Hundreds of Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions

Here are Bargaining Digest highlights from Jan. 7–11. The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

Organizing
CWA, AT&T: Some 600 AT&T customer service representatives in Dover, N.H., have voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1298, becoming the largest union local to organize in New Hampshire since 1966, when 950 workers organized at the Granite Rubber Co. with the Pulp and Sulphate Union.
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King Day Celebration Combines Civil Rights, Labor and Political Strength

by James Parks

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. told striking sanitation workers that we all are “tied together in a single garment of destiny.”

"If one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we’re all down. It is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive slave wages."

With studies showing that a shocking 45 percent of African Americans who were born in the late 1960s into middle-class families have fallen into the bottom 20 percent of income, more than 600 union and civil rights activists are gathering in Memphis this week to reaffirm their commitment to making King's dream a reality.
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Jan. 26th: Building a Movement: Vermont Workers Justice Summit

Building a Movement: Vermont Workers Justice Summit
9 – 2, Jan. 26th
Davis Center, UVM Burlington

Download a brochure in PDF format: [ General | For Healthcare Workers ]

Sponsors

Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1343
Child Labor Education & Action (CLEA)
Communication Workers of America (CWA)
Ironworkers Local 7
Senator Bernie Sanders
Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), UVM Chapter
Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), Green Mountain College Chapter
United Academics UPV/AFT
United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 267
United Professions of Vermont, American Federation of Teachers (UPV/AFT)
United Staff at UVM
Vermont AFL-CIO
Vermont Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals Local 5221, UPV/AFT
Vermont Livable Wage Campaign — Peace & Justice Center
Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA)
Vermont Workers' Center — Jobs With Justice
Washington-Orange-Lamoille Counties Central Labor Council AFL-CIO

Show Sponsors

Agenda

8:45-9:10	REGISTRATION
9:15-9:50	WELCOMING SESSION Organizing for Our Future Special Guest: Larry Cohen, President, Communications Workers of America
10-10:50	WORKSHOP SESSION 1 Developing An Economy That Works For All (Traven Leyshon, President Washington-Orange-Lamoille County Central Labor Council AFL-CIO and Director of Highroad Vermont) Defending Social Services & Fighting Privatization (Ed Stanak, former president of the VT State Employees Association) Using The Media Effectively In Your Campaigns (Darren Allen, Vermont NEA & Doug Gibson, VSEA) Lessons from the Verizon Stop The Sale Campaign & The Next Steps in Universal Broadband Access in New England (Larry Cohen, CWA and Mike Spillane IBEW Local 2326, goes for both sessions) Building a Campaign for Livable wages (Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, former director of the VT Livable Wage Campaign and organizer with Vermont NEA) Getting Started: Basics in beginning to organize for change in our communities (James Haslam, Director of Vermont Workers' Center and Phil Fiermonte, longtime community & labor organizer) Global Trade, Outsourcing & Workers Organizing Across Borders (Dan Brush, organizer with Teamsters Local 1L, Earl Mongeon and Lee Conrad from Alliance @ IBM) How to survive and thrive in a career in healthcare (Jen Henry, RN, president of the Fletcher Allen nurses union)
11-11:50	WORKSHOP SESSION 2 Strategies in Starting to Organize At Your Workplace (James Haslam, Vermont Workers' Center) Labor Mobilizing For Elections (Jan Schaffer, AFL-CIO) The Labor Movement and the fight for quality universal healthcare (Traven Leyshon, Washington-Orange-Lamoille CLC, Highroad Vermont) People vs. Money: Grassroots Lobbying To Win Legislation (Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, former director, VLWC and organizer, Vermont NEA) Creating A Beautiful Revolution: Using Art In Our Campaigns (Jessica Morley, President UE Local 203, & members of the Vermont Workers' Center Art Committee) No Child Left Behind, Act 82 & the Future of Public Education Funding in Vermont (Angelo Dorta and Darren Allen of Vermont NEA) Starting From Scratch: How to start organizing at your school (Kate Kandelstein, UVM SLAP and other SLAP and CLEA leaders)
12-12:45	BROWN BAG WORKING LUNCH A People's History of Healthcare in the United States: Presentation by Jonathan Kissam, Vermont Workers' Center Education Committee
12:45-2:00	PLENARY: Building a Movement for Healthcare for All, Livable Wages and Workers' Rights Facilitated by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders Panel includes: JEN HENRY, President, UPV/AFT ANGELO DORTA, President, Vermont NEA ANGELA DIGIULIO, Student Labor Action Project LARRY COHEN, President, Communications Workers of America (CWA)
2pm	GROUP PHOTO and MARCH Participants are invited to join the Many Struggles, One Movement march, part of a Global Day of Action: Act Together for Another World. For more information, visit wsf2008vt.blogspot.com

Show Agenda

Register

COPE/LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE 2008

Sunday, January 27th

Place: Burlington High School, 52 Institute Road, Burlington
Time: Registration 9 a.m. - Meeting 10 a.m.
Cost: $30 per person in advance - $35 after Jan. 18th
Includes lunch, morning coffee and danish