A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT JOHN E. ROSE

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1 The Official Newsletter of CWA Local 1031 EDITION 4 June 2007 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT JOHN E. ROSE I would like to wish all Local 1031 members and their families a happy and prosperous was a busy and tough year, and we have another tough year ahead of us. The CWA Local 1031 staff and membership have been working hard. We will do our best to keep you informed and give you information about mobilization activities in the future. For our State Workers: A special thanks to all of you who attended the rally in Trenton on June 19, This rally, along with several days of lobbying, was to support the Governor s proposed budget. The budget provided funding for your pensions and insured that your benefits and raises would get paid. I N T H I S I S S U E Message from the President page 1 Proposal to Increase CWA National Executive Board page 3 District 1 Women's Committee Representative page 3 Membership Meeting to Draw Scholarship Winners page 4 Scholarship and Dependent Care Grants Applications page 4 Organizing Report page 5 CWA 69th Annual Convention page 5 New Jersey Library Association Conference page 5 A special thanks also to those who attended the rally in Trenton on December 11th. This rally was intended to send a message to the Governor and Legislature not to dictate terms and conditions to our pensions and benefits, but to negotiate these changes and your voices were heard! The Legislature now knows that changes must be negotiated. CWA s goal was to secure a new and fair contract, a contract which protects our benefits. We finally reached an agreement which 5 of the 7 Presidents (including myself) supported. For the first time in 15 years, you will get a raise each year of the contract, an improved healthcare program focused on current and retired employees, an equalization of the AC pay scale, and a bonus for our lower paid workers. Thank you for voting YES to approve our contract, a fair and just contract in these troubled times. We will continue to fight for all CWA Local 1031 members this year and every year! You can access all of the changes and view our contract on our website at or For UMDNJ: As a UMNDJ employee for 20 years, it was important to me that we negotiate the best possible contract we could. As previously mentioned, Local 1031 obtained the assistance of an attorney to help us make changes at UMDNJ. The unfortunate reality we had to face was that UMDNJ was taken over by a Federal Monitor and had hundreds of layoffs this past year. This impacted our bargaining ability, but we were able to achieve a contract with salary increases each year, meaningful changes in the reclass, layoff and grievance procedures, and equity increases and upgrades for many of our members. We have been monitoring the progress of the payment of your retroactive increases (as this has been a lengthy process), and we will continue to you continued on next page

2 The Lamp Published by Communications Workers of America Local 1031, AFL-CIO. Produced by CWA Staff and Edited by Kathleen Franzese Local 1031 represents workers at the New Jersey State Higher Education System; including HESAA and Commission on Higher Education, Library Staff at the following Libraries: Bergenfield, Bloomfield, Chatham, Clifton, Cranford, Elizabeth, Irvington, Livingston, Maplewood, Middlesex, Millburn, North Brunswick, Nutley, Orange, South Brunswick, West Orange, Westfield, Supervisors at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, Maplewood Township Municipal Workers, Millburn Board of Education and Roselle Park Police Dispatchers. Statewide Officers John E. Rose President Kathleen Hernandez EVP John Polk Sec-Treasurer Executive Board Members Andrew Rettberg Kean University Patt Kent Libraries Eric Samuelson.... Montclair State University Doreen Janes Ramapo College Chuck Linderman Rowan University Rob Reinitz UMDNJ NB/Piscataway Dan Ortiz UMDNJ/Newark William Blauvelt..... William Paterson Univ. Nancy Gomez.....New Jersey City University Diane Meischker.... Richard Stockton College Sue Ciotti The College of New Jersey Staff Holly Zubairu Office-Manager Phyllis Haefner Staff Representative Kathleen Franzese Staff Representative Rene Garzon Director of Organizing Phyllis Trigger..... Assistant to the President CWA Local 1031 has offices at 84 Culver Road Monmouth Junction, NJ Telephone Fax Website: CWA1031.org A Message From The President John E. Rose Continued from Front Page with information and post it on our website at After this is achieved, we will be preparing to return to negotiations at UMNDJ. For our Library Workers: Thanks to our Libraries, our membership continues to grow. We now represent 17 libraries. Thank you for spreading the word to your fellow brothers and sisters at other libraries. Your efforts have made us grow, and now others have a voice at their workplace. Your contracts are negotiated individually, but collectively we are strong and have power in New Jersey. CWA attended the NJLA Spring Conference in April and was a sponsor, and we were glad to see you there. Knowledge is power and you provide that knowledge! For our Township and Board of Education Workers: We negotiated a successful contract for the Millburn Board of Education, and thanks to the great relationship between the Township and the Union, a lucrative contract was ratified. We concluded negotiations for the Roselle Park Police Dispatchers, where we successfully negotiated great increases in wages, vacation, sick and personal days and clothing allowance, as well as other minor changes to current policies which have eased a lot of the stress the dispatchers were feeling. Surveys were sent out and have been returned by Cranford Township, and we are looking forward to sitting down with the Bargaining Committee shortly to begin negotiations. The Maplewood Township contract does not expire until December We made strides at their last round of bargaining, which increased the starting wages. With a new Township Director and a solid base from which to begin bargaining, we should be able to continue to make improvements. We are watching the proposals for shared services between towns. Please make sure that you inform the Local of any changes that may impact your town. Rutgers University: On June 5th, we reached a Neutrality Agreement with Rutgers, which could potentially lead to several hundred to one thousand new members for CWA Local We will update you as our organizing process progresses. To all CWA Members: Thank you all for your help and sacrifices that have made Local 1031 what it is today. Our membership numbers are continually growing, and with this growth comes the ability to have a voice in what affects the future of CWA 1031 members. With Pride and Solidarity, John E. Rose President Page 2 The Lamp

3 Proposal to Increase CWA National Executive Board Submitted by: Kathleen Hernandez The CWA Diversity Committee recommended to the CWA National Executive Board a proposal to increase the diversity of the Executive Board. This proposal was adopted by the Executive Board and supported by the Women s Committee. This proposal will be discussed and voted on at the National Convention. The proposal will add four at-large diversity board members to the CWA Executive Board. At least three should be persons of color and at least two should be women. The four atlarge diversity board seats shall represent four geographic regions within CWA. The at-large diversity board members will have the same policy making responsibilities and voting authority as other board members. At-large diversity board members will not be full-time and will not be delegates to the National Convention. The Executive Board will appoint members for the first year and elections for this position will be held in Nominations for the positions will come from the Women s Committee and the National Committee on Equity. To see the entire proposal and/or to view questions and answers, you can log onto This is the website for CWA Resolution #1 Ready for the Future, where you will find information on the CWA Diversity Committee. Just click on CWA Diversity Proposal or CWA Diversity Proposal Q&A for more information. CWA Local 1031 supports this proposal. District 1 Women s Committee Representative Submitted by: Kathleen Hernandez District 1 appoints representatives to the National Women s Committee for a three-year term. This past year, I (Kathleen Hernandez, CWA Local 1031 EVP) was appointed to this position. I was excited to participate in this Committee, but I have to admit that I did not know what my responsibilities would be. I began my term in early January and attended the Women s Conference in March. I learned that I would be responsible for promoting and helping locals set up Women s Committees. (I will be starting with Local 1031 since we do not currently have a Women s Committee.) I will attend the National Convention and participate in the resolutions passed by the Women s Committee each year. I will also attend and help with the Women s Committee Conference held every two years. I am now involved with the CWA Diversity Committee s proposal to Increase CWA Executive Board Diversity. The Women s Committee supports this proposal and we will be working with the Committee on Equity to review and recommend candidates to these positions. This will be a busy year. I will report on the Women s Committee Conference, setting up a Local Women s Committee and the Proposal to Increase Diversity. Updates will be ed to the Branch Presidents and posted on our Local s website. If you are interested in participating in Local 1031 s Women Committee and/or want to be considered for an at-large position, please e- mail me at KHernandez@cwa1031.org. Please copy your Branch President on this . The Lamp Page 3

4 CWA Local 1031 s Annual Statewide MEMBERSHIP MEETING August 2, :30 PM to 8:00 PM South Brunswick Public Library 110 Kingston Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey Scholarship winners will be drawn at this meeting! Twelve $500 scholarships and two $500 dependent care grants will be awarded at the Statewide Annual meeting. These awards are determined by luck of the draw. Please return completed scholarship applications to: CWA Local 1031, AFL-CIO 84 Culver Rd., Monmouth Jct., NJ by FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2007 For the fifth year, a member from each branch could win one of 12 scholarships. For the purpose of this drawing only, HESAA, CHE, and Thomas Edison will serve as one branch, and Millburn Board of Education and Maplewood Township workers will serve as another branch. Two dependent care grants will be awarded on a statewide basis. SCHOLARSHIP ELIGIBILITY IS: An individual applicant must be a full member or the dependent of a full member. If you are a feepayer, now is a good time to join. Send in a membership card with your application. The applicant must be an incoming freshman or continuing student at any vocational/technical school, community college, four-year college or university, or graduate professional program. DEPENDENT GRANT ELIGIBILITY IS: Applicant must be the dependent child or dependent adult of a full member. The applicant must attend a certified program. In each case, winners will be required to provide proof of enrollment. The Executive Board reserves the right to draw alternate applicants if the status of an applicant changes or is found to be ineligible. Drawings are not final until they are certified by the Local office. The deadline for applications is FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2007 CWA WILL ONCE AGAIN OFFER SCHOLARSHIPS AND DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION Name of Applicant School Student will attend Member Name Member Worksite Relationship to Member Address DEPENDENT CARE GRANT Name of Member Worksite of Member Name of Dependent Name of Dependent Care Program Address of Member Phone Number PhoneNumber Page 4 One Entry Per Applicant. Applicant will be required to provide proof of attendance The Lamp

5 Organizing Report Submitted by: René Garzón Director of Organizing The 2006 year brought success to the organizing front at the Local and at the same time achieved the National s yearly goal of 100 or more newly-organized members. Our new members came from the North Brunswick, Clifton, and Middlesex Borough Public Libraries and the Township of Cranford, where we organized both blue and white collar workers. Our efforts did not go unnoticed; at the National Convention in Las Vegas, our Local President, John Rose, was presented with a plaque and the Local also received a check for $1,000 emphasizing the importance of this accomplishment. We will continue to do our utmost to strengthen our Local and our Union by continuing to follow leads to organize other units throughout the State. We currently have ongoing negotiations at most of these sites. So far in 2007, we added to the Local s growth with the addition of the Bergenfield Library, and we are currently looking to increase our membership by aggressively organizing the Professional Unit at Rutgers University. CWA Local 1031 has attained, in writing from the Rutgers Administration, a Neutrality Agreement that provides Local 1031 s organizing team access to the Professional staff across the entire University and its campuses. Growth in Members Means Growth in Power. In order to continue to strengthen our Local so we can have a more powerful voice in the State and at our sites, we would like to ask all our members to send us leads on any library or public workers not organized throughout the State. As always, I would like to thank all our members and the staff at the Local for their assistance and support. Always remember, There s not a single one of us who will ever be as great as all of us (unknown) CWA 69th ANNUAL CONVENTION Toronto, Ontario Canada July 16th and July 17th 2007 CWA: We re on the March (Information from We re on the March Official Call CWA, AFL-CIO) The delegates to the 2007 Convention will be returning to Toronto for the first time since Local 1031 s delegates for the National Convention are President John E. Rose and Executive Vice President Kathleen Hernandez. The union has done a great deal to carry out the goals of last year s mandate Ready for the Future Resolution. We are recruiting and training activists for our Stewards Army and reaching out to our retired members. There have been major political victories, such as the Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the House session. The election of worker-friendly Senators and Representatives and six new progressive Governors has changed the political landscape. The commitment of our National Officers is that the union is On the March and they look forward to working with all the delegates to build a powerful movement for change. New Jersey Library Association Conference 2007 Submitted by: Phyllis Haefner On Tuesday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 25, Local 1031 again participated in the New Jersey Library Association Spring Conference. This was our 6th year as exhibitors and 3rd year as Conference Sponsors. The Conference, whose theme was Protecting Privacy and Freedom at Your Libraries, was held at the Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long Branch. (Continued on back page) The Lamp Page 5

6 New Jersey Library Association Conference 2007 continued from page 4 This year, for the first time, we provided raffle prizes at our booth. Our first prize, a DVD/VCR recorder/ player, was won by Susan Gardner, Head of the Brick Branch of the Ocean County Library System. The second prize, the NJLA Ex Libris throw, was won by retired Librarian Maggie Rice of Long Branch. The booth was staffed by Phyllis Haefner, Libraries Staff Representative, Rene Garzon, Director of Organizing, John Rose, President, and Patt Kent Libraries Branch President. Among those who stopped by to say hello were members from Cranford, Bloomfield, South Brunswick, Elizabeth, West Orange, Livingston, Clifton and Westfield. We also talked with Library Directors Gain Hasija, Bloomfield, Jane Kennedy, Maplewood, Doris Walker, Orange, Mai Lin Ho, Middlesex, JoAnn Tropiano, Nutley and Mary Riskind, Bergenfield. By taking part in this important event, which NJLA reported had record attendance this year, we raise awareness within the library community of our efforts on behalf of library workers. During the Conference we distributed many flyers, buttons and magnets with our contact information and gave out business cards. We spoke with workers from many libraries, and received several important leads which Rene will be following up on. CWA LOCAL Culver Road Monmouth Junction, NJ Address Service Requested First Class U.S.Postage PAID Trenton, NJ Permit No. 964