CWA Collective Briefing October 8, 2019

CORRECTION: We want to apologize! In the last issue of the Collective Briefing, we failed to mention that mainline American agents also played a key role in efforts to secure provisions in the FAA Reauthorization Bill to protect agents from assault. Thank you for all of your hard work!

HAPPENING NOW

CWAers Running for Elected Office

CWAers are continuing to build political power for working people by running for elected office. They are out to set the record straight and form a democracy that is truly by and for the people — especially working people! Take a look at some of the CWAers who are running for elected office in 2019:

Massachusetts
Fred Hogan (City Council – Ward 6, Lynn, MA) CWA-IUE 201

North Carolina
Yvonne Kinston (City Council, Fayetteville, NC) CWA 3680

New Jersey
Judy Ward (City Council, Pleasantville, NJ) CWA 1000
Patti Harris ( Mayor, Barrington, NJ) CWA 1014
Victoria Pacheco (City Council, Keyport, NJ) CWA 1032
Rue Ryan (Committee, Lumberton, NJ) CWA 1036
Mark Kruszczynski (Board of Education, North Plainfield, NJ) CWA 1036
Danielle Spinner (Board of Education, Willingboro, NJ) CWA 1036
Allison Friedman (Assembly – District 13, Bayshore Area in Monmouth County, NJ) CWA 1037
Joseph Hiles (City Council, Woodstown, NJ) CWA 1085
Nelson Carney (Board of Education, Woodstown-Pilesgrove, NJ) CWA 1085

New York
Chris Ryan (Onondaga County Legislator – District 8, Syracuse, NY) CWA 1123
Elysia Roman (Town Council – Ward 2, Poughkeepsie, NY) CWA 1120
Dennis Leahy (Town Supervisor, Montgomery, NY) CWA 1107
Bob Milone (Superintendent of Highways, Clarkstown, NY) CWA 1107
Wendy Nichols (City Council – District 6, Elmira, NY) CWA 1111

Ohio
Elizabeth Brown (City Council At Large, Columbus, OH) Former CWA 4502

CALLS TO ACTION

Stop Violence Against Health Care Workers

Write to your Representative and tell them to Co-Sponsor (H.R. 1309), the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act of 2019. Click HERE to submit your letter.

Health Care and social service workers face a disproportionate amount of violence at work. Nurses, emergency room physicians, social workers, psychiatric facility aides, and other health care and social

service workers report that violence — most often from patients and those accompanying them — results in injury, loss of productivity, and serious safety concerns. In 2016, a study done by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that rates of violence against health care workers are 12 times higher than the rates of the overall workforce.

In response to these serious concerns, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) has re-introduced H.R. 1309, the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. This bipartisan legislation will require the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to issue a workplace violence prevention standard requiring employers in the health care and social service sectors to develop and implement a plan to protect their employees from workplace violence.

The legislation was voted out of the House Education and Labor Committee in June. Now, CWA members and other allies are calling on leadership to bring the bill to a vote on the House floor!

LABOR CHAMPIONS

Congresswoman Katie Porter (CA-45)

Congresswoman Katie Porter represents the 45th district of the state of California. Porter grew up in a small farming community in Iowa and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2001. In 2012, she was appointed the California independent monitor of banks. As the independent monitor, she oversaw a $25 billion dollar mortgage settlement that put an end to dual tracking, the predatory practice of foreclosing on borrowers who are currently applying for a foreclosure alternative.

In 2019, she was the first Democrat elected to represent her district of south-central Orange County. The Congresswoman has taken greedy corporations head-on. She confronted JPMorgan Chase CEO about why Chase underpays entry-level workers while paying its CEO $31 million per year and has continued pushing to help raise wages for frontline workers at Chase. Porter stood with Kaiser Permanente workers on strike for fair wages and called on prosecutors to act more aggressively against companies that engage in wage theft and other cheating of workers. She co-sponsored key legislation to help workers, including the Protecting the Right to Organize (“PRO”) Act, the Raise the Wage Act, the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act, and the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act. Hers is the kind of leadership we need to pass legislation that helps working families.

A DEEP DIVE

Stop Passenger Service Agent Assault

GM Manages To Find $22 Million To Pay CEO As It Closes 5 Plants And Lays Off 15,000 Workers [Article]
Yes, America Is Rigged Against Workers [Article]
White House Should Worry That The 2017 Tax Cuts Did Not Deliver The Promised Growth [Article]