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CWA Sprint Strikers Report Strong Public Support
CWA locals on strike against Sprint-Nextel in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana are reporting strong community support in their fight against major contract giveback demands.
Nearly 1,000 Sprint local telephone workers began their walkout just after midnight on Oct. 10 over Sprint's insistence on health care cost-shifting, cutting disability benefits in half, eliminating overtime for Sunday work, gutting seniority protections, reducing paid leave time, reducing or even eliminating 401(k) contributions, and other issues. A major job security concession demand also is on the table in Tennessee.
"This is the most profitable segment of the entire company, yet Sprint is demanding concessions that attack our paychecks, our families' health security, our job conditions and our very future with the company, said Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus. Sprint collected revenues of over $6 billion last year from its 7.5 million customers, who live in mainly rural areas, he noted.
Media attention resulting from the strike, along with CWA newspaper and radio advertising, is focusing attention on the fact that Sprint has been using the local companies as cash cows to fund its wireless and data networks for years. Sprint siphoned off $8.7 billion from local operations between 1998 and 2003, and meanwhile, the quality of local phone service has deteriorated and many service areas still lack DSL.
Now that Sprint has merged with Nextel, it is planning to spin off local phone service entirely next year. "They are abandoning rural America, and we're telling the public and the regulators that we're fighting for quality phone service as well as fairness for our members," said Gurganus.
CWA is raising these issues with regulators in the 14 states where Sprint needs approval of its spin-off plan. CWA is asking regulatory commissions to look at staffing issues, the transfer of pension assets, and the economic viability of the new company before granting approval. The union is pointing out that Sprint and Nextel plan to dump more than $7 billion of their debt on the local companies when they are spun off.
Citizens in these areas seem to be getting the message. "Support from the public has been great. We get lots of horn honking and a thumbs up from folks driving by the picket lines," reported Local 3176 President Bob Campbell of Ocala, Fla., whose local represents about 500 Sprint strikers.
Similar community support was reported by other striking locals – Local 3871, Bluff City, Tenn., representing 300 workers; Local 3672, Hickory, N.C., representing 100, and Local 4700, Evansville, Ind., with 40 striking workers.
A rally for strikers in Lawrenceburg, Ind., on Oct. 13 drew supporters from nine CWA locals in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio and also the city mayor, Bill Cunningham. District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen told the crowd that all of CWA is standing with them in their fight for fairness.
CWA Sprint locals around the country are planning mobilization events and making sure that members aren't working overtime to backfill for scab managers.
CWA is still bargaining with Sprint, and facing the same takeback demands, in Butler, Pa., where 42 workers are represented by Local 13000, Gurganus reported. That contract expires Oct. 31. And negotiations will begin next week for another 1,300 Sprint workers in central and eastern North Carolina, whose contract expires on Nov. 29.
Nearly 1,000 Sprint local telephone workers began their walkout just after midnight on Oct. 10 over Sprint's insistence on health care cost-shifting, cutting disability benefits in half, eliminating overtime for Sunday work, gutting seniority protections, reducing paid leave time, reducing or even eliminating 401(k) contributions, and other issues. A major job security concession demand also is on the table in Tennessee.
"This is the most profitable segment of the entire company, yet Sprint is demanding concessions that attack our paychecks, our families' health security, our job conditions and our very future with the company, said Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus. Sprint collected revenues of over $6 billion last year from its 7.5 million customers, who live in mainly rural areas, he noted.
Media attention resulting from the strike, along with CWA newspaper and radio advertising, is focusing attention on the fact that Sprint has been using the local companies as cash cows to fund its wireless and data networks for years. Sprint siphoned off $8.7 billion from local operations between 1998 and 2003, and meanwhile, the quality of local phone service has deteriorated and many service areas still lack DSL.
Now that Sprint has merged with Nextel, it is planning to spin off local phone service entirely next year. "They are abandoning rural America, and we're telling the public and the regulators that we're fighting for quality phone service as well as fairness for our members," said Gurganus.
CWA is raising these issues with regulators in the 14 states where Sprint needs approval of its spin-off plan. CWA is asking regulatory commissions to look at staffing issues, the transfer of pension assets, and the economic viability of the new company before granting approval. The union is pointing out that Sprint and Nextel plan to dump more than $7 billion of their debt on the local companies when they are spun off.
Citizens in these areas seem to be getting the message. "Support from the public has been great. We get lots of horn honking and a thumbs up from folks driving by the picket lines," reported Local 3176 President Bob Campbell of Ocala, Fla., whose local represents about 500 Sprint strikers.
Similar community support was reported by other striking locals – Local 3871, Bluff City, Tenn., representing 300 workers; Local 3672, Hickory, N.C., representing 100, and Local 4700, Evansville, Ind., with 40 striking workers.
A rally for strikers in Lawrenceburg, Ind., on Oct. 13 drew supporters from nine CWA locals in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio and also the city mayor, Bill Cunningham. District 4 Vice President Seth Rosen told the crowd that all of CWA is standing with them in their fight for fairness.
CWA Sprint locals around the country are planning mobilization events and making sure that members aren't working overtime to backfill for scab managers.
CWA is still bargaining with Sprint, and facing the same takeback demands, in Butler, Pa., where 42 workers are represented by Local 13000, Gurganus reported. That contract expires Oct. 31. And negotiations will begin next week for another 1,300 Sprint workers in central and eastern North Carolina, whose contract expires on Nov. 29.