CWA DISTRICT 1 NEWSLETTER | NOVEMBER 1
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ELECTION 2016 UPDATE
New Jersey members on the bus to Pennsylvania to knock on doors for Hillary Clinton.
Our opponents may have the money, but we have the people. CWA members are out in force and putting in the time to get out the vote to elect pro-labor candidates this November.
Thanks to the locals who joined us this weekend in Pennsylvania to door knock for Hillary Clinton: New York Locals 1101, 1102 and 1180 and New Jersey Locals 1032, 1033, 1036, 1037, 1038, 1039, 1040 and 1081.
Election Day is November 8 and early voting has started in many states. Find CWA-endorsed candidates in your area here: http://cwavotes.org/our-candidates
Want to help get out the vote. Email us: D1Volunteer@cwa-union.org
CWA Local 1102 getting out the vote for Hillary Clinton with the kids in Levittown, Pennsylvania this weekend.
Left: CWA President Chris Shelton and CWA D1 Vice President Dennis Trainor with CWA Local 1101 members ready to door knock in Pennsylvania. Right: CWA Next Gen members in PA
CWA Local 1120 master door-knocker, Mason, and his dad GOTV for Tephyr Teachout for U.S. Congress and Terry Gipson for NY State Senate.
CWA Local 1104 door knocking for our CWA brother Anthony Eramo for New York State Assembly in Long Beach! We hope to make history with the first CWA member ever elected to the Assembly.
4 GREAT REASONS FOR CWA MEMBERS TO GET OUT AND VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON *
Clinton speaks with District 1 VP Dennis Trainor on the Verizon strike picket line in New York City.
- She stood with us on the Verizon Strike Picket line.
- She helped ensure our flight attendants were covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act.
- She led the fight to enact the Zadroga 9/11 act, to ensure that first responders and other workers, like the CWA members who worked for weeks to repair the telephone lines at Ground Zero, receive the health care they deserve.
- A Trump presidency would be a massive disaster for working people.
* If you live in New York and Connecticut make sure you vote on the Working Families Party ballot line to send a message about the issues that are important to you!
EMPOWERING SHOP STEWARDS IN NJ
BANK WORKERS CONTINUE TO MAKE HEADLINES
“The reason I’m not shutting up is that I’ve realized how many employees were in the same position as me.”
-- Julie Miller, banker and manager in Allentown, Pa., 2005 to 2013
The Committee for Better Banks is making headlines again with more media outlets talking about big banks' shady sales practices and damaging workplace culture in wake of the Wells Fargo scandal.
The New York Times profiled former Wells Fargo employees including Committee for Better Banks member Julie Miller, detailing how the bank's aggressive sales quotas took a toll on front line bank workers.
Bloomberg BNA highlighted the work of CWA and the Committee for Better Banks.
The Committee is bringing together bank workers, community and consumer advocacy groups, and labor organizations to improve conditions in the banking industry.
Organizations involved include: Make the Road New York, New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Minnesotans for Fair Economy, New Jersey Communities United, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Jobs with Justice and local affiliates, and UNI Global Union.
Learn more about the coalition and get involved here: BetterBanks.org
MOMENTIVE BARGAINING UPDATE
CWA President Chris Shelton set a strike date of Nov. 2, at noon, at Momentive Performance Materials in Waterford, N.Y. About 700 members of IUE-CWA Local 81359 at Momentive have been mobilizing for a fair contract, but Momentive has made even more extreme demands for cuts in benefits.
The IUE-CWA Momentive members voted to authorize a strike in late summer, and the CWA Executive Board also voted for the strike.
JACOBIN MAGAZINE EDITORIAL STAFF JOIN NEWSGUILD
Congratulations to editorial staff at Jacobin, a Brooklyn-based print and online magazine that offers socialist perspectives on politics and culture, who voted to join The NewsGuild of New York, TNG-CWA Local 31003.
Jacobin reaches an online audience of over 1 million a month, with a print circulation for its quarterly magazine of 20 thousand.
“This past year Jacobin’s ideas have reached more people than ever before,” said Elizabeth Mahony, an Assistant Editor at Jacobin. “It’s important for people to see that those ideas are reflected in our everyday practices at the magazine, and that we’re in solidarity with a wider labor movement that is increasingly made up of unconventional workplaces.”
ORGANIZING WIN FOR CWA LOCAL 1170
CWA Local 1170 now represents all employees working at the Department of Public Works in the Town of Canandaigua, NY. The unit is 17 people. Congratulations and welcome to our new members.
BILLING COMPLAINTS SPIKE AS VERIZON WIRELESS CUTS CALL CENTER JOBS 
Verizon Wireless is cutting customer service jobs as customer complains spike. Verizon Wireless customers filed more complaints against the carrier in September than they had in the last eight months combined, an analysis by the Cleveland Plain Dealer found. More than 2,000 customers in total filed billing complaints against the company.
What’s more, Verizon Wireless is grossly overcharging customers for data service. A Florida mother, for example, received a monthly bill from Verizon Wireless for more than $9,000.
Leadership, Stewards Training, and Skill Building at Recent Local Conferences
MASSIVE Mobilization by NewsGuild-CWA Tells New York Times: TIME IS RUNNING OUT