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NevadaLabor.com
strike report
News
and commentary by Andrew Barbano
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NEVADA
BELLWEATHERS — Striking
SBC employees and CWA members, left to right, Judi Jensen,
Geri Basye and Cindy Luther brave the elements
in front of the company's Vassar Street customer service office.
the only walk-in facility in the region. SBC closed it all day on
Friday, May 21, despite advertised office hours and public statements
that customer service would not be affected. (Please note the empty
parking lot.) CWA picketers spent much of the day advising customers
how to pay their bills and contact the company despite the closure
and the strike. (How's that for customer service?)
Ms.
Jensen was a 15-year member of the Washoe Typographical Union before
WTU's merger with CWA five years ago. WTU's roots in the 1860's
make Local 9413 the oldest continuously operating labor organization
in Nevada. Mss. Basye and Luther are also longtime Nevada Bell/Pac
Bell/SBC workers and union members, 23 years and 21 years, respectively.
(Photo © 2004 Andrew Barbano/CWA 9413)
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SBC
closes only N.W. Nevada customer service office
NevadaLabor.com
exclusive
RENO, NV (Saturday, May
22, 2004, 5:17 a.m. PDT) — Contrary
to local and regional media reports, some pundit opinions and SBC corporate
spin, the Communications Workers strike has taken a company-inflicted
toll on telephone operations.
The evidence was put on the street yesterday morning at the longtime
Nevada Bell/Pacific Bell/ SBC customer service office at 1450 Vassar
off Kietzke Lane in Reno — which the company closed all day Friday.
It is the only public walk-in office in northwestern Nevada.
SBC should have called its commercial announcer, actor Tommy Lee
Jones, to voice some new spots informing customers not to drop by
during advertised business hours. (See the SBC Nevada telephone book,
Reno-Sparks-Carson November 2003 issue, page 428.)
CWA Local 9413 picketers, marching
in blustery wind and scattered rainshower conditions, gave advice to
a steady stream of frustrated customers all day.
One cab driver, whose service had been cut off, held up a cell phone
and asked what he could do to pay and reconnect. CWA picketers recommended
that he go to any of several chain grocery stores which accept SBC payments,
pay his bill and then call the company's customer service line.
"They'll get someone in India," stated Local 9413 President
Barbara Welling when informed of the incident. Welling's union,
which has statewide jurisdiction in Nevada, set up pickets during all
working hours in Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Las Vegas, Ely, Pahrump
and Winnemucca.
The union's four-day strike in 13 states from California to Connecticut
will end on Monday. The limited time over a weekend was designed to
limit customer inconvenience while demonstrating union resolve.
For much of last week, Cable News Network's prestigious financial program
"Lou Dobbs Tonight" (formerly
"Moneyline") broadcast extended features on the work stoppage,
terming it the first strike directly against corporate America's export
of U.S. jobs to foreign countries. Dobbs has made something of a personal
campaign to document the outsourcing activities of a huge and growing
list of U.S. companies doing business here and exporting employment
while often avoiding taxes on U.S. generated profits.
One e-mailer to Friday's Moneyline program praised the union for taking
a stand against the overseas outsourcing. Another from Dallas exhorted
viewers to join strikers on their picket lines.
CWA Local 9413 is the oldest established union in Nevada dating
back to Mark Twain's time at the legenday Territorial Enterprise
during the glory days of the Comstock Lode.
All comments, photos and dispatches from the front lines are always
most welcome at this website.
Be well. Raise hell.
Associated
Press picks up the above story
More strike news from throughout the region
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WARM FRIENDSHIP
ON A COLD DAY
— The appropriately-named Jennifer Freeze spent
the first blustery day of the strike bringing warm drinks and
food to picketers throughout Reno and Sparks. She is in her
fourth year as a union member. From left to right are Pete
Casillas of CWA Local 9421-Sacramento (5 years), Freeze,
CWA Local 9413-Nevada President Barbara Welling (umpteen
years), Local 9413 Treasurer Chris Matossian (20 years),
and Maria Rosa (5 years).
(Photo
© 2004 Andrew Barbano/CWA 9413)
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Nevada SBC
Strike News
Nevada
CWA members like what they thus far know about SBC contract
Reno
Gazette-Journal May 26, 2004
CWA
9413 members don't like going back to work with no contract
Reno
Gazette-Journal May 25, 2004
The
Associated Press picks up NevadaLabor.com's sales/service office
shutdown exclusive
Las
Vegas Sun May 22, 2004
Nevada
Appeal — SBC workers picket at legislature in Carson City
Reno
Gazette-Journal — Striking workers picket Nevada SBC locations
Sparks
Tribune/AP — SBC workers strike over health care, outsourcing;
company vows to withdraw offer
Sacramento
Bee
Contract
called big win for union
May 26, 2004
AP/San Antonio, TX — SBC and union report progress being
made
May
24, 2004
3,200
Sacramento SBC workers strike
SBC
workers start strike
AP:
Union reaches tentative agreement with SBC
May
25, 2004
SBC — Progress Being Made In Talks
May
24, 2004
SBC Bargaining To Resume
Less
than a day into a four-day walkout,
striking workers returned to talks with management
Fight
against health care costs
Chronicle
Columnist David Lazarus: Strike won't do any good
Mr.
Lazarus would do well to read his own newspaper...
SBC strike straining some services
...let
alone take a field trip to Vassar
Street in Reno
SBC
lavishes money on execs, sprinkles crumbs to workers
SBC
workers respond
Pre-Strike
Stories
Updated:
Friday, May
21, 2004, 1:58 p.m. PDT
FOR
WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Reno
Gazette-Journal strike update
BARBWIRE:
CWA politically used. then abused by SBC
Updated:
Thursday,
May 20, 2004, 3:57 a.m. PDT
Union
lists statewide picketing locations for SBC strike beginning
at 12:01 a.m. May 21
Updated:
Wednesday,
May 19, 2004, 1:10 p.m. PDT
SPRINGTIME
STRIKE, PART DEUX — The Communications Workers
will walk out on SBC in Nevada and 12 other states at the
stroke of midnight Thursday. The strike will be limited to
four days, Friday 5-21 through Monday 5-24, as a show of seriousness
by the union. Pickets will be set up statewide. Watch this
website for a few innovative curveballs from CWA
9413.
CWA
SBC national negotiation update
Updated:
Tuesday,
May 18, 2004, 3:07a.m. PDT
CWA
national strike vs. SBC looms closer
Updated: Saturday,
May 15, 2004, 4:27a.m. PDT
SBC
negotiations with union continue with no strike
Updated:
Friday, May
13, 2004, 7:07a.m. PDT
Striking
out after playing ball with the company
Date:
Wednesday,
May 12, 2004, 1:44 a.m. PDT
SBC,
union continue contract negotiations
Union could still call a strike with 24
hours' notice
Reno
Gazette-Journal 5-12-2004
Date:
Friday, May
7, 2004, 3:55 p.m. PDT
SBC
negotiation update: In a conference call with union
officials this afternoon, Communications Workers of America
General President Morton Bahr stated that workers will remain
on the job and negotiations will continue through the weekend.
(The editor of this website is a member of CWA
Local 9413, the longest-established union in Nevada dating
back to Mark Twain's days at the Territoiral Enterprise.)
Strike
looms at SBC
Reno
Gazette-Journal 5-2-2004
CWA
SBC national negotiation update
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COMMUNICATIONS
WORKERS-SBC STRIKE NEWS & BULLETINS
2006
UPDATE: CWA fights for fair contract at Churchill County Communications
May
2004 Teamsters/Waste Management Garbage Strike Archive
TEAMSTERS-WASTE
MANAGEMENT STRIKE NEWS ROUNDUP & ARCHIVES
DAILY
N.W. NEVADA GARBAGE STRIKE NEWS LINKS AND UPDATES
MAY
14, 2004, GARBAGE STRIKE UPDATE
MAY
12, 2004, GARBAGE STRIKE UPDATE
May
2004 Teamsters/Liquor Distributor Strike
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