Communications Workers Of America Local 6508 AFL-CIO, CLC

Dear CWA6508 Loal,

One of the things that constantly amazes me about my CWA brothers and sisters is your ability to come through in times of need.

Right now is one of those times.

The relief effort in Haiti is less than two weeks old, and aid workers are racing against time to prevent further loss of life. CWA is partnering with Save the Children to help provide critical supplies to quake survivors -- particularly children, who are most vulnerable.

Help make sure Save the Children has the resources it needs to continue these efforts. Any amount you can afford will help save lives -- click here to make your donation right now and make sure to put CWA in the Company/Organization Name field:

https://secure.savethechildren.org/01/wpg_e_haiti_earthquake_10

Journalist Tony Winton, president of the News Media Guild, TNG-CWA Local 31222, has been on the ground in Haiti documenting the disaster and the relief effort.

The devastation and suffering in Haiti is beyond words and images. From a people that had next to nothing, the earthquake took everything, with very long odds against the real threats of disease and starvation. A sustained relief effort -- lasting years or decades -- is needed to avoid these, and to give the Haitian people a chance to build a sustainable way of life.

Save the Children has worked continuously in Haiti since 1978, and after last week's earthquake it began an immediate large-scale relief and recovery effort. They are well suited to undertake the kind of sustained relief effort Tony says is needed, but they need our help in order to do that.

Your contribution will help Save the Children deliver food, water, shelter materials, medicines, hygiene kits, and other essentials during the first critical weeks of the post-disaster period.

Then, as conditions allow and children's survival needs are being met, Save the Children will also use your generous gift to initiate and sustain long-term recovery programs that address the health, education, protection and well being of children in Haiti.

Please join your CWA brothers and sisters in supporting these lifesaving efforts. Click here to make your contribution:

https://secure.savethechildren.org/01/wpg_e_haiti_earthquake_10

Responding to a disaster of this magnitude can seem overwhelming. But with such tremendous need for aid, any support you can provide will make a real difference.

Thank you for stepping up once again for those in need.

In solidarity,

Annie Hill
Executive Vice President

New Era Cap Workers Need Your Help!

Across our union, CWAers can make a difference and help save jobs at New Era Cap Company. The challenge: Stop the shutdown of one of two remaining New Era facilities in Demopolis, Ala., and Derby, N.Y. CWA represents workers at both locations; New Era now is shutting its Jackson, Ala., plant.

CWAers are contacting elected officials, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and other groups, asking them to press universities and colleges to buy only American-made ball caps for their sports teams and sales to students. CWA activists also can contact their local university and alumni groups to spread the word that U.S. colleges should buy only American-made ball caps, and that means caps made by New Era.

New Era says because of the economic downturn, its production of Major League Baseball caps can be done in one facility. In a letter to New York's U.S. senators, representatives and state legislators, CWA District 1 Area Director Dave Palmer said CWA wants both facilities to remain open and that means increasing demand for the U.S.-made ball caps.

Palmer asked the lawmakers to contact university and college leaders and ask them to require all school-licensed products to be American-made.

USAS played a major role in supporting New Era workers in 2002 when members of CWA Local 14177 were forced into a long strike.

Don't Tax Our Health Care!

Leading economists and 190 Members of Congress agree: the proposed tax on health care benefits is bad public policy that will hurt millions of middle-income and working Americans.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Representative Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and economists Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute debunked the myths that supporters have been spreading about the excise tax during a media teleconference Jan. 6.

CWA has been leading the fight against the tax on health care plans which is included in the Senate's health care reform plan. The House of Representatives has it right, CWA President Larry Cohen has said, funding health care reform through an employer mandate that requires employers that currently don't pay to provide coverage for workers, and a surtax on the very wealthy.

Courtney pointed out that 190 House Democrats have joined the efforts to stop the tax on health care plans.

Bivens pointed out that the tax actually will hit small businesses, older workers and those most in need of health care the hardest, not the so-called "Cadillac" plans that tax supporters want to affect. That's because size and geographic location of the workplace and age and health care needs of workers, not quality of coverage, are the factors that raise overall plan costs, he said.

For the latest on CWA's campaign, go to www.healthcarevoices.org.