Behind The Contract: John Desm On Building 90 NYC Buses

CWA Local 7304 President John C. Desm gives us the inside scoop on how CWA collaboration saved 114 union jobs and aided a contract to build 90 heavy-duty clean diesel buses for New York City:

Here is the story on how CWA local 7304 and the New York CWA guys got together.

In July our company New Flyer was awarded a single source contract with the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA). So being a single source contract, it came under review by the New York comptroller's office. Now this was the first time New Flyer had ever done a single source contract, so they really didn’t know what to expect. They assumed it would be a normal contract review.

So three weeks after the review started, the company approached the union about a reduction in work schedule to avoid a layoff and keep everyone employed till the contract was signed. They knew it was a risk to put the New York build on the build schedule, but it was a calculated risk that they went forward with to maximize the employee performance to keep everyone working. After two weeks they came and asked for two more weeks, and we said, “Ok, we will support you.” But we also asked what was really going on with the contract delay, and if we could help in any way.

I got ahold of Shane Larson at CWA’s headquarters in DC, who put me in touch with Bob Master, CWA’s legislative and political director in New York, who reached out to the comptroller’s office.

In September, New Flyer and I wrote a letter to the comptroller’s office, telling him about the impact that this contract would have on my members. The company asked me if I was still talking with the New York CWA guys, I said, “Yep.” And when they asked if I knew CWA Local 1108 President Arthur Cheliotes, I said, “Nope, but if he can help, I will very soon.” In the matter of 48 hours Arthur, Bob and I were in constant contact, putting over 2,000 minutes on my cell phone between New York and Minnesota.

The next week, New Flyer, since it’s an openly traded company, had to do a press release announcing 114 members in St. Cloud, 54 temps and 40 Canadian auto workers would be laid off in two weeks because of the contract delay.

As the union president, facing down 114 union coworkers that are going to lose their job, I’m thinking, “I doing enough? Can I do more? Was there something else I could do to help Mary, who is already late on her mortgage and now she is getting laid off? Or Bill who is going to lose his car? Or Bob who is already getting food from the food bank to feed his family of seven?” Well, let me tell you it wasn’t a feeling I ever want to repeat, and it just drove me to push harder, call more and email more because I knew I could do more. I even told Bob and Arthur that I would fly out to New York and sit outside the office of the comptroller with my red CWA shirt and wait every day and night till they signed the contract and I can avoid a layoff.

I sent emails and was burning up the phone lines. Next, I went to the company and asked for the drop dead date -- when we could get the call that the contract is signed and avoid the layoff. We set up a meeting with New Flyer and discussed two plans: One was what was going to happen if the layoff went through, and the other was if the contract was signed. That meeting ended at 3 p.m., and I was getting dinner for my family when I got the call from Arthur telling me the contract was signed. I whooped and hollered and started making the calls. Then 1 ½ hours later the unofficial call came from NYCTA to New Flyer affirming that it was signed, and on Monday the layoff notices were ripped up and shredded. We started welding the frames on Wednesday when the New York inspectors arrived at St. Cloud, and we started building.

Without the help and connections of Bob and Arthur I would have been lost. I would have watched a lot of my members, basically a third of the plant walk out, and the likelihood of getting them back would have been very slim. I owe them and the union a bunch for showing me, my members and even New Flyer that we can accomplish so much by being open, transparent and honest. Together we are much stronger than when we clash or disagree.