• Moving Forward on 'Ready for the Future'
• Union Fights to Keep 1,100 Jobs in the U.S.
• Texas Dish Workers Vote CWA in Two Elections
• Union Members Celebrate Election Victories in New Mexico, Texas
• How High Speed Broadband Can Build a Green Future

Moving Forward on 'Ready for the Future'

CWA's union-wide campaign to improve our union's effectiveness, "Ready for the Future," is moving forward. 

We started this dialogue at the 2005 Convention, with the convention mandating an 11-point Ready for the Future plan. Working together, we've accomplished a lot, including a hugely successful strategic industry fund (SIF) program that has financed bold campaigns, like Speed Matters, telecom, and health care and bargaining rights. We've expanded local leader perspective on the Executive Board and built an active Stewards Army that has made a real difference.

CWA's Executive Board met February 15-16, discussed next steps and adopted recommendations tat continue the work begun at our 2005 convention and address the convention mandate of the Ready for the Future resolution regarding the "right-sizing" of the Board by 2011 and the effective use of resources. These recommendations need to be acted on at the 2010 convention in order to be implemented in 2011.

The recommendations are available here.

Nearly 16 million Americans are unemployed and millions more are worried about losing their jobs. In 2009, 30,000 CWA union jobs were lost, the highest number ever in a single year, and the labor movement lost 800,000 members in 2009. Across CWA and across every sector, we need to put our resources to work where they will be most effective. We don't have the option of doing nothing, and waiting for another day. We need to work strategically and effectively now to keep our union strong.

Union Fights to Keep 1,100 Jobs in the U.S.

Some 5,500 union members and supporters rallied in Evansville, Ind., to protest Whirlpool's plans to close the plant and move 1,100 jobs to Mexico.

About 5,500 union members, leaders and supporters rallied in Evansville, Ind., to fight to keep the Whirlpool plant there open.  

Whirlpool wants to close the plant so it can spend $110 million on a new facility in Mexico. Refrigerators manufactured at the Mexican plant mainly will be sold in the U.S. market. If the Indiana plant closes, about 900 members of IUE-CWA Local 84808 and 200 managers will lose their jobs.

IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said "Whirlpool's decision to shut down and move our work to Mexico is greed-driven and an atrocity. We know companies need to make money, but moving jobs out of the country during this economic crisis is shameful."

CWA District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen said that it's time that corporations in the United States take some responsibility for helping to reverse the economic downturn. "It's time for our government at all levels to hold corporations accountable for their behavior, especially when they have received millions in taxpayer dollars."

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, community leaders and activists and supporters across the region joined the rally. Clark and Rosen and about 40 demonstrators delivered petitions to the front door of the factory.

Whirlpool told workers not to participate in the rally, threatening them that "these negative activities will only hamper employees when they look for future jobs." IUE-CWA has filed an unfair labor practice charge.

Union leaders have been reaching out to state and local elected officials to find ways to keep the plant open. A petition campaign by IUE-CWA asks activists to send a message to Whirlpool CEO Jeff Fettig that calls on Whirlpool to "be a good corporate citizen and keep the Evansville plant open." Go to www.unionvoice.org/campaign/whirlpool.

Texas Dish Workers Vote CWA in Two Elections

Dish Network workers celebrate organizing victories at two locations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

Workers at two Dish Network locations in Texas won CWA Local 6171 representation in spite of management's illegal efforts to intimidate them.

The 103 network technicians and warehouse employees in Farmers Branch and North Richland Hills voted for CWA in separate elections. CWA District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn said local organizers helped workers build strong inside committees and stay united.

The Farmers Branch campaign got underway when Dish cut hourly pay for some workers by $13 an hour and changed the pay system for all workers. Three-quarters of the workers signed a public statement supporting union representation, and workers voted 25-19 for CWA Local 6171.

Trying to intimidate the workers, management challenged every vote during the election. Local organizer Tony Shaffer helped workers stick together and face down management's threats. Shaffer is a cable tech who helped organize co-workers when he worked at AT&T Broadband and Comcast.

The 53 workers at the North Richland Hills office voted 33-16 for CWA, hours after the first election. Key to the victory were workers' unity and that three-quarters of the workers signed the public support statement.

Local 6171 organizers Shaffer and Jody Wilborn, Local President Allen Whitaker and Executive Vice President Milton Grant, District 6 staff representatives Jerrell Miller and Guy Stewart, and District 6 organizing coordinator Sandy Rusher all supported the workers' campaign.

Union Members Celebrate Election Victories in New Mexico, Texas

CWAers in New Mexico helped Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, the former president of CWA Local 7037, win a second term in this week's mayoral election.

A month of solid campaigning by CWA members in New Mexico and an intense get-out-the-vote effort Tuesday gave a former CWA local president a decisive second term win as Santa Fe's mayor.

David Coss won 58 percent of the vote and beat two challengers. He was president of CWA Local 7037 when it began organizing public workers in the 1980s.

"David tells people, 'I come from labor. I am labor. I don't forget labor,'" said New Mexico State Employee Alliance-CWA President Robin Gould.

As a city councilor before first being elected mayor in 2006, Coss supported public workers in the successful campaign for bargaining rights and continues to champion worker issues.

In another election victory, former AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson won the Democrat primary for lieutenant governor in Texas. She will face Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst Nov. 2.

"I'm humbled to have won the Democratic primary without a runoff," Chavez-Thompson said. "Our job is just beginning as we take our message to independent voters, frustrated voters, and working families."

How High Speed Broadband Can Build a Green Future

At a Capitol Hill briefing, CWA Exec. VP Annie Hill and other speakers spotlighted the connection between high speed broadband and a greener economy.

There's a real connection between high speed broadband and building a greener economic future. A new report released by CWA and its green partners shows how improving broadband technology can revolutionize energy use and management in the United States, boosting our economy.

"Networking the Green Economy: How Broadband and Related Technologies Can Build a Green Economic Future" shows how smart buildings, smart grids, telemedicine and other applications of high speed broadband and a connected economy, will conserve energy resources and promote good, green jobs.

The report was released at a Capitol Hill briefing with Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; Nick Sinai, Energy and Environment Director, Federal Communications Commission; CWA Executive Vice President Annie Hill and others

Hill said "expanding broadband and the smart grid will create good jobs. Investments in the green economy, including more efficient use of resources and energy, are the job creators of the 21st century. That's why any national broadband plan must be focused on job creation."

The report is a project of the Progressive States Network, the Sierra Club, the Blue Green Alliance and CWA.

• UPTE-CWA Gains Tentative Contract at UC After 2-Year Fight 
• CWA: Comcast/NBC Merger is a Bad Bet  
• UT Activists Rally to Save Jobs, Higher Education
• CWA: Bargaining Rights Now for Nation's Airport Security Officers
• CWA and Free Press: Saving Journalism is Key to Saving Democracy
• Flight Attendants at Mesa, Atlantic Southeast Ratify Agreements
• Don't Miss Spring Deadlines for Beirne, Bahr College Scholarships

UPTE-CWA Gains Tentative Contract at UC After 2-Year Fight

It took two years of tough bargaining, but University Professional and Technical Employees/CWA Local 9119 won a tentative agreement last week covering 9,000 researchers and technicians at the University of California.

The five-year agreement provides for pay increases of 14.5 percent over the contract term, plus a $1,000 lump sum payment to be paid this July.

The tentative settlement will be sent to members for a ratification vote.

"Local 9119 achieved this settlement during the worst economy in the history of California. I'm proud of the bargaining committee, the local leadership and everything they have done to protect members," said CWA District 9 Vice President Jim Weitkamp.

Progress in bargaining was delayed by university officials who refused to fairly address workers' concerns about their pay and retirement security.

Union members kept up a constant mobilization campaign, lobbied the state legislature, and gained public and community support through a media campaign.

In other improvements, the contract sets up a $1.7 million equity pool to help address pay inequities for workers in some job titles. The university will contribute 4 percent into the workers' pension plan this year, and has agreed to match or exceed additional one percent contributions by employees in 2011 and 2012.

The contract also limits increases in workers' health benefits and parking fees.

"This is a great agreement, especially considering the terrible state of California's economy," said UPTE-CWA Local 9119 President Jelger Kalmijn. "We won good raises and placed real limits on how much the university can charge for health care and other benefits. We will continue to fight for workers at UC, especially in the area of job security," he added.

CWA: Comcast/NBC Merger is a Bad Bet  

CWA President Larry Cohen tells the House Judiciary Committee that the Comcast/NBCU merger threatens quality jobs, investment and the future of the Internet.

CWA President Larry Cohen told the House Judiciary Committee that the proposed Comcast/NBC merger should be assessed in terms of jobs, the impact on competition, and the likely negative effect on the emerging Internet video marketplace.

Cohen testified on a panel with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker and other witnesses representing independent film makers, consumers and public policy groups. Read the testimony here.

Cohen told the committee that the proposed merger would saddle the company with $8 billion in new debt and that "NBCU will be under pressure to cut jobs, raise prices or renege on that debt." CWA can cite firsthand many examples of media and communications mergers that did just that. "There are no warranties, no guarantees for consumers, workers and communities. Companies make lots of commitments but don't have to carry them out," he said.

With the nation's unemployment near 10 percent, it's critical that our government evaluate and assess corporate restructurings with regulatory review in terms of the impact on jobs, he said. 

Cohen also stressed Comcast's low-road labor policy, one based on a strategy to stop workers from gaining bargaining rights and using aggressive action to stop workers from organizing or getting contracts at companies that it has acquired.

The merger also would create a company with the market power to increase cable rates, block competition in the video marketplace and control content, Cohen said. "No other nation allows this degree of connection between content and pipe, and with good reason," he said.

"In the end, consumers lose innovation and an open Internet.  The Internet, once a source of expanding consumer choice and diversity of programming content, would now become mainly a vehicle to protect the current cable incumbents," Cohen said.

UT Activists Rally to Save Jobs, Higher Education

Hundreds of University of Tennessee employees, members of United Campus Workers-CWA Local 3865, rallied against the proposed budget that would cut jobs and harm quality education.

Hundreds of university employees, members of United Campus Workers-CWA Local 3865, rallied at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville to fight against the proposed budget that would cut jobs and wages for hundreds of support staff and nontenured faculty members and harm quality education.

The group then marched to the president's office and delivered a letter that called on university administration to look at other strategies before laying off workers. Over the past 10 years, top administrative salaries have nearly doubled to $76.1 million, while salaries of operational support workers, including programmers, secretaries, library staff, police force and others, have actually decreased. "Cuts must start at the top, whether those cuts are layoffs, salary or benefit reductions, furloughs or other cost-saving measures," said UCW President Tom Anderson. The average salary of workers slated to be laid off is $23,500 a year.

CWA District 3 Vice President Judy Dennis and CWA Organizing Director Ed Sabol joined Anderson, union members and students in the march to the president's office.  

The governor wants to cut $61 million from higher education, and university administrators have targeted lower-paid workers for layoff. UCW says that's unfair and shortsighted, citing the university's own research that shows that for every one job at the university, at least two additional jobs are created in nearby communities.

UCW represents 1,000 university workers at seven University of Tennessee campuses. Union members will hold a lobby day with state legislators in March.

CWA: Bargaining Rights Now for Nation's Airport Security Officers

CWAers join hundreds of union members in Washington, D.C. at a rally to support bargaining rights for the nation's 40,000 airport security officers at the Transportation Security Administration. Kim Kraynak, one of the first TSA union activists, thanks labor for its support. Left, are CWA President Larry Cohen and AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend.

CWAers rallied with hundreds of union activists this week to support full collective bargaining rights for the nation's 40,000 airport security officers.

At a rally at the AFL-CIO, activists called on the Obama administration to carry out its pledge to grant the workers, employees of the Transportation Security Administration, bargaining rights like other federal workers have.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which is working with the transportation security officers, or TSOs, to gain bargaining rights, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Authority calling for a union election. AFGE already represents 13,000 TSOs.  

At the rally, AFGE President John Gage called on the Obama administration and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to move forward now.

CWA President Larry Cohen said the workers' struggle for collective bargaining rights should be supported by everyone who wants a union, or belongs to a union.

"Every one of us carries the message proudly that this is the time for all workers in this country to have full collective bargaining rights," said Cohen. "This is also a message to every employer that this labor movement is back," he said. "We're fighting back, and we're going to win." Because of low pay, poor morale, and often unsafe working conditions, airport screeners have among the highest turnover rates of any job in the federal government.

AFA-CWA President Patricia Friend dismissed claims that TSA workers should not have bargaining rights because it would threaten national security.

"In the airport cabin, flight attendants are the last line of defense to keep airline passengers safe," said Friend. "As airport screeners, you are the first line of defense and deserve to have the same rights to improve your working conditions."

CWA and Free Press: Saving Journalism is Key to Saving Democracy

CWA and allies like Free Press are working together to save quality journalism and the democracy it protects.

"We're losing 1,000 newsroom employees every month, and we've lost 30,000 over the last two years," John Nichols of The Nation said during a discussion with CWA and TNG-CWA staff and officers. "And that's come after the culling out of radio and television. Roughly 20,000 people are no longer on the air."

Founded by Nichols and University of Illinois Professor Robert McChesney, Free Press successfully built a grassroots movement in the early 2000s that helped millions of Americans understand how and why concentrated media power reduces their access to information. Free Press continues to work to promote diverse and independent media ownership and quality journalism.

Their latest book, "The Death and Life of American Journalism," looks at media consolidation, the Internet and other factors that are reducing the number of journalists and news stories produced in the United States.

As part of their book tour, Nichols and McChesney met with regulators and elected officials in Washington. 

TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer has pledged "an army of foot soldiers" from locals to engage their communities in the battle to save their newspapers.

Flight Attendants at Mesa, Atlantic Southeast Ratify Agreements

Mesa/Freedom/Go! flight attendants have ratified a two-year contract that raises salaries, improves work rules and lays a foundation for the next round of negotiations in 2012.

Negotiated with help from the National Mediation Board, the contract recognizes the flight attendants' "dedication and professionalism during this challenging time (and) provides a framework for working alongside management in rebuilding our airline," said AFA-CWA Mesa President Brian Manning.

In another AFA-CWA victory, Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight attendants ratified a Memorandum of Understanding that the union and management reached in January.

"This agreement gives ASA flight attendants much deserved improvements while providing for management's requests as well," AFA-CWA Atlantic Southeast President Jeannie Babb said. "It is a good example of the power of negotiations and what can be accomplished through productive discussions."

Don't Miss Spring Deadlines for Beirne, Bahr College Scholarships

CWA members and their families are encouraged to apply now for scholarships that can help them attend college or pursue a distance-learning degree in the 2010-11 academic year.

An annual scholarship from CWA's Joe Beirne Foundation provides 15 students up to $3,000 toward their college tuition, an award that can be renewed for a second year if winners have a satisfactory academic record.

The deadline for the Beirne scholarship, named for CWA's founding president, is March 31. CWA members, spouses, children, grandchildren and dependents of active, retired, laid-off or deceased members are eligible. Winners will be chosen from a lottery of eligible applicants.

Applications are available online only at: www.cwa-union.org/members/beirne.

The second scholarship, named for CWA's President Emeritus Morton Bahr, covers full tuition and fees for college courses offered by Empire State College's Center for Distance Learning.

CWA members, their families and domestic partners are eligible to apply. Scholarship winners can continue to receive funding as long as they make satisfactory academic progress and enroll in four to eight credits at least two terms per year.

The Bahr deadline is May 15. Forms are available online at www.esc.edu/bahr. To request an application by mail, e-mail special.programs@esc.edu or call (800) 847-3000, ext. 2492.

• CWA: End Delay on NLRB Gridlock 
• EZ Pass Workers Protest Unfair "Piecework" Pay.
• Unions to Rally for Bargaining Rights for Airport Security Agents
• St. Mary's Medical Techs in Nevada Join CWA
• TNG-CWA Local Charges Thomson Reuters over Illegal Pay Cuts
• Unity Update: German T-Systems Workers Mobilize After Bargaining Collapses
• CWA Customer Service Committee Takes on Job Issues
• UC Berkeley: Health Care Excise Tax Mainly Would Hit Non-Union Workers

CWA: End Delay on NLRB Gridlock

CWA is continuing to press for NLRB nominees Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to be confirmed as soon as possible, with a recess appointment from President Obama if necessary.

With just two active members now on the NLRB, "thousands of fired workers can get no justice and hundreds of thousands have no bargaining rights as every critical case at the national level is frozen," said CWA President Larry Cohen. (The EZ Pass story in this issue is just one example of how workplace justice has been blocked.)

Presidents routinely make appointments during the Senate recess, especially when lawmakers have refused to confirm nominees to critical positions. Ronald Reagan made 243 recess appointments, George W. Bush made 171, Bill Clinton made 140 and George H.W. Bush made 77.

EZ Pass Workers Protest Unfair 'Piecework' Pay

In a campaign that has won support of New York state lawmakers, activists and unions, and Spanish-language organizations, EZ Pass workers in Staten Island, members of CWA Local 1102, are refusing to handle Spanish-language calls because they are paid less than co-workers who handle calls in English.

The 300 EZ Pass workers won CWA representation last May. Immediately after the election, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), the company that operates EZ Pass for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Port Authority and Thruway Authority, illegally implemented a sweatshop-like "piece-rate" pay system that punishes workers for doing their jobs. ACS also has refused to recognize the workers' union.

The regional NLRB office has issued a complaint against ACS for refusing to bargain with the workers over the pay system. But the case can't go forward because the full NLRB only has two members.

Under the piece work pay system, workers get paid based on the number of calls handled. More calls mean higher pay. But Spanish calls take longer because of the differences between languages, and that means lower pay for the 16 workers handling the calls.

The workers' campaign for fair pay has won positive public attention and resulted in charges of discrimination being made by state lawmakers. State Senator Diane Savino (D- Staten Island/Brooklyn) who will join the workers at a news conference outside the call center next week said the company's actions "will not be tolerated in a company that is doing business with the State of New York."

"Paying people per call is like piecework in a sweatshop," said District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton. "The MTA, Port Authority and Thruway Authority are responsible for their for-profit contractor's outrageous and illegal actions. They cannot allow ACS to discriminate against Spanish-speaking workers and customers.

Unions to Rally for Bargaining Rights for Airport Security Agents

Union activists will rally at the AFL-CIO on Feb. 23 to support bargaining rights for the 40,000 Transportation Security Officers who work at the nation's airports.

Union members across DC and staff from every union, including the National Education Association, Change to Win unions and AFL-CIO unions, will join the rally beginning at 11:30, then march to the White House.

It's time that the Obama administration and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano grants these agents their full workplace rights, just as other federal employees have.

When the Transportation Security Administration was created following the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration banned bargaining rights for TSA agents. Still, more than 12,000 TSOs have joined the American Federation of Government Employees.

St. Mary's Medical Techs in Nevada Join CWA

Seeking a voice on the job and an end to unfair work policies, 170 medical technicians at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, voted to join CWA last week. The workers, members of CWA Local 9413, voted for a union voice by a 57 to 43 percent margin.

A key issue for the respiratory therapists, radiologists, CT scan operators, and other workers is the restrictive paid time off leave policy that eliminates sick leave altogether and provides workers with a fixed number of days that includes vacation, sick leave and holidays. Another big issue is a hospital policy of forcing workers to take leave without pay when the patient load falls below a certain level.

The medical technicians are the second group at St. Mary's to vote for CWA representation. In December 2008, 570 workers at St. Mary's joined CWA and Local 9413. Last year, they successfully negotiated improvements to the leave policy in their first contract.

Local and campaign activists are continuing to build the union by signing up new members. Workers were assisted by District 9 Organizing Coordinator Liz Sorenson.

TNG-CWA Local Charges Thomson Reuters over Illegal Pay Cuts

TNG-CWAers rally for a fair contract at Thomson Reuters.

TNG-CWA Local 31003 filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board over Thomson Reuters Corp.'s illegal and unilateral pay cuts that drastically cut the compensation of journalists, technicians and other employees by 10 percent.  

For more on the fight for fairness at Reuters, go to www.reutersexposed.com.

Thomson Reuters falsely claimed that bargaining was at impasse, said Local President Bill O'Meara. "This dispute is really about saving quality journalism in this country. If a healthy company like Thomson Reuters, whose CEO made almost as much in 2008 as our 420 members' annual salaries, cuts pay, it will cause less healthy news organizations to cut even more. Soon, many of the journalists our democracy depends on won't be able to afford to stay in the business."

TNG-CWA Local 31001 represents news, photo, television, technical and other workers at the company. Negotiations have been underway for more than a year, but Thomson Reuters continues to refuse to provide legal and other information that the local requested.

The local also charged Thomson Reuters with illegally implementing a Twitter policy, not negotiated with the Guild, that bars employees from "tweeting" anything "that would damage the reputation of Reuters News or Thomson Reuters."

In more actions, TNG-CWA members will be out in force again on Friday. Mobile billboard trucks have been all over Manhattan with the message, "Reuters is bad news for its employees. Is it bad for your bottom line?" aimed at the company's Wall Street and financial customers, and an online campaign has been sending lots of new viewers to www.reutersexposed.com.

Unity Update: German T-Systems Workers Mobilize After Bargaining Collapses

More than 20,000 members of ver.di at T-Systems in Germany, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, are mobilizing for job actions following management's failure to resolve workers' bargaining issues after three rounds of negotiations. In the last few days, about 2,000 workers have participated in partial strikes at different locations.

Some 2,000 ver.di members in Germany have participated in partial strikes at the DT subsidiary, T-Systems.

Workers at DT in Germany and the DT owned T Mobile USA have joined together to form TU, jointly affiliated with ver.di and CWA. There are 20,000 T Mobile workers in the U.S.

Where they can, U.S. T-Mobile workers are showing their support and solidarity for their German colleagues who face tough bargaining. The difference between German and U.S. labor law, however, is that Germany fully recognizes workers' bargaining rights. In the United States, in contrast, workers are denied bargaining and organizing rights.

The T-Systems workers want a 5 percent wage increase over 12 months, given their company's success and profitability. T-System's final offer was 1.5 percent increases for 2010 and 2011.

Under German collective bargaining law, T-Systems and ver.di will begin mediation on Feb. 22 to try to reach an agreement. Should mediation fail, workers can strike or take other job actions.

Lothar Schroeder, head of ver.di's Telecommunications and IT Sector, said the company's final offer was totally inadequate and a provocation given the worsening economic situation of employees. "The discontent of employees is now immense," he said. "The employer seems to want trouble."

CWA Customer Service Committee Takes on Job Issues

CWA's Customer Service Advocate Committee is up and running, with members representing customer service work across CWA sectors – wireless and wireline telecommunications, public sector, airlines and the newspaper industry.

The members of the committee are: Michelle Dorn, Local 2108; Vonda Hardy, Local 3640; Derrick Blackwell, Local 4900; Rick Smathers, Local 4527; Monica Eason, Local 6016, Valerie Packer, Local 7621; Elizabeth Tumlinson, Local 7803; Pam Suniga, Local 9416; Rick Hunt, Local 13500; and Eric Churn, Local 38010.

The committee will take up workplace and other issues affecting CWA's 150,000 customer service professionals.

UC Berkeley: Health Care Excise Tax Mainly Would Hit Non-Union Workers

A new study by the University of California's Berkeley Labor Center shows that non-union members would be equally hit by a health care excise tax.

Based on data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the analysis finds that at least 80 percent of the workers who would be hit by the tax in 2019 would be non-union employees. However, non-union members, like union members, would benefit from changes that union leaders negotiated with the White House and congressional leaders last month.

Those changes included a higher threshold before the tax on plans takes effect, adjustments for age, sex and high-risk professions, and a phased in exemption for dental and vision plans, among other improvements.

CWA still maintains that it's wrong for people covered by "Chevy" health plans to be the target of economists who thought they were going after "Cadillac" coverage and says funding mechanisms in the House plan, including an employer mandate and surtax on the wealthiest Americans, are a better approach. 

Read the full report here.