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Cellular One and County Workers Prove Card Check Counts
Cellular One members continue to increase as the result of a card check and neutrality agreement CWA negotiated with SBC last year and the hard work of local organizers outside SBC's home region.
Also, an Ohio local has expanded CWA's "bargain to organize" strategy, using the influence of the Cleveland Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board to broker a card check agreement that helped them sign up workers at the Cuyahoga County Recorder's office.
In both cases, card check and neutrality agreements permitted locals to organize successfully without participating in lengthy and cumbersome representation elections.
Wireless Wonders
District 1 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher raised eyebrows Aug. 27 when he reported certification of a unit of six Cellular One workers in Ithaca, N.Y. - for CWA Local 1123, a sweet footnote to last month's win for 60 employees in Syracuse. Three days later, Lacher announced the largest Cellular One victory to date: 194 workers organized by Local 1122 in Buffalo. That raises the tally to 260.
But it's not over. Cellular One card check campaigns in Utica, Rochester, Albany and Watertown - in various stages of completion - are expected to yield at least another 150 members in upstate New York alone, while CWA continues to pursue drives in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and Boston.
"The hard work of our volunteer organizers and inside committees is key to the success of these campaigns," noted CWA Executive Vice Larry Cohen, congratulating the locals.
District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino welcomed the new members and has assigned CWA Representa-tives Dave Palmer and Ellen Gallant to work with their units as they form committees in preparation for bargaining.
Local 1122 organizers John Mudie and Kevin Suttner - both Bell Atlantic employees - began in February to talk with customer service and billing representatives, fraud investigators, activation employees, engineers and paralegals. They found concerns ranging from job security and health care expenses to inconsistent work rules.
With support from local President Don Loretto, they set up meetings at the union hall twice a month, helped the workers form an inside committee of about 15, and explained how CWA could help them solve their problems.
Because of the requirement that none be older than 60 days, the committee waited until April to begin collecting cards. By then they were certain they had a majority. The results were verified by the American Arbitration Association.
"The committee people were outstanding," said Mudie. "When they came to meetings, they brought four or five people with them. We got most of the cards signed in meetings."
Suttner, Mudie said, spent a lot of time talking to workers at the Apple Tree Mall, where Cellular One operates a call center and retail store.
Lacher said SBC lived up to its neutrality agreement and would have granted organizers access to work locations if they had asked.
"We found it more effective to have the committee do the talking one on one," he said. "The fact that there was no anti-union campaign made it easy."
Jobs with Justice Helps
A turnover in management, coupled with strong ties to respected community leaders made all the difference for CWA Local 4309 in successfully concluding a two-year organizing drive.
Sixty-one clerical workers in the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Recorder's Office attained CWA representation after card check and neutrality provisions were arranged with assistance from the Cleveland Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board.
"This shows the potential we have to organize with an employer that lets workers decide they want a union in an atmosphere free of fear and intimidation," said CWA District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach. He praised local organizers for their persistence in a difficult campaign, for their longstanding involvement with Jobs with Justice and for their ingenuity in bringing the Workers' Rights Board to bear at a critical juncture.
Approached two years ago by disgruntled workers in the Recorder's Office, Local 4309 organizers Pam Wynn and Diane Jones started to build an internal organizing committee, said Seth Rosen, assistant to Rechenbach.
Under former Recorder Frank Russo, Wynn explained, "The workers were scared to sign cards. In those kinds of jobs, they let you go whenever they want to."
The organizers, however, were successful in identifying issues - wage disparity, jobs shifting around, capricious promotions and demotions - and in maintaining inside contacts in a high-turnover shop.
When Pat O'Malley won election as Recorder in November 1998 and Russo became Auditor, the local seized the opportunity. Local Secretary George Smilnak sought help from Cleveland AFL-CIO Executive Secretary John Ryan, who is co-chair of the Cleveland Jobs with Justice coalition of union, community and religious activists. Ryan, a former Local 4309 president, is a founder of Jobs with Justice, which both the local and CWA District 4 have actively supported.
While Jobs with Justice typically stages rallies, informational picketing and letter-writing campaigns, its Workers' Rights Boards, composed of respected community leaders, exert a different kind of influence, often conducting public hearings and media campaigns to focus attention on issues, and sometimes more quietly, through behind-the-scenes negotiations and the exercise of moral persuasion. The Cleveland board is made up of about 60 community leaders including Reps. Sherrod Brown (D-13th) and Dennis Kucinich (D-10th), Professor Beth Cagan of Cleveland State University and Santiago Feliciano, general counsel to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
"It's pretty effective when you can call up and say the bishop's attorney would like to meet with you," said Ryan.
In negotiations with Ryan and Smilnak, O'Malley agreed to bypass holding a representation election through the State Employee Relations Board, granted neutrality and access for local organizers and agreed to union recognition based upon card check. Santiago was chosen to count the cards and verify the results.
Wynn and Jones visited the work site weekly and found that new employees were more receptive to the union message. By early September they were able to present cards representing the majority to Santiago.
The workers are in the process of selecting a bargaining committee. CWA Representative Henley Johns will assist them in negotiations.
Also, an Ohio local has expanded CWA's "bargain to organize" strategy, using the influence of the Cleveland Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board to broker a card check agreement that helped them sign up workers at the Cuyahoga County Recorder's office.
In both cases, card check and neutrality agreements permitted locals to organize successfully without participating in lengthy and cumbersome representation elections.
Wireless Wonders
District 1 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher raised eyebrows Aug. 27 when he reported certification of a unit of six Cellular One workers in Ithaca, N.Y. - for CWA Local 1123, a sweet footnote to last month's win for 60 employees in Syracuse. Three days later, Lacher announced the largest Cellular One victory to date: 194 workers organized by Local 1122 in Buffalo. That raises the tally to 260.
But it's not over. Cellular One card check campaigns in Utica, Rochester, Albany and Watertown - in various stages of completion - are expected to yield at least another 150 members in upstate New York alone, while CWA continues to pursue drives in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and Boston.
"The hard work of our volunteer organizers and inside committees is key to the success of these campaigns," noted CWA Executive Vice Larry Cohen, congratulating the locals.
District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino welcomed the new members and has assigned CWA Representa-tives Dave Palmer and Ellen Gallant to work with their units as they form committees in preparation for bargaining.
Local 1122 organizers John Mudie and Kevin Suttner - both Bell Atlantic employees - began in February to talk with customer service and billing representatives, fraud investigators, activation employees, engineers and paralegals. They found concerns ranging from job security and health care expenses to inconsistent work rules.
With support from local President Don Loretto, they set up meetings at the union hall twice a month, helped the workers form an inside committee of about 15, and explained how CWA could help them solve their problems.
Because of the requirement that none be older than 60 days, the committee waited until April to begin collecting cards. By then they were certain they had a majority. The results were verified by the American Arbitration Association.
"The committee people were outstanding," said Mudie. "When they came to meetings, they brought four or five people with them. We got most of the cards signed in meetings."
Suttner, Mudie said, spent a lot of time talking to workers at the Apple Tree Mall, where Cellular One operates a call center and retail store.
Lacher said SBC lived up to its neutrality agreement and would have granted organizers access to work locations if they had asked.
"We found it more effective to have the committee do the talking one on one," he said. "The fact that there was no anti-union campaign made it easy."
Jobs with Justice Helps
A turnover in management, coupled with strong ties to respected community leaders made all the difference for CWA Local 4309 in successfully concluding a two-year organizing drive.
Sixty-one clerical workers in the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Recorder's Office attained CWA representation after card check and neutrality provisions were arranged with assistance from the Cleveland Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board.
"This shows the potential we have to organize with an employer that lets workers decide they want a union in an atmosphere free of fear and intimidation," said CWA District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach. He praised local organizers for their persistence in a difficult campaign, for their longstanding involvement with Jobs with Justice and for their ingenuity in bringing the Workers' Rights Board to bear at a critical juncture.
Approached two years ago by disgruntled workers in the Recorder's Office, Local 4309 organizers Pam Wynn and Diane Jones started to build an internal organizing committee, said Seth Rosen, assistant to Rechenbach.
Under former Recorder Frank Russo, Wynn explained, "The workers were scared to sign cards. In those kinds of jobs, they let you go whenever they want to."
The organizers, however, were successful in identifying issues - wage disparity, jobs shifting around, capricious promotions and demotions - and in maintaining inside contacts in a high-turnover shop.
When Pat O'Malley won election as Recorder in November 1998 and Russo became Auditor, the local seized the opportunity. Local Secretary George Smilnak sought help from Cleveland AFL-CIO Executive Secretary John Ryan, who is co-chair of the Cleveland Jobs with Justice coalition of union, community and religious activists. Ryan, a former Local 4309 president, is a founder of Jobs with Justice, which both the local and CWA District 4 have actively supported.
While Jobs with Justice typically stages rallies, informational picketing and letter-writing campaigns, its Workers' Rights Boards, composed of respected community leaders, exert a different kind of influence, often conducting public hearings and media campaigns to focus attention on issues, and sometimes more quietly, through behind-the-scenes negotiations and the exercise of moral persuasion. The Cleveland board is made up of about 60 community leaders including Reps. Sherrod Brown (D-13th) and Dennis Kucinich (D-10th), Professor Beth Cagan of Cleveland State University and Santiago Feliciano, general counsel to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
"It's pretty effective when you can call up and say the bishop's attorney would like to meet with you," said Ryan.
In negotiations with Ryan and Smilnak, O'Malley agreed to bypass holding a representation election through the State Employee Relations Board, granted neutrality and access for local organizers and agreed to union recognition based upon card check. Santiago was chosen to count the cards and verify the results.
Wynn and Jones visited the work site weekly and found that new employees were more receptive to the union message. By early September they were able to present cards representing the majority to Santiago.
The workers are in the process of selecting a bargaining committee. CWA Representative Henley Johns will assist them in negotiations.