President Reports

I want to tell you a story and I hope you will read all the way to the end and keep your mind open.

I’m a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. Life membership was given to me as a gift by my Grandfather almost thirty years ago when I was young and learning about how to shoot and be a safe and responsible hunter. I enjoyed the time being in the woods with my father and grandfather through those teenage years prior to starting my career with GTE/Verizon. Even though I have not hunted in probably the last 16 years, my life membership in the NRA has continued and every month I receive a magazine and other correspondence in the mail.

Over the last 20 years or so my mailbox has been inundated with letters from the NRA always asking for contributions. These letters are always well written and the subject is always about how the government and our legislators want to take our guns away. When I was younger and less educated in politics, it was all very believable. The closer to any political election, the more letters I received always asking for money and telling me that certain candidates were going to limit or abolish my right to own guns and hunt.

I think many good Union members believe these appeals from the NRA and are scared into supporting candidates based on the single issue of gun rights. The NRA is very convincing that this is the single most important issue affecting Americans. What is troubling is that the NRA spent almost 3 million dollars in 2011 helping to elect politicians most of who are harmful to working families and labor unions. The politicians who benefit from the NRA’s endorsements have been the same ones who are attacking public sector unions, working to weaken the middle class and helping the one percent to get richer while the rest of us lose protections and benefits.

The good news though is that we don’t have to be single issue voters, through our COPE committee and the central labor council we can become informed about larger issues that affect our work, or benefits, and our paychecks. As good union members it is our duty to pay attention to all the issues that affect our livelihood. We need to work to elect representatives that will stand up for the middle class and fight for a better way of life for everyone.

The West Central Florida Central Labor Council is made up of the many unions who are members of the AFL-CIO. Every election cycle the Council hosts candidate screenings to choose candidates who will work for labor. During these screenings the candidates are asked questions about where they stand on many different issues that affect us all. These screenings are our opportunity to choose the candidates that will do the best job for us as union members and middle class families.

I would like to invite you to come to these candidate screenings and get involved in the process of choosing who we will vote for in the elections later this year. Please don’t cast your vote on a single issue, become informed and think about all the issues we are facing today. Income inequality, unfair tax breaks, attacks on workers, privatization of good government jobs, cuts to education and many other issues are so important. Please let me know if you are willing to get involved and come to the candidate screenings.

Thanks for reading and please give it some thought before you contribute to the NRA or any other organization or candidate without knowing where they stand on all the issues. As for me I’m not sure if I will revoke my life membership, I kind of like the fact that the NRA is spending money that could be used for lobbying to send me junk mail instead.

If you like the outdoors and hunting and fishing be sure to check out the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance as well at http://www.unionsportsmen.org/

In Solidarity,

Erik

As we head into the New Year, there are a couple things we should all be focused on. You have probably already heard or read in the Business Manager’s report that our Local is re-establishing the VOC or Voluntary Organizing Committee. There will be a training class at the hall on Saturday, January 14 for those members who wish to participate. If you are not already signed up please contact your Assistant Business Manager and let them know you are interested. Please come out if you can spare a Saturday. Even if you can’t make the training I urge you to become involved in the VOC, as there will be a definite need for your help in the coming months.

The International has made organizing a priority for the coming year as shown by President Hill’s presentation at the International Convention. Organizing the un-organized is the Mission of the IBEW, a mission to make life better for all. There is strength in unity, strength that allows us to bargain collectively for things like fair treatment, safety, wages and benefits.

As members of the IBEW, we already know the benefits that come from Union membership, but we can help others organize to improve their lives. It is a fact that union members enjoy superior wages and benefits for their abilities, and recent studies show that the rise in inequality here in the U.S. is directly tied to declining union membership. So let’s work together to lift others up the standards provided by good union jobs. If for no other reason, let’s do it because when others thrive they are better able to purchase the products and services we provide, therefore ensuring our success.

The 2012 Florida Legislative Session starts on January 10^th.  IBEW 824 is working with the Florida AFL-CIO and the West Central Florida Federation of Labor to send delegates to Tallahassee throughout the session.  Our delegates will be part of the Working Families Lobby Corps, a grassroots program that allows us to have a voice and fight for the rights of the middle class. If you would like to get involved please talk to our COPE director Jason Smith. We cannot afford to sit back and allow new legislation that harms the working class. Now is the time to let our lawmakers know we need less budget cuts and more investment in the expansion of the middle class.

Awake The State is another grassroots movement dedicated to stopping the assault on the middle class. They will be holding rallies around Florida on January 10^th, please join your fellow union members from all trades at one of the rallies. Go to awakethestate.com and find a rally near you. Also take a minute to follow Awake the State on Facebook and stay up to date on proposed harmful legislation.

It will take a collective effort from all of us to fight for the working class in Florida. If we, as union members, don’t take a stand for the working class, who will?

As I sit down to write this our Sisters and Brothers in the IBEW and the Communications Workers of America have been on strike against Verizon for almost two full days. Our Sisters and Brothers in the North are waging this battle on behalf of all of us. If you do not know, they are the first in a cycle of bargaining which will come to us in 2013. Whatever the outcome of these negotiations it will eventually affect us all.

Many of us can only imagine what it is like to be out of work and on strike. These strong members are living it. Think about not receiving a paycheck for weeks and possibly months. Standing on the picket line for more than eight hours a day. Seeing managers and scabs crossing the line to do your work. Putting the welfare of your family at risk to do in your heart what you know is right. It is hard to even imagine that kind of sacrifice.

Like many of you, I am so proud of our Sisters and Brothers for taking on this fight against Corporate greed and not allowing Verizon to destroy the middle class. My heart and soul goes out to these members on strike and I find myself thinking about them constantly. I know many of you are thinking of them as well and asking what can we do to help.

Our Local has already started with “UNITY” ribbons and wearing black to work today to show our support. I am sure we will continue to do other things in the workplace which show our support, but we need to do even more.

I feel that one of the most important things we can do is take our message to the uninformed. We need to be talking with our friends, relatives, neighbors, anyone who we come in contact with. There is so much anti-union sentiment out there right now, and it comes from the uninformed. Please take our message to your facebook status as well. Use every means you can to make people aware that this is a fight for the Middle Class. Use the facts about how Verizon is a very successful business with net profits of over $19 Billion over the last four years. Tell them how the CEO makes $55,000 a day, over 300 times what an average worker earns. Let them know how even while asking for cuts that would amount to $20,000 a year for the average worker, the new CEO received a million dollar raise. We can help by educating everyone we come in contact with, that the unions are only asking for a fair share of the success. There are so many who see us as whining about having to give up a little. They don’t know how we have fought for 50 years and sacrificed to obtain these benefits. Verizon should be a good corporate citizen and invest in America and help rebuild the economy by keeping good jobs. Instead Verizon is trying to destroy the middle class.

Please wear your “UNITY” ribbon everyday, even while not at work. Use it to spark a conversation and take the opportunity to get out the facts. We cannot be there on the picket lines, but we must do our part to get the real story out.

If you need more facts or information so you feel more comfortable talking to people please call me or call the Union Hall.

In Solidarity,

Erik

I have just returned from the Verizon Shareholders Meeting in Little Rock AR. The three management proposals were passed and all seven shareholder proposals were defeated.
Robert and I joined with a large group of CWA members and several IBEW members before the meeting to informational picket and distribute flyers opposing the sale of verizon properties to Frontier. It was great to see the turnout from all the different unions and the support from the public.

The best news from the shareholders meeting was Ivan Seidenberg stating on record that Verizon "has no plans to sell off any other wireline properties." Ivan also stated Verizon expects to have a major presence in the 12 states were they will remain.

The last week in April, Robert Prunn, Danny Alfonso, Josh Saladino and I attended the IBEW Broadcasting, Manufacturing, and Telecommunications conference in New Mexico. The conference started with a meeting of the Telephone Coordinating Council II, which is made up of all Verizon IBEW Locals. I am honored to report that Robert Prunn was elected as Vice-chair of the council. This is a real benefit to the members of our local, as we now have a strong voice on the council. Myles Calvey was re-elected as Chair. Ed Starr as Recording Secretary, and Mary Jo Arcuri as Treasurer. Most of the locals were reporting the same issues with Verizon as we are facing here.

During the BMT conference we were addressed by International President Ed Hill and Secretary-Treasurer Lindell Lee on the future of the IBEW. We learned what we need to do to organize the industry and be the best at what we do. We heard a great presentation by Professor Richard Levins about how organized labor is the answer to turning around the recession we are in now.
We also learned about the future of the Telecommunications industry and how it's changing, and about a different type of organizing program that is having great success with satellite tv installers.

Now is the time for us all to work together, to organize new workers, to buy American and look for the Union label, and think about what we can do strengthen the middle class working people in America.

In solidarity,

Erik