Fighting Back: Texas Local Relies on Stewards Army

Even though Texas state workers don't have collective bargaining rights, last year they won their fight to save 2,900 state jobs. And in 2005 and 2006, they enjoyed some of the best raises their members had seen in 10 years.

Both victories came in large measure though the local's influence with the state legislature, particularly with lawmakers they helped elect through an intensive political action program.

TSEU-CWA Local 6186, the Texas State Employees Union, averaged about 10 percent of their membership of nearly 12,000 contributing monthly to CWA's Committee on Political Action (COPE) in 2006.

"We know that if we want to get people elected who are sympathetic to our political causes, we need to have the money behind us," said Local 6186 President Judy Lugo.

How do they do it? "We're willing to ask," said local Vice President Mike Gross. "We're an organizing local. Our people go to their co-workers and ask them, 'Will you join the union?' It's the same with COPE. We explain that for state employees, elected officials are our employers to a very large extent," Gross said. "Our ability to impact races helps us impact public policy — that's our livelihood."

In Texas, a "right-to-work" state with no public sector collective bargaining law, the state will not make deductions from members' paychecks for COPE. Nevertheless, by November 2006, the local had 1,088 members signed up for COPE. That's despite the need to organize more than 300 new members each month to replace those who leave state employment.

To recruit members and drive the COPE program, TSEU-CWA has 17 full-time organizers and a Stewards Army of 600 volunteer, on-the-job organizer/activists. "The basic unit of our union is organizing committees at each agency," Gross said.

Political action translates into success. When the state began to implement a program to close 99 human services offices and move the work to privatized call centers, 60 state lawmakers wrote to the Health and Human Services Commission, bringing about the cancellation of the state's contract with Accenture and restoration of the community-based offices.

Last year, the legislature approved raises of $100 per month per employee, or 4 percent, whichever was greater, and $600 or 3 percent for 2006.

The local's political work helped Democrats pick up 7 new seats in the state House in November, though Republicans still control the House by 81-69 and the Senate by 20-11, as well as the governorship. However, even moderate Republicans listen to TSEU-CWA because of its political activism, according to Lugo.