NewsBriefs...
Obama Recess Appointments Keep NLRB Functioning
CWA applauded President Obama's decision to recess appoint three new members to the National Labor Relations Board, allowing cases involving violations of workers' organizing and bargaining rights to move forward.
The recess appointments were necessary if the NLRB was going to continue 
to function. With just two members, the NLRB would be unable to issue any decisions, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Unfortunately, too many members of the U.S. Senate have sought to obstruct the people's business by pledging to block appointments to the NLRB and other important agencies.
The Senate has been virtually paralyzed by the abuse of Senate rules that enables an individual Senator to block action. All measures before the Senate now require a supermajority of 60 votes just to get to the floor for debate and discussion. As a result, progress on the programs and policies that working families need has come to a halt.
"Without these recess appointments to the NLRB, working men and women, for the first time since 1935, would have no place to turn for workplace justice. It's shameful that in the increasingly global economy, U.S. workers' rights lag dramatically behind the rest of the world and too many Republican Senators are determined to block U.S. workers from exercising even limited rights. We applaud President Obama's leadership that gives American workers at least some chance of justice on the job," said CWA President Larry Cohen.
Food 4 Less Workers Approve Contract
Food 4 Less workers defeated a proposal by the chain's executives to outsource jobs as part of a new contract they approved this week. An "overwhelming majority" of workers voted to accept the new contract, said 
Mickey Kasparian, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135 in San Diego.
The contract term runs through June 2014 and covers around 1,000 workers in San Diego County. A key issue in the contract negotiation was wages, which were lower than grocery store workers at Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons and Stater Brothers.
"I am excited for our hard-working members at Food 4 Less, who through their strength, were treated with the same equality as the other unionized grocery stores," Kasparian said. "Workers are proud to have protected their health benefits, while also preventing the outsourcing of their jobs."
AFA-CWA Wins Tentative Agreement at United
AFA-CWA Flight Attendants at United Airlines are preparing to vote on a tentative agreement reached with United through expedited mediation. Covering 15,000 Flight Attendants, the agreement makes significant strides in 
pay, protections against involuntary furloughs and increased work schedule flexibility.
The union defeated hundreds of concessionary proposals from United, including changes to healthcare and pay protections.
Under the agreement, Flight Attendants' wages at United would return to pre-bankruptcy levels, with 17.5% pay raises over three years. Flight Attendants would immediately get a 10% wage increase and a $5,000 signing bonus.
"For 10 years, United Flight Attendants have been fighting just to hang on, just to minimize the damage, just to live to fight another day," said AFA-CWA President Veda Shook, praising members' determination in defeating United's concessions. "This agreement provides restoration of wages, flexibility and quality-of-life improvements. It resets the industry negotiations and gets us moving forward."
AFA-CWA is mailing the agreement to every member's home and preparing for membership meetings at 14 locations in the United States and overseas.
CWA Helps Fight Indiana 'Right to Work' Bill
With a campaign that is flooding the Indiana statehouse with thousands of activists every day, CWA and other unions are determined to stop Republican leaders from ramming an anti-union "right-to-work" bill through the legislature.
Union members with clipboards are positioned at entries in the capitol, where long lines of activists stretch down the street. Volunteers sign in visitors and direct them to 
the "help desk," a table staffed with activists armed with laptop computers. They help visitors identify their representative and suggest other lawmakers to visit who are wavering on the issue.
"We're really focusing on educating people about the issue and how to lobby for it," said CWA Local 4900's Angie Schritter, Legislative-Political Action Team coordinator. "We talk to them about the facts about 'right-to-work' states, the fact that wages are lower in those states, that on-the-job injuries and fatalities are significantly higher, that even infant mortality rates are higher."
Based on the fire marshal's estimates during the first week of January, Schritter said 3,000 is the fewest number of people who came through the capitol. Typically, 5,000 to 7,000 people arrived daily, from union members and allies to people who wish they had the chance to join a union.
The capitol was filled to the brim the night of Jan. 10, as Gov. Mitch Daniels gave his State of the State address. TVs were set up in overflow rooms, but it was almost impossible to hear with the huge crowd, many of whom angrily booed their governor and the Republicans for pushing "right-to-work."
Many Democrats skipped the speech, and have been refusing to show up to legislative sessions, denying the Republican majority the quorum it needs to pass the bill, which has been approved by House and Senate committees. Last year, Democrats fled Indiana for five weeks to block the bill in the 2010 session.
Among the broad support for workers, NFL players, who are union members themselves, are calling on Republicans to kill the bill. "'Right-to-work' is a political ploy designed to destroy basic workers' rights. It's not about jobs or rights, and it's the wrong priority for Indiana," the NFL Players Association said in a statement last week.
Daniels and Republican leaders are anxious to pass the bill so the controversy will die down before Indianapolis hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.
Local Broadcast To Benefit From Political Ads
A new report from MediaVest predicts political spending in 2012 will jump by as much as 30% from four years ago—possibly reaching $4 billion—with the bulk of spending going to local 
television outlets. The report warns that the bump will crowd out nonpolitical advertisers.
The predicted upswing comes on the heels of a fall in which the political ad marketplace was much slower to get started than in previous cycles. The slow start is being blamed on the amount of "free advertising" provided by the large number of televised debates.
The MediaVest report said local broadcast remains the medium of choice for political messaging. The main strategy of campaigns is still to use traditional media—local broadcast TV and radio, followed by local and national cable news outlets. The use of social and online media has also increased exponentially among political organizations in recent years.
The report suggests that a continuing decline in broadcast viewers may actually lead campaigns and political advocacy groups to pour even more money into broadcast advertising this year than in previous cycles because as ratings go down in television, you have to buy more units to reach the same number of people.
