![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/271\/982\/original\/1_Shelton_WaysandMeans_ATT_Testimony_300.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
CWA President Chris Shelton testified on Wednesday before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee at a hearing examining how the promises Republican leaders and corporations made on job creation and raising wages have not been fulfilled after the passage of the tax bill. <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
CWA President Chris Shelton testified on Wednesday before the\nU.S. House Ways and Means Committee at a hearing examining how the promises\nRepublican leaders and corporations made on job creation and raising wages have\nnot been fulfilled after the passage of the tax bill. <\/em>CWA President Chris Shelton testified<\/a> on Wednesday before\nthe U.S. House Ways and Means Committee at a hearing examining how the promises\nRepublican leaders and corporations made on job creation and raising wages have\nnot been fulfilled after the passage of the tax bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “One need look no\nfurther than our experience at AT&T for a prime example of how those\npromises have not become reality,” Shelton told Congress. “AT&T\nCEO Randall Stephenson was one of the most visible and aggressive supporters of\nthe corporate tax cuts. In his public statements in the media and to employees,\nhe promised that AT&T would create at least 7,000 new jobs if the tax cuts\nwere to become law. Instead, since December of 2017 when the tax law was passed\nby Congress and signed by the President, AT&T has eliminated 12,321 union\njobs.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In advance of the hearing, CWA released a new analysis<\/a> suggesting that after refunds,\nAT&T paid no cash income taxes in 2018 and slashed capital investments by\n$1.4 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shelton brought with him\nhundreds of hand-written letters that CWA members who work at AT&T had\nwritten to members of the Committee and read from some of them at the hearing.\nRepresentative Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) noted that he had met with CWA members in\nFlint, Mich., and received thousands of letters. “Unless the focus is on\nhow we strengthen the American worker, and not how we reward those people at\nthe top who are already doing quite well, we are going to see more [layoffs].\nThis Tax Cuts and Jobs Act<\/em>\nwas a jobs cut and tax act.” Kildee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shelton pointed out that\nAT&T is not the only employer that has not shared the benefits of its tax\nwindfall with its employees, citing General Motors, American Airlines, and\nWells Fargo as other corporations benefiting from tax cuts while\nunder-investing in employees and cutting jobs. He urged Congress to call for\nAT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and other corporate executives to testify and\nexplain exactly what they did with their tax windfall and what is really behind\nthe job cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Watch President Shelton’s testimony here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the passage of the\nRepublican corporate tax cut bill, companies like AT&T have failed to raise\nwages for their employees, and have instead funneled their massive profits from\nthe tax bill into stock buybacks that only benefit executives and large\nshareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin <\/em>(right) hosted a hearing on Tuesday to\nhighlight the effects of these harmful corporate stock buybacks. At the\nhearing, CWA Local 4621 President Joe Olson <\/em>(left) told Senators how AT&T has been\nlaying off thousands of workers and keeping wages stagnant while pumping money\ninto stock buybacks. <\/em>U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin\n(D-Wis.) hosted a hearing on Tuesday to highlight the effects of these harmful\ncorporate stock buybacks. At the hearing, CWA Local 4621 President Joe Olson of\nAppleton, Wis., told Senators how AT&T has been laying off thousands of\nworkers and keeping wages stagnant while pumping money into stock buybacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This Thursday, AT&T\nwill be closing its call center in Appleton, putting over 20 of my colleagues\nout of work,” Olson said. “This call center has been shrinking for\nyears now, as there were almost 400 workers at the call center just a decade\nago. You can imagine what the loss of 400 good jobs has done to a pretty small\ncommunity like Appleton.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Olson pointed out to the\nSenators that last year, AT&T conducted $609 million in stock buybacks,\nwhich alone could have funded 6,625 jobs. Meanwhile, AT&T has cut more than\n12,000 jobs across the country over the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “For too long, corporate\nexecutives like those at AT&T have decided to prioritize making their\nshort-term share price as high as possible instead of helping the workers who\nare the backbone of the company. I urge Congress to stop these malicious stock\nbuybacks and help create jobs to benefit communities like mine,” Olson\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CWA members are supporting Sen. Baldwin’s bill<\/a>, the Reward Work Act<\/em>, to rein\nin corporate stock buybacks and empower workers to have a say in how their\ncompany’s profits are spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AT&T Mobility\n“Green” Contract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With AT&T unwilling to\nreach a fair agreement at the bargaining table, CWA members at AT&T\nMobility in Puerto Rico are asking the public to join them in their fight by\nsigning a new petition urging the company to settle a fair contract that offers\nimprovements and makes workers’ lives better and more secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The petition highlights how\nAT&T Mobility workers in Puerto Rico are making less than their coworkers\nin the mainland United States, and their fight for more affordable healthcare\nand retirement security, as well as job security protections to stop the\ncompany from sending their work to other countries.\n\nShow your support by\nsigning the petition, which you can find by clicking here for English<\/a>, or here for Espa\u00f1ol<\/a>.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advancing Justice –\nAsian Law Caucus (ALC)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A member of the News Media\nGuild\/TNG-CWA Local 31222 has successfully petitioned the Associated Press<\/em> to\nupdate its Stylebook entry on so-called “right-to-work” laws to\nensure that reporting on these laws accurately conveys the meaning of the\nanti-worker term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “‘Right-to-work’ is a\nloaded and inaccurate phrase,” News Media Guild Vice President and AP\njournalist Mike Warren wrote. “By endorsing the use of right-to-work\nwithout quote marks, the AP is adopting a public relations device created in\nopposition to the labor movement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Stylebook editors updated\nthe “right-to-work” entry to recommend that the phrase be used in\ndirect quotes or with quote marks for the purpose of explaining the term, and\nadvises, “Avoid using this non-neutral phrase generically and without\ndefinition since employees covered by union contracts can freely work with or\nwithout such laws.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The change not only affects\nthe way this phrase is used by AP, but will also apply to the many publications\nthat subscribe to the AP and use the Stylebook to govern their usage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At a hearing before the Trade subcommittee of the U.S. House\nWays & Means Committee, CWA’s Director of Legislation, Politics, and\nInternational Affairs Shane Larson testified on how the Trump Administration’s\nNAFTA 2.0 falls short for working families. <\/em>At a hearing on Tuesday\nbefore the Trade subcommittee of the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee,\nCWA’s Director of Legislation, Politics, and International Affairs Shane Larson testified<\/a> on how the Trump Administration’s\nNAFTA 2.0 falls short for working families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The simple fact is that\nthe current draft of NAFTA 2.0 doesn’t fix NAFTA’s problems, and makes some\neven worse,” Larson said. “Congress must send negotiators back to the\ntable to resolve some of the most egregious problems with this agreement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Larson said that from the\nbeginning of the renegotiation process, CWA asked for language to be included\nto keep good call center jobs in the United States, but the language has not\nbeen added to the agreement. “The offshoring of call center jobs raises\nrisks for consumer data and puts downward pressure on standards in the\nU.S.,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Larson also stressed the\nimportance of having a way to enforce labor laws in the agreement. “We\nneed an enforcement mechanism that works, moves in a timely way, contains real\npenalties for violators, and is not left to the sole discretion of parties who\nhave demonstrated at length that labor rights enforcement is not a priority for\nthem.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the Republican corporate tax cut bill was being debated, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was happy to make big promises to the American people that if it passed, AT&T would create thousands of new jobs. But it turns out those … Continue reading
\n\n\n\nCWA Member Urges Senators to Act to\nRein in Corporate Stock Buybacks <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/271\/983\/original\/2_JoeOlson_300.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin <\/em>(right) hosted a hearing on Tuesday to highlight the effects of these harmful corporate stock buybacks. At the hearing, CWA Local 4621 President Joe Olson <\/em>(left) told Senators how AT&T has been laying off thousands of workers and keeping wages stagnant while pumping money into stock buybacks. <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBargaining Update <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOrganizing Update <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/271\/984\/original\/4_ALC_Victory_600.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
Workers at Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (ALC), a nonprofit legal and civil rights organization serving low-income Asian Pacific American communities, have joined CWA Local 9410, receiving voluntary recognition from the organization.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNewsGuild-CWA Member Gets AP\nStylebook Definition of So-Called “Right-to-Work” Changed <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPennsylvania CWA Members Fighting\nfor Economic Justice <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/271\/985\/original\/6_PA_Harrisburg_Runaway_Inequality_Action_600.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
CWA members from Locals 13000 and 13500 gathered in Harrisburg for a Reversing Runaway Inequality training last week. In addition to learning about ways to level the economic playing field, participants joined an action at the Pennsylvania State Capitol as part of the recent renewal of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign to fight back against the structures that are supporting economic injustice and undermining our democracy. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCWA Tells Congress to Send\nNegotiators Back to the Table on NAFTA 2.0 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/data\/000\/271\/986\/original\/7_Shane_Larson_NAFTA_300.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\")
At a hearing before the Trade subcommittee of the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee, CWA’s Director of Legislation, Politics, and International Affairs Shane Larson testified on how the Trump Administration’s NAFTA 2.0 falls short for working families. <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n