Our health care system is broken. It may be working for greedy insurance and drug companies – but it sure is not working for workers, retirees or employers. What ails the system can’t be fixed at the bargaining table.
In 1989, along with many of our Union brothers and sister across the country, the CWA was on strike against Bell Atlantic. This strike was successful providing the language which assured us all the work in the outside plant associated with the fiber network. It was a long 18-day strike buy we stood strong and we still enjoy many of the protections that we achieved during that strike. The Company looks at a strike as business as usual and in a very impersonal manner but this is our livelihood and it affects not just us but our families as well. A strike is never easy and it is always our last resort to protect our future.
One of our members walking the picket line was E. Gerald Hogan, Chief Steward, CWA Local 1103. On August 15, 1989, a Thursday morning, Gerry Hogan was killed. His death was a result from injuries he sustained when he was run down by a "scab" as he walked picket duty. The driver of the vehicle which killed him was a manger's daughter who was working as a "scab" during the strike.
In the CWA's long storied history, he is the only member to be killed on a picket line.
The idea started small, we asked all of our members to wear red on Thursday to remind the Company of the blood they had spilled and to show support for our fallen brother. But it quickly spread nationwide as a sign of solidarity every Thursday at CWA locations across the country a sea of red has become an ongoing sign of solidarity. Wearing red is a simple but effective way to show the Company that we stand together as a Union. We all have personal lives and beliefs but in the workplace every member needs to share the same goal, better wages, benefits, job security, and respect in the workplace.
No company that we represent can take away the wages and benefits that we have fought so hard to achieve when we stand together. Our solidarity will make these companies prosperous and provide good jobs for generations to come buy only when we stand united.
Solidarity is not just an idea, It is a belief that together we can protect and improve our way of life.
At the May membership meeting, a motion was made and passed to suspend regular membership meetings for the summer months, June, July, August. Have a great summer...
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Next meeting
September 17, 2009
7:00 PM Membership meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at the union hall
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Cities Credit Union
Serving CWA (Qwest) Members
since 1936
Communications Workers of America Local 7201, AFL-CIO, CLC 245 E Roselawn Ave. Ste 35 St. Paul, Mn. 55117 Office: 651-774-7201 Fax: 651-774-1407 Latest News 4/24/09 – Rehospitalizations cost billions, study finds 04/23/09 – The human toll of the recession on health care 04/22/09 – Insurers slow to pay claims of injured U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan 04/21/09 – A scary tour of the American health system 04/17/09 – CWA’s 2009 health care campaign: ‘An extraordinary moment’ when there’s a chance to fix the systemcwa7201@qwest.net
