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"Fearless" Techs Organize AT&T Broadband Unit in Georgia
Management at AT&T Broadband’s East Tech Center in Stone Mountain, Ga., pulled out all the stops. Before it was over, techs found literature on their windshields, so-called “fact” sheets urging them to, “Do Away with the CWA.”
They were told that if they voted to go union, higher labor costs would mean more layoffs, that dues “extorted” from them would wipe out any real wage increases, that CWA was “aligned with organizations that seek to dismantle the entire structure of our present economic system.”
Their response: drop in to an intended captive audience meeting, eat the pizza and leave before management could make a presentation.
“These guys were very active and very adamant about becoming union,” said Local 3250 Organizer Wayne Vicks. “They displayed no fear of retaliation, and it worked for them.”
The unit of 245 technicians on Aug. 22 voted 116-105 to join CWA, in a campaign that lasted just a little over a month. They are one of several former Media One outlets in the greater Atlanta area, where there is a potential to organize as many as 2,000 new members.
Only three technicians attended the first meeting Vicks set up at a Mexican restaurant to discuss an expedited campaign.
“We talked it over as a golden opportunity,” Vicks said. Rather than face the lengthy process of requesting an election and certification through the National Labor Relations Board, “we could get into a quick election and hold our support.”
With the help of a fourth technician, Herb Morris, the three talked with dozens of their co-workers. Fifty-one technicians came to the second meeting.
Local 3250 President Ray Oullette and Executive Vice President Cora Moore got involved, making phone calls and helping the workers build a computerized database of potential members. Vice President Glenda Poindexter, who heads the local’s organizing committee, pulled in additional volunteers.
Technicians at AT&T Broadband in North Fulton, Ga., who had just lost their own representation election, sent a letter encouraging the Stone Mountain techs. “Do it for us,” they wrote, confident that a Stone Mountain victory will help them when they mount a new campaign.
Stone Mountain technicians and their supporters worked into the night prior to the election, making sure their co-workers would vote for CWA in the morning.
District 3 Vice President Jim Smith clled the win a “huge breakthrough” for cable workers in Atlanta.
Other Broadband Victories:
They were told that if they voted to go union, higher labor costs would mean more layoffs, that dues “extorted” from them would wipe out any real wage increases, that CWA was “aligned with organizations that seek to dismantle the entire structure of our present economic system.”
Their response: drop in to an intended captive audience meeting, eat the pizza and leave before management could make a presentation.
“These guys were very active and very adamant about becoming union,” said Local 3250 Organizer Wayne Vicks. “They displayed no fear of retaliation, and it worked for them.”
The unit of 245 technicians on Aug. 22 voted 116-105 to join CWA, in a campaign that lasted just a little over a month. They are one of several former Media One outlets in the greater Atlanta area, where there is a potential to organize as many as 2,000 new members.
Only three technicians attended the first meeting Vicks set up at a Mexican restaurant to discuss an expedited campaign.
“We talked it over as a golden opportunity,” Vicks said. Rather than face the lengthy process of requesting an election and certification through the National Labor Relations Board, “we could get into a quick election and hold our support.”
With the help of a fourth technician, Herb Morris, the three talked with dozens of their co-workers. Fifty-one technicians came to the second meeting.
Local 3250 President Ray Oullette and Executive Vice President Cora Moore got involved, making phone calls and helping the workers build a computerized database of potential members. Vice President Glenda Poindexter, who heads the local’s organizing committee, pulled in additional volunteers.
Technicians at AT&T Broadband in North Fulton, Ga., who had just lost their own representation election, sent a letter encouraging the Stone Mountain techs. “Do it for us,” they wrote, confident that a Stone Mountain victory will help them when they mount a new campaign.
Stone Mountain technicians and their supporters worked into the night prior to the election, making sure their co-workers would vote for CWA in the morning.
District 3 Vice President Jim Smith clled the win a “huge breakthrough” for cable workers in Atlanta.
Other Broadband Victories:
- On Aug. 1 AT&T Broadband workers in Oakland, Calif., reaffirmed their choice of representation by CWA Local 9415, voting 52-9 for the union in an NLRB decertification election.
- Local 13000 won an election for a small unit of Broadband workers in Coraolopis, Pa., outside Pittsburgh. The vote was 9-4. Their victory increases the union’s presence in the greater Pittsburgh area, where CWA recently organized more than 600 AT&T Broadband workers.
- As the CWA News went to press, Local 4340 Organizer John Kosek reported a victory for AT&T Broadband workers in Elyria, Ohio. “A strong inside committee was key to this election,” Kosek said.