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Bargaining to Organize' a Winning Strategy
Workers from US Airways, American Airlines, AT&T's newest cable and telecom operations, and Microsoft brought their energy and enthusiasm for a CWA voice to the convention, as delegates focused on organizing and ways to continue to build the labor movement.
CWA Executive Vice President and Organizing Director Larry Cohen called on every local to help build CWA through organizing and solidarity, by working with district organizing coordinators, selecting candidates for local organizing who will receive training and support from CWA, and increasing resources committed to organizing.
He highlighted some of the innovative programs in districts and sectors that are helping workers gain a CWA voice: In District 6, locals across Arkansas have joined together to fund an organizer and support each other's projects; in District 2, a task force of local presidents is working on a district-wide organizing plan; in District 4, locals developed an organizing plan to help workers at AT&T and Ameritech operations, Ohio State and other universities, and airlines gain union representation; in the printing sector, the I-95 Project is focusing attention on unorganized commercial printing and mail houses from Washington, D.C. to New York and in the public sector, organizing continues, especially among university workers.
President's Award
As part of the organizing presentation, President Morton Bahr announced the winners of the President's annual award for organizing excellence. This year's award, he said, recognizes "our bargaining-to-organize strategy overall and the achievement of more than 20 CWA locals across the United States that have organized over 3,000 new members since our last convention."
Four campaigns were honored.
Accepting for CWA Local 1168, Nurses United, Buffalo, N.Y., was Local President Debbie Hayes, who told delegates that through the hard work of organizers and the bargaining committee, the local gained 800 new members through card check recognition and is working to bring union rights to another 1,800 workers.
Two CWA locals in Fort Worth and Dallas, Tex., were recognized for gaining a union voice for some 800 SBC Wireless workers; Presidents Denny Kramer, Local 6201, and J.D. Williams, Local 6215, said teamwork was the key, along with "lots of people who used their time and energy to make sure the effort was successful."
District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler accepted the award on behalf of 12 locals that worked together to organize more than 400 new members at Pacific Bell Wireless, and told delegates that within District 9, there is "an organizing drive going on in every sector."
CWA Local 13500 was recognized for its efforts in organizing some 300 Bell Atlantic Directory Graphics members in Pennsylvania. Local President Sandra Kmetyk credited her executive board for establishing an organizing fund and told delegates that the graphics members had just ratified their first contract.
Ongoing Campaigns
In his remarks, Cohen stressed that CWA's efforts to help workers organize at AT&T are critical. "AT&T workers were pioneers in building CWA. Now, workers at AT&T subsidiaries are new pioneers, fighting for a voice against a company that has been seeking to transform itself into a non-union organization," he said. AT&T Wireless, Local Service, cable and AT&T Solutions now employ more workers than CWA represents in the core company. "This is where our strategy of bargaining to organize has been very effective," because CWA won some real organizing provisions in the last round of bargaining, Cohen pointed out.
Arlene Porter, an organizer with CWA Local 7050, told delegates that AT&T actually built a wall between some 600 union workers and 118 non-union employees at AT&T's Local Service operation in Mesa, Ariz. "Despite their fears, workers at TCG built a committee, outlasted management's intimidation and won their union," she said.
Lisa Benedetti, an ALS worker at Mesa, said the organizing campaign called on workers to "tear down the wall." "We understand that the future of our union depends on winning elections at every non-represented group in the company. You can count on us to be there," she said. Just following the convention, another 120 workers at an AT&T Wireless facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., voted for a CWA voice. (See related story, this issue, "Historic Win: Workers Prevail Despite AT&T Wireless Abuses.")
Stephen White, vice president of Local 9415 and a front line cable worker told delegates that TCI "has tried to decertify us many times but each time we fought back and kept our union.
"When AT&T bought the cable company I worked for, we hoped the climate would change. But we were wrong. The same anti-union attitude that existed before the merger still exists. AT&T is now extending 401(k) benefits to non-union workers and excluding union members, just as the cable company predecessors did," he said, adding, "but we are committed to building our union and our future."
Cohen also recognized the "organizing army" of customer service workers from US Airways and American Airlines who marched into the hall to the cheers of delegates.
US Airways agents Velvet Hawthorne and Peter Bannister talked about the hard conditions faced by agents at US Airways, where many workers lost their full-time jobs and their family medical benefits. Both expressed confidence that agents will make history in August by again voting in CWA, with the largest majority vote ever for union representation.
Richard Shaughnessy, a 12-year employee at American Airlines, told delegates that AA employees followed the 1997 election among US Airways passenger service agents closely, and "when US Airways won their union election, we contacted CWA a week later."
"Despite not gaining quite enough votes under the Railway Labor Act to win our union, our committee is continuing the fight, with CWA by our side," he said.
At Microsoft about a third of the 20,000 workers at the Seattle campus are permatemps, hired by Microsoft and employed through one of about 20 agencies approved by Microsoft to hire them. They are writers, technicians and testers, Cohen said, workers who want a voice on their jobs. Some 200 techs and professionals - from Microsoft, Amazon.com and other Seattle firms - have joined WashTech/ CWA Local 37083 and are working to give high-tech workers a union voice.
Barbara Judd, a WashTech member and a Microsoft permatemp, told delegates that her Microsoft counterparts earn fully paid medical, dental and vision insurance, as well as stock options and other benefits.
That's why her group of 18 workers - attorneys and finance professionals - joined WashTech and put both Microsoft and the employment agencies on notice that they were seeking full recognition as a bargaining unit. While all the companies are refusing to recognize the unit, workers have won pay adjustments and reclassifications as a result of their action. But, Judd said, "we will not rest until we are at the bargaining table as equals with Microsoft and the agencies."
President Bahr also honored those locals that won representation rights for at least 100 workers in new units over the past year. They are Locals 1037, 1109, 1120, 1133, 1168, 30130, 3204, 4340, 6201, 6215, 6507, 7050, 7777, 9400, 9412, 9414, and 13500.
CWA Executive Vice President and Organizing Director Larry Cohen called on every local to help build CWA through organizing and solidarity, by working with district organizing coordinators, selecting candidates for local organizing who will receive training and support from CWA, and increasing resources committed to organizing.
He highlighted some of the innovative programs in districts and sectors that are helping workers gain a CWA voice: In District 6, locals across Arkansas have joined together to fund an organizer and support each other's projects; in District 2, a task force of local presidents is working on a district-wide organizing plan; in District 4, locals developed an organizing plan to help workers at AT&T and Ameritech operations, Ohio State and other universities, and airlines gain union representation; in the printing sector, the I-95 Project is focusing attention on unorganized commercial printing and mail houses from Washington, D.C. to New York and in the public sector, organizing continues, especially among university workers.
President's Award
As part of the organizing presentation, President Morton Bahr announced the winners of the President's annual award for organizing excellence. This year's award, he said, recognizes "our bargaining-to-organize strategy overall and the achievement of more than 20 CWA locals across the United States that have organized over 3,000 new members since our last convention."
Four campaigns were honored.
Ongoing Campaigns
In his remarks, Cohen stressed that CWA's efforts to help workers organize at AT&T are critical. "AT&T workers were pioneers in building CWA. Now, workers at AT&T subsidiaries are new pioneers, fighting for a voice against a company that has been seeking to transform itself into a non-union organization," he said. AT&T Wireless, Local Service, cable and AT&T Solutions now employ more workers than CWA represents in the core company. "This is where our strategy of bargaining to organize has been very effective," because CWA won some real organizing provisions in the last round of bargaining, Cohen pointed out.
Arlene Porter, an organizer with CWA Local 7050, told delegates that AT&T actually built a wall between some 600 union workers and 118 non-union employees at AT&T's Local Service operation in Mesa, Ariz. "Despite their fears, workers at TCG built a committee, outlasted management's intimidation and won their union," she said.
Lisa Benedetti, an ALS worker at Mesa, said the organizing campaign called on workers to "tear down the wall." "We understand that the future of our union depends on winning elections at every non-represented group in the company. You can count on us to be there," she said. Just following the convention, another 120 workers at an AT&T Wireless facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., voted for a CWA voice. (See related story, this issue, "Historic Win: Workers Prevail Despite AT&T Wireless Abuses.")
Stephen White, vice president of Local 9415 and a front line cable worker told delegates that TCI "has tried to decertify us many times but each time we fought back and kept our union.
"When AT&T bought the cable company I worked for, we hoped the climate would change. But we were wrong. The same anti-union attitude that existed before the merger still exists. AT&T is now extending 401(k) benefits to non-union workers and excluding union members, just as the cable company predecessors did," he said, adding, "but we are committed to building our union and our future."
Cohen also recognized the "organizing army" of customer service workers from US Airways and American Airlines who marched into the hall to the cheers of delegates.
US Airways agents Velvet Hawthorne and Peter Bannister talked about the hard conditions faced by agents at US Airways, where many workers lost their full-time jobs and their family medical benefits. Both expressed confidence that agents will make history in August by again voting in CWA, with the largest majority vote ever for union representation.
Richard Shaughnessy, a 12-year employee at American Airlines, told delegates that AA employees followed the 1997 election among US Airways passenger service agents closely, and "when US Airways won their union election, we contacted CWA a week later."
"Despite not gaining quite enough votes under the Railway Labor Act to win our union, our committee is continuing the fight, with CWA by our side," he said.
At Microsoft about a third of the 20,000 workers at the Seattle campus are permatemps, hired by Microsoft and employed through one of about 20 agencies approved by Microsoft to hire them. They are writers, technicians and testers, Cohen said, workers who want a voice on their jobs. Some 200 techs and professionals - from Microsoft, Amazon.com and other Seattle firms - have joined WashTech/ CWA Local 37083 and are working to give high-tech workers a union voice.
Barbara Judd, a WashTech member and a Microsoft permatemp, told delegates that her Microsoft counterparts earn fully paid medical, dental and vision insurance, as well as stock options and other benefits.
That's why her group of 18 workers - attorneys and finance professionals - joined WashTech and put both Microsoft and the employment agencies on notice that they were seeking full recognition as a bargaining unit. While all the companies are refusing to recognize the unit, workers have won pay adjustments and reclassifications as a result of their action. But, Judd said, "we will not rest until we are at the bargaining table as equals with Microsoft and the agencies."
President Bahr also honored those locals that won representation rights for at least 100 workers in new units over the past year. They are Locals 1037, 1109, 1120, 1133, 1168, 30130, 3204, 4340, 6201, 6215, 6507, 7050, 7777, 9400, 9412, 9414, and 13500.