability to members on sick leave when the strike began if they had not yet reached their eighth day of absence. This too was done unilaterally for the purpose of harassing our members. Verizon has also told the Union that they will not pay people for scheduled vacation time during the strike. Again, they did this unilaterally for the purpose of making it difficult for striking members.

Verizon’s actions violate the National Labor Relations Board in two ways. These actions were taken without bargaining with the Union; they were also done to make things more difficult for our striking members. As such these actions are unlawful.

An Open Letter To Lowell McAdams

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 Local 1101, CWA
275 Seventh Avenue (17th Floor) New York, NY 10001
(212) 633-2666 FAX: (212) 633-8337  
E-Mail: feliciano@cwa1101.org
Angel Feliciano, Executive Vice-President

An open letter to Lowell McAdams;

In your series of “Hard Hitting” ads, you bring up a number of valid points, Lowell, so let’s discuss them. 

You mention that our contracts were negotiated when people still used rotary phones. That’s true, Lowell, you were 7 years old when we negotiated our first contract in 1961. But our contract has grown and evolved as the technology and the corporation have grown. Our contract is the product of many negotiations, many sacrifices, and, yes Lowell, many cooperative decisions. It is the product of sweat, and tears, and, yes Lowell, blood – in 1989 one of your scabs killed one of our picketers, do you even know the name Gerry Horgan?

You say that Verizon employees should contribute more toward Health care, How many months have you spent on a picket line to pay for those benefits? How many times have you deferred your wages to pay for your benefits?  Ivan and his wife will get free medical benefits for life, probably you too! Six thousand dollars in premiums may not be a lot to you, after all, at your pay rate it’s a few minutes of your time, but to a single parent, or a head of a household struggling to meet their bills, to feed their family, to care for them, it could make the difference between the American Dream or the American nightmare. Our children are not born with a silver spoon in their mouths; they are born hungry for a piece of the American dream.

Yes, Lowell, a very small number of workers get free medical, but, is that something to be proud of? In the world’s richest, most powerful country the health care delivery system ranks 37th in the world, below countries like Costa Rica, Chile, Cyprus, and Iceland, because of greedy people like you. It’s not something to be proud of when workers must choose between needed treatment and paying their mortgage, when senior citizens must choose between eating or getting their needed medications.

You talk about inflexible work rules, but neglect to mention that they were put in place to stop abuses.  Not one dot, not one comma, not one sentence in our contract was put there because of your fair and ethical treatment of our Members. Yes, Lowell we have Job security. Do you know why it’s there? Does incentive regulation mean anything to you? Ask Ivan about not being able to get it without our help.  That was part of the price we paid for that job security. Without it you and the rest of the sharks that run this company would hire and fire at will to manipulate your bottom line, since we know that human life means very little to the bottom line. 

You mention in your ads how much you care and want to serve your customers, is that why you’ve abandoned your copper network, which serves all of your customers in one capacity or another? Is that why you have allowed repair and installation times to escalate through the roof? Is that why you’ve chosen to skim the cream, and ignore residents throughout the state who want and need Fios? Is that why our customers must deal with contract employees in India and the Philippines who neither know or understand their needs?

Lowell, do you even know the term “Ma Bell”? Do you know where that comes from? Does it matter that at one time our company (yes Lowell, it’s our too!) was considered a benevolent employer who took care of its people? That’s before the sharks came. Do you even know the credo “No job is so important and no service is so urgent that we cannot take time to perform our work safely”, yet today we work with dilapidated trucks, broken equipment and tools, deteriorated and abandoned poles, lack of safety equipment, and so on?

Lowell, you forget to mention the BILLIONS in profits you make, and invest overseas. You forget to mention your $10 BILLION dollar payment to Vodafone. Do you know how many contracts that would pay for? How many hungry children that would feed? How many jobs that could create in this country?

Let’s not forget that it was core money that paid to build your wireless network, paid for mergers and acquisitions, and continues to pay for your Fios build.

One last point, Lowell, this letter was not written by a multi-million dollar hack for a PR firm, it was written by an individual whose heart still has the capacity to love, to care, to dream – does yours?

Executive Vice-President, 
Angel Feliciano
Local 1101, CWA

Click here to download the letter.

Regional Bargaining Report # 32

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Monday, August 15, 2011  11:30 PM     CWA District 1/IBEW Local 2213 and IBEW New England Regional Committees met today at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, NY. The union committees reviewed some of the proposals by the company as well as the information we have received from the company. We are scheduled to resume talks tomorrow.  

Local 1103 –Tribute to Gerry Horgan   On the 22nd anniversary of Gerry Horgan’s death, Local 1103 held a tribute to Gerry at the location where Gerry was killed 22 years ago. Several hundred members attended the tribute and listened to Local 1103’s Fran Groton describe the day that Gerry died. Fran did a great job reminding everyone of the facts surrounding Gerry’s death so that we will never forget the sacrifice that was made by Gerry Horgan while walking the picket line during the strike of 1989. Every Local participated in a moment of silence at Noon today. CWA will never forget Gerry Horgan and his sacrifice.      

 Keep up the amazing work you are doing. Your efforts will make the difference in fighting back the Company’s retrogressive demands for unprecedented givebacks. The Picket lines and mobilized picketing has never been better.  

 We will not allow VERIZON to destroy the Middle Class  

Spread the Word we are fighting for the Middle-Class Against Corporate Greed

19 Members of Congress Tell VZ to Bargain Fairly

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To date, 19 members of Congress, the governor of Maryland, and dozens of state legislators have sent letters calling on Verizon to negotiate in good faith. From Representative Barney Frank (MA-04):

“As a Verizon landline customer, I have no objection whatsoever to the fact that decent wages and working conditions for your employees are part of the bill I pay…. Both as a public official and as a consumer I reject the notion that America can only provide economic services for ourselves at the expense of fairness to working people.”

Visit our website to read more letters

CWA Defense Fund Will Protect Strikers and Families

Members recently received letters from Verizon announcing that it is canceling group benefit plans for striking workers. This is an action which employers often take in strike situations to try unsettle the resolve of the strikers.

At CWA, we have faced this issue many times in the past and always protected our members and their families so that no one is harmed as a result of management’s ruthless act. This will be true for this strike as well. You will be getting more information through your Local.

Verizon Tape

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Transcript: Executive VP Angel Feliciano
Monday, August 15, 2011

Your bargaining Committees met today at the Rye Town Hilton. The union committees reviewed some of the proposals by the company as well as the information we have received from the company. We are scheduled to resume talks tomorrow.

Keep up the amazing work you are doing. Your efforts will make the difference in fighting back the Company and their new poster child.

We will not allow Verizon to destroy the middle class.

Stay United!

Regional Bargaining Report # 31

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Sunday, August 14, 2011 10 PM

CWA District 1/IBEW Local 2213 and IBEW New England Regional Committees met with the Company today at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, NY. The Union had more questions for the company regarding some of their proposal that were discussed yesterday. The company asked for a recess to research these questions so that they could answer our questions and concerns. We are scheduled to resume talks tomorrow morning.

Moment of Silence – Tomorrow at Noon

Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of Gerry Horgan’s death. Local 1103 is having a wreath laying ceremony which they do each year at the location where Gerry was run down. We would like a moment of silence at Noon tomorrow at every Picket Location. Every Local should remind their members of the Day that Gerry died while picketing during the “Strike of 1989” and honor his death with a moment of silence. CWA will never forget Gerry Horgan and his sacrifice.

Keep up the amazing work you are doing. Your efforts will make the difference in fighting back the Company’s retrogressive demands for unprecedented givebacks. The Picket lines and mobilized picketing has never been better.

We will not allow VERIZON to destroy the Middle Class

Stay Strong – Stay United

Mobilize! – Mobilize! – Mobilize!

Moment Of Silence For Brother Gerry Horgan, Noon On Monday, August 15

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Aug 14, 2011

Local 1103 Chief Steward Gerry Horgan was taken away from his family and friends 22 years ago on August 15, 1989. He succumbed to the injuries he sustained after being run down by a scab while fighting for medical benefits from a greedy NYNEX Corporation. We wear red in solidarity and to always remember our fallen brother.

The 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, leaving a wife and two small daughters.

Today, many members only know Gerry Horgan as a victim of an unfortunate event that happened during the 4-month long strike. Gerry was much more; he was a husband, a father, a son, and a dear friend to many CWA members. He was a natural born leader and the epitome of what a union representative should be. Gerry has been missed these past 22 years.

Local 1103 invites all CWA members to join us in Valhalla, NY, for our annual wreathlaying ceremony to pay tribute to his sacrifice, or by taking a moment of silence at 12:00 pm wherever you may be.