Big Cellular One Win Over the Top for CWA

CWA WON ITS LARGEST out-of-region Cellular One unit to date Oct. 22, when the American Arbitration Association
recognized a card check victory for 505 workers in the state of Maryland.
An inside committee aided by District 2 locals and staff signed up 65 percent - 330 employees - of the SBC subsidiary at it's
Greenbelt headquarters and at a warehouse, network facilities and several retail outlets in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
and Baltimore. Under CWA's agreement with SBC, a simple majority is all that is needed.
"Our negotiated agreements for card check continue to make it easier for workers to win CWA representation without
having to face tough union-busting campaigns and drawn out legal challenges," said CWA Executive Vice President Larry
Cohen. "But it still takes dedication and courage to form a union. These workers had plenty of both."
District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci welcomed the new unit to CWA. "I also want to congratulate our local leaders and
staff who coordinated this campaign," Catucci said. "Because of their efforts, these workers will have a strong, collective
voice in the work place and in the collective bargaining process."
The campaign began in January, when CWA organizers met with two Cellular One emloyees. Said District 2 Organizing
Coordinator Ron Collins, "We worked on building the inside committee for several months. Everyone was terrific. It was a
team effort."That team included Local 2108 organizers Lynette Snell and Barbara Oliver, Local 2101 organizer Pam Wilt,
CWA Representatives Jann Buttiglieri and Charlie Bates, and Barbara Lephardt, assistant to Catucci.
The inside committee of about 35 included web master Stewart Newton and service reps Kara Irwin, Shirley Hawkins,
Shara Green, Carl Burton and Tasma Stewart.
Mindful that Cellar One quashed an organizing attempt prior to the card check and neutrality agreement CWA negotiated
with SBC last year, the committee hammered home the theme of their mission statement - "A Voice in Our Future" -
through one-on-one conversations at work, weekly meetings and conference calls.
"Our biggest challenge was educating young workers who had never been exposed to unions. The majority of us on the
organizing committee had previously worked for union companies," said Newton, a former Washington Post employee and
member of TNG-CWA Local 35.Effects Pact Payoff
Nearly 500 registered nurses at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital have joined Nurses United/CWA Local 1168 through a
card check agreement negotiated in "effects bargaining" last year.
Local 1168 and President Debbie Hayes, with backing from CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino and the
international, lent support to the merger of five hospitals in the Buffalo, N.Y., area in exchange for management's agreement
that all unorganized units could elect union representation based upon presentation of authorization cards signed by 60
percent of workers.
Effects bargaining - to deal with the effects on working conditions, salary and representation issues - is required by the
National Labor Relations Board whenever several companies combine operations. In this case, Buffalo General, DeGraff
Memorial, Millard Fillmore at Gates Circle, Millard Fillmore Suburban and Children's Hospital merged to become the
Kaleida Health System.
The 492 nurses at Suburban bring the total workers organized by Local 1168 in six units to 1,250, according to District 1
Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher - all within the past nine months. All RNs in the Kaleida system are now represented by
unions: all by CWA with the exception of those at Children's, who already belonged to the Service Employees. About 6,800
of Kaleida's 13,000 workers are now represented by unions, according to the Buffalo News, 3,500 of them by CWA.
The local is still engaged in card check campaigns with about 1,000 technical and clerical workers at Fillmore Gates Circle
and Suburban. "That's all who became eligible under the effects agreement, with the exception of professional employees,"
said Helen Cyrulik, chief organizer for the local. "We hope to get it done by the end of the year."
Cyrulik said Terri Shelter, RN and steward, Gail Krevy, RN, and Michele Murray, worked on the campaign.Bell Atlantic
Teleproducts
Also using card check, negotiated with the parent company in 1998, a unit of 83 service representatives at Bell Atlantic
Teleproducts in West Chester, Pa. has joined CWA. Over 70 percent of the workers turned in representation cards, reported
Jim Short, assistant to District 13 Vice President Vincent Maisano.
Two-and-a-half years ago, before the card check and neutrality agreement, CWA tried unsuccessfully to organize the same
group. "This time," said Short, "they (management) didn't give us a problem at all. They actually did what they agreed to
do."
Vicky Kintzer, CWA Local 13500 secretary-treasurer, said the workers, who sell telecommunications products to
individuals and companies, approached the local with the same kinds of issues faced by service reps in the Bell Atlantic
core company: tough adherence standards on sales quotas, call length, and time connected with customers, as well as a lack
of uniformity in job postings, vacation scheduling and the need for a salary upgrade.
"They were begging us to come in," said Kintzer, who with local President Sandy Kmetyk scheduled after-hours meetings
to explain the benefits of unionization. "Thirty-one workers showed up at our first meeting. Twenty-five signed cards at our
second."
Local 13500 Eastern Division Secretary-Treasurer Sharon Marion and Steward Abner Hines handbilled in the parking lot
and talked to workers in the company lounge. Mark Kornblum and Paula Jones, Teleproducts workers, led a strong, inside
core group.
The entire process took less than 60 days, the time allowed by agreement with the company after the first card is signed. The
local filed representation cards signed by a majority of the workers with the American Arbitration Association on Oct. 18.
The victory was the local's second under the Bell Atlantic card check and neutrality agreement applying to subsidiaries. In
February the local organized 300 workers at Bell Atlantic Directory Graphics in Valley Forge, Pa.AT&T; Cable Win
While an agreement for expedited consent elections should make life easier for 25,000 workers at AT&T; Broadband
and Internet Services around the country, about a dozen ABIS workers in Gillette, Wyo., decided to earn CWA
representation the old-fashioned way, knowing they faced a tough anti-union campaign.
The technicians had filed for an NLRB election just days before CWA announced an agreement with AT&T;
permitting the union to call for expedited consent elections at new AT&T; acquisitions within 14 days after a majority
of the workers sign interest cards. The agreement would take effect at AT&T; Wireless and Local Service installations
July 1, 1999 - and at ABIS on March 1, 2000 - with third party arbitration of neutrality violations.
Determined to go forward with their traditional election, the 13-member unit on Oct. 1 voted 11-1 to join CWA. "As
predicted, the employer ran an outrageous campaign of lies, threats and promises," said District 7 Organizing Coordinator
Kevin Mulligan. "In one letter to the employees, they asked them what they would do if during a strike, CWA asked them to
sabotage the system for the union."
The technicians were undeterred by management tactics that included daily captive audience meetings. Management's
resistance, If anything, strengthened the workers' resolve.
Leaders that emerged during the struggle include Ed Channel and Mike Ryan, recently elected stewards for the new
bargaining unit. A third, Archie Hillsman, suffered a heart attack that kept him off the job for two weeks, but returned to
help organize his co-workers.
"These workers understand that they are just the first of what will be thousands of ABIS employees joining CWA, and they
know they will not have the power to get a fair contract until more ABIS workers join them," said Mulligan. "They are
proud to lead the way and hope their bargaining process will help others win a union."
Also under the AT&T; agreement, reported Seth Rosen, administrative assistant to District 4 Vice President Jeff
Rechenbach, workers at AT&T; Local Service in Cleveland, Ohio, squeaked out a victory in an expedited consent
election. The 10-person unit voted 5-4 to join CWA. Rosen credited hard work by Local 4340 organizers Jim Cosgrove and
Art Frindt.