Direct TV Workers Say 'CWA YES'

Nearly 10,000 DirecTV technicians, customer service representatives and warehouse and administrative workers now have CWA representation, and more are joining every day. It’s more proof that when workers can make a free and fair choice about union representation – without management harassment, interference or worse – they say, “CWA YES.”

DirecTV is owned by AT&T. The management neutrality and card check provisions that CWA bargained with AT&T are the reasons that workers can make a fair choice about union representation.

Call center workers in Huntsville, Ala., got the ball rolling.  CWA Local 3905 President David Betz, working with a determined inside committee, the local’s members and leadership, and District 3, said a “fast and furious” organizing drive lasted just eight days. “The group worked from 6 a.m. to midnight each day to make sure every employee had the opportunity to discuss joining CWA. There was a tremendous response from DirecTV workers, who take calls from customers around the country,” he said. Concerns included favoritism in the workplace and miscommunication about the company’s policies.

Across the country, CWA organizers and locals are working with  DirecTV workers who want a CWA voice. Here are some of the recent highlights:

• More than 2,000 technicians, warehouse and administrative workers in California and Nevada joined CWA, with 15 CWA locals working together in 26 locations.
   
• In Denton and Hanover, Md., 100 technicians, warehouse and administrative workers won representation. CWA  Locals 2106 and 2100 talked and met with workers.
   
• In La Vergne and Knoxville, Tenn., 201 DirecTV technicians joined CWA. Locals 3808 and 3802 worked to get them organized, with 80 percent of them signing CWA membership cards at the same time. 
   
• The 985 workers at the Tulsa, Okla., DirecTV customer care center now have representation with help from CWA Local 6012.
   
• In District  6, another 923 workers – technicians, installers, warehouse and administrative employees in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas –  gained a CWA voice through a solidarity campaign with help from 16 CWA locals.
   
• In Alabama, another 240 CWA DirecTV technicians, warehouse and administrative workers joined CWA, and signed up mainly on the night shift, working with Locals 3901, 3902, 3903, 3905, 3908 and 3911.
   
• A unit of 110 DirecTV technicians in Oregon gained CWA representation, with support from Local 7906 and Local 9421 organizers and District 9.