AT&T Retaliates against CWA's H-1B Protest

Date: Thursday, June 20, 2002 12:24 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at
www.ZaZona.com

I have sent out several newsletters about the battle that the
Communication
Workers of America (CWA) http://www.cwalocal4250.org/ is mounting
against
H-1B replacement workers at AT&T.

AT$T has been training H-1Bs to act as scabs and to replace union
members.
They are hiring H-1Bs from Indian owned TATA Consultancy Services, the
largest and most infamous of the bodyshops. These H-1Bs will be used as
replacement workers in the event CWA goes on strike. Other H-1Bs are
being
trained as replacements for AT&T workers. Once they learn how to do the
jobs
the union workers will be fired and the H-1Bs will move back to AT&T's
India
office where most operations will be relocated.

*** CWA Resolutions ***

The CWA passed the following resolutions on June 19, 2002. They may have
a
hard time getting the AFL/CIO to join the battle but at least they are
trying.

RESOLVED: The Communications Workers of America condemns the abuses of
the
H-1B program and calls for its immediate repeal.

RESOLVED: The Communications Workers of America shall adopt a leadership
role in the AFL-CIO and American Labor Movement to seek sponsors to
introduce legislation to repeal the H-1B Visa Program and oppose
increases
to yearly H-1B Visa statutory caps, and shall educate the membership,
the
AFL-CIO and the American public about these issues.

RESOLVED: The Communications Workers of America shall forward this
resolution to the AFL-CIO for adoption.

RESOLVED: The Communications Workers of America opposes the elimination
of
the technical skills training program and will work to protect this much
needed training program."

*** AT$T Retaliation ***

Steve Tisza (stevetisza@cwalocal4250.org), president of CWA Local 4250,
and
four other local union presidents, posted an email letter on 4/22/02
titled
"To All AT&T Employees and Contractors". This letter was e-mailed to
24,000
AT&T employees at their AT&T e-mail addresses.

AT&T is retaliating against these 5 presidents. On June 14, 2002 all
five of
them received a letter from a law firm representing AT&T which stated;
"Your
actions may have violated the Federal Economic Espionage Act which
authorizes a fine and imprisonment."

and

"AT&T demands that you cease and desist immediately from any further
effort
to solicit AT&T employees and contractors to provide you with the
information you have described in your communications."

The entire letter will be posted on the Local 4250 website soon.

*** AT$T Intimidation ***

The website also has a letter by Frederick N. Murray, Employee & Labor
Relations at AT&T
http://www.cwalocal4250.org/binarydata/Murray_61602.pdf
This letter is a great collection of lies and distortions of the fact .
These lies were probably drafted in order to intimidate the union but I
think it had the opposite affect. Here are a few of the most blatant:

- "AT&T does employ individuals in the United States who are here on
H-1B
visas."

That is a flat out lie. Unfortunately for Mr. Murray the LCA Database
www.ZaZona.com/LCA-Data is a beacon of truth. AT&T has over 1,000 LCAs
that
you can view online. If they weren't able to import a single H-1B with
all
of those LCAs I would recommend that their entire HR department should
be
fired for incompetence.

- "Consistent with the purposes of the H-1B status, individuals in that
category include
foreign professionals with specialized knowledge such as scientists,
engineers, etc., or
other individuals with specialized knowledge, and the attainment of at
least
a bachelor's
degree in that specialty. No H-1B visa holders occupy positions which
would
otherwise
be filled by occupational employees and given the H-1B visa definition"

H-1Bs don't have to have a bachelor's degree so that's just one of his
factual errors. All an employer has to do is to say that the H-1B has
the
equivalent experience of a bachelor's degree. The second statement is
very
puzzling. Is he saying that AT$T employees aren't educated and therefore
can't be replaced by H-1Bs? If that's true then he is admitting that he
is
violating the law by hiring H-1Bs.

- "While your letter requests significant details covering the various
H-1B
visa holders, it is unclear how the requested information relates to the
employees the CWA represents or the CWA's role as bargaining
representative
of these employees."

I'm not sure what information CWA requested but all relevant details
about
the visa, job title and responsibilities, and salary must be supplied to
whomever asks. They don't have to state a reason so Murray is way off
base
here. Mr. Murray is either a liar or totally ignorant of the law so he
should start by reading up on "Public Access" at
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/H1BFAQs.htm#WhatIsAccessFile

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