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CWA Newsmakers
Frank Dosio, a member of CWA Local 1103, has been loaned by Verizon Communications as an executive for a project President Clinton announced Oct. 25 to “ensure our nation’s veterans, particularly disabled veterans, have the technology access and training to participate fully in this new digital economy.” Dosio, during the 1990’s, spearheaded the P.T. Phone Home project, through which CWA and several of the union’s telecommunications employers installed bedside telephones in 172 veterans’ hospitals and established computer classrooms and training programs in 140 Department of Veterans Affairs facilities. Dosio was specifically requested by DVA Secretary Hershel Gober to assist a public-private partnership of the DVA, Verizon and SAIC, an employee-owned technology firm, in carrying out the president’s directive.
District 3 Organizing Coordinator Marilyn Haith Baird has retired. Baird, 50, provided leadership in her district for CWA’s successful campaign to organize passenger service professionals at US Airways. Baird began her career in June 1968 as a long distance operator for Southern Bell in Greensboro, N.C., and in 1977 she transferred to the C&P Telephone Co. in Silver Spring, Md. where she was a service representative. A member of Local 2108, she served as chief steward for C&P’s commercial marketing department in Prince George’s County. In 1986 she was appointed to the District 2 organizing committee and as a volunteer assisted the CWA organizing department. She also served as secretary of the Washington, D.C., chapters of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. In 1987, Baird traveled to Denver, Colo., to assist in organizing Blue Cross and Blue Shield but was soon recalled for a staff position as a District 1 organizer in Avenel, N.J. She worked on a variety of campaigns in the public and private sectors, including nonprofit and health care organizations. In January 1992 her title changed to district organizing coordinator as she accepted a transfer to District 3, working out of the Greensboro office.
CWA Local 1051 has been honored as one of the most active locals in southeastern Massachusetts by the Arnold Dubin Labor Education Center. The center, located at the University of Massachusetts’ Dartmouth campus, presented the local with its annual Edna Brockridge Award on Oct. 26. The award is named for a rank-and-file member of UNITE, now deceased, who was instrumental in convincing the university to build a campus in Dartmouth, Local 1051 Chief Steward Bob Young said. Local 1051, Fairhaven, was cited for frequently turning out members to support other unions’ picket lines, for participation in labor education and for its aggressive stance against AT&T’s anti-union behavior. “We’re very proud of this award. It’s a credit to all of the members,” local President Gary Allen said.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, prior to his untimely death in a plane crash Oct. 16, appointed John Ebeling, president of St. Louis Typographical Union 8/CWA Local 14616, to serve on the Missouri Citizens Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials. Ebeling has subsequently been elected chair of the commission, established in 1994 to review the relationship between the compensation and duties of all elected state officials. All commissioners serve a four-year term. In a letter congratulating Ebeling, Bill Boarman, CWA vice president for the printing sector, wrote, “I am not surprised that the governor picked you to fill this post. Time and again I have appointed you to top positions on our conference committees, and each time you have performed at a level of excellence.” Lt. Gov. Roger B. Wilson will serve out the remainder of Carnhan’s term.
Two CWA staff and five local leaders number among a class of 93 union activists who recently graduated with bachelors’ degrees from the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md. They are Jerry Klimm Jr., administrative assistant to the CWA vice president for communications and technologies; T Santora, legislative representative at CWA headquarters; Esperanza Avalos, vice president, Local 9421; Judith Beal, president Local 9509; Dianne Dion, member, Local 9326; Gail Evans, president, Local 2100; and Thomas Steed, a member of Local 1120 who first earned his associate’s degree through CWA’s negotiated program with the former Nynex, now Verizon. The National Labor College is located on the campus of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Md. “The people we deal with now and in the future are and will be well educated,” said CWA President Morton Bahr, a trustee of the center who attended the ceremony and urged broader participation in the labor studies degree program. “The days when our street smarts were sufficient for us to do our jobs are about gone,” he said.
District 3 Organizing Coordinator Marilyn Haith Baird has retired. Baird, 50, provided leadership in her district for CWA’s successful campaign to organize passenger service professionals at US Airways. Baird began her career in June 1968 as a long distance operator for Southern Bell in Greensboro, N.C., and in 1977 she transferred to the C&P Telephone Co. in Silver Spring, Md. where she was a service representative. A member of Local 2108, she served as chief steward for C&P’s commercial marketing department in Prince George’s County. In 1986 she was appointed to the District 2 organizing committee and as a volunteer assisted the CWA organizing department. She also served as secretary of the Washington, D.C., chapters of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. In 1987, Baird traveled to Denver, Colo., to assist in organizing Blue Cross and Blue Shield but was soon recalled for a staff position as a District 1 organizer in Avenel, N.J. She worked on a variety of campaigns in the public and private sectors, including nonprofit and health care organizations. In January 1992 her title changed to district organizing coordinator as she accepted a transfer to District 3, working out of the Greensboro office.
CWA Local 1051 has been honored as one of the most active locals in southeastern Massachusetts by the Arnold Dubin Labor Education Center. The center, located at the University of Massachusetts’ Dartmouth campus, presented the local with its annual Edna Brockridge Award on Oct. 26. The award is named for a rank-and-file member of UNITE, now deceased, who was instrumental in convincing the university to build a campus in Dartmouth, Local 1051 Chief Steward Bob Young said. Local 1051, Fairhaven, was cited for frequently turning out members to support other unions’ picket lines, for participation in labor education and for its aggressive stance against AT&T’s anti-union behavior. “We’re very proud of this award. It’s a credit to all of the members,” local President Gary Allen said.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, prior to his untimely death in a plane crash Oct. 16, appointed John Ebeling, president of St. Louis Typographical Union 8/CWA Local 14616, to serve on the Missouri Citizens Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials. Ebeling has subsequently been elected chair of the commission, established in 1994 to review the relationship between the compensation and duties of all elected state officials. All commissioners serve a four-year term. In a letter congratulating Ebeling, Bill Boarman, CWA vice president for the printing sector, wrote, “I am not surprised that the governor picked you to fill this post. Time and again I have appointed you to top positions on our conference committees, and each time you have performed at a level of excellence.” Lt. Gov. Roger B. Wilson will serve out the remainder of Carnhan’s term.
Two CWA staff and five local leaders number among a class of 93 union activists who recently graduated with bachelors’ degrees from the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md. They are Jerry Klimm Jr., administrative assistant to the CWA vice president for communications and technologies; T Santora, legislative representative at CWA headquarters; Esperanza Avalos, vice president, Local 9421; Judith Beal, president Local 9509; Dianne Dion, member, Local 9326; Gail Evans, president, Local 2100; and Thomas Steed, a member of Local 1120 who first earned his associate’s degree through CWA’s negotiated program with the former Nynex, now Verizon. The National Labor College is located on the campus of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Md. “The people we deal with now and in the future are and will be well educated,” said CWA President Morton Bahr, a trustee of the center who attended the ceremony and urged broader participation in the labor studies degree program. “The days when our street smarts were sufficient for us to do our jobs are about gone,” he said.