Volume 75, Issue #1 | Spring 2015

Spring 2015

Fast Track Fight: It's On

One issue that's finally getting some media scrutiny is the special treatment the TPP trade deal gives to multinational corporations. In 20 years of trade deals, from NAFTA to the U.S.-Korea agreement, the enforcement of workers' rights, and environmental and safety standards has basically been an afterthought.

Notice Regarding Union Security Agreements and Agency Fee Objections

As a general matter, employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement containing a Union security clause are required, as a condition of employment, to pay an agency fee equal to normal Union dues (and, where applicable, initiation fees). While the wording of these clauses is not perfectly uniform, none requires more than the payment of this agency fee to retain employment.

There's so much to see at the new CWA/NETT Academy

Make 2015 the year you start to build a better you. Get the ball rolling by logging on to www.cwanett.org today!

Fast Track is the Wrong Track

Across our union, CWA activists and allies are fighting back against "Fast Track" and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We're signing petitions, sending hand-written letters and calling our Members of Congress to make it crystal clear: Fast Track and the TPP are a bad deal for U.S. workers.

The Fight to Stop Fast Track and the TPP!

The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the League of Conservation Voters and 41 other environmental groups have called on Congress to oppose Fast Track.

Big Money in Politics Gets Even Bigger

In its Citizens United decision in 2010, the Supreme Court affirmed that money equals speech and corporations equal people. That decision, combined with last year's McCutcheon decision that allowed virtually unlimited political spending, has enabled a flood of dollars from corporations and the wealthiest Americans to cripple our political process and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich Takes on The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Robert Reich was a big supporter of NAFTA. Not any more. He acknowledges the damage that trade deals like NAFTA have caused, and is warning against Fast Track Authorization for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.