Communications Workers Of America Local 6508 AFL-CIO, CLC

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ACS/XEROX Rehires Fired Union Activists

EZ Pass workers at the Staten Island call center moved fast to protest Xerox's firing of 14 union activists; the company has rehired the workers.

Fourteen EZ Pass union activists who were fired without warning March 8 at the company's Staten Island, N.Y. call center by ACS/Xerox, their employer, got their jobs back this week thanks to a big public backlash that targeted the company's brazen and illegal tactics.

Xerox's CEO Ursula Burns got swamped with 5,000 e-mails and calls from angry CWAers, elected state officials, and other activists protesting the company's actions.

One day after the 14 workers joined with other employees in a minute-long stand-up show of solidarity to demand that management begin contract negotiations, they were marched, one after another, into the Human Resources department where they were fired and ordered off the premises, escorted by security.

The EZ Pass workers won representation with CWA Local 1102 last August, but ACS/Xerox appealed the election and has refused to bargain.

Frank Buonvicino, an 8-year EZ Pass employee, was told, "I know you are one of the union ringleaders." Other workers said their union activity was mentioned in their termination meetings too. All worked in EZ Pass's 15-person TAGs' department.

Mobilization by the call center workers played a critical role in forcing the company to back down. After the workers were fired, more than 40 of their coworkers demonstrated outside the building during the lunch break, carrying signs saying, "Just practicing."

"Management tried to fire all of us, but thanks to our collective power, they panicked and rehired us," said Buonvicino. "We will stick together no matter what."

Xerox faces unfair labor practice charges over the firings and its refusal to bargain with the workers. Follow the workers' campaign at www.notsofastezpass.org.

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CWA Members at AT&T Southeast Ratify New Contract

CWAers in District 3 ratified a new three-year agreement covering 35,000 CWA-represented workers at AT&T Southeast, the BellSouth Telecommunications unit. The settlement was ratified by a 65 percent vote.

Among improvements, the agreement provides for a compounded 9 percent wage increase over the contract term, plus additional increases for workers covered by progression scales. Pension bands will increase by 2 percent in June of each contract year, and the lump sum payout option was retained.

CWA District 3 Vice President Judy Dennis said the contract reflected the union bargaining committee's hard work and determination to negotiate a contract that addressed CWA members' key issues for wages, benefits and other conditions.

"In these very tough economic times, our bargaining team did an exceptional job in improving wages and benefits and making real gains for workers in job security, including new transfer rights and other job rights covering customer service and sales workers," Dennis said.

Mississippi State Workers Put Budget-Slashing Lawmakers on Notice

At a news conference in Jackson, MASE-CWA President Brenda Scott calls on Mississippi lawmakers to look for new solutions to balance the budget, not more cuts in jobs and services. Photo Credit: Gwen Farmer/MASE-CWA

After three years with no raises and new threats of job and benefit cuts, state workers in Mississippi are demanding that legislators balance the budget without putting employees and the people they serve in jeopardy.

"Raising new revenue or using a combination of the rainy day fund and remaining stimulus funds" are two solutions that must be considered, Brenda Scott, president of the Mississippi Alliance of State Employees-CWA, said at a news conference at the state capitol.

Joined by union members, elected officials and community activists, Scott said cutting one agency to fund another is "stealing from Peter to pay Paul," while passing the buck to cities, school districts and college students is "nothing more than tax increases in poor disguise."

Gov. Haley Barbour is waging a fierce campaign against workers, seeking pension fund cuts, big hikes in premiums for pre-Medicare retirees and the right to fire any employee he pleases without regard to seniority, job performance or other factors. "This has got to stop," Scott said. She put legislators on notice that they need to embrace new, pro-worker solutions for balancing the budget.