Fighting the Attack on GOOD JOBS: Organizing Contractors, Growing Unions

Local 4340 has been following an innovative strategy in its efforts to grow union jobs.

The local, in Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, near Cleveland, represents workers at major telecommunications companies like AT&T, but also has negotiated contracts with about 70 contractors covering workers in telecommunications.

This effort to organize contract employees first got underway in 1986, said Local 4340 President Ed Philips. Then, organizing among contractors meant that workers would be covered by established standards, such as a grievance procedure, and have benefits like health care. For contractors, it meant a level playing field among competitors and enabled CWA-represented companies to compete on a company by company basis.

Philips made the distinction between union and non-union outsourcing and noted that his local has had some real success in ensuring that companies like AT&T, Lucent and Avaya use union workers, whether they're contracted out or work directly for those companies.

"But when this work leaves your environment — by being contracted out to other areas, or sent offshore, we must fight it in every way," he said.

Phillips said that the big difference between union-represented and non-union contractors made it critical to keep up this organizing work.

"In the rise and fall of normal business, a company can get a big job, get very busy and need to hire 20 to 30 workers to meet that demand. At some point, when the job is over, that company would likely lay off those 20-30 people. If, instead of hiring, a company can outsource to a quality contractor who meets the right labor standards, that layoff won't have to happen."

"But when it comes to outsourcing to non-union contractors, who don't pay fair wages and benefits, that's not only unfair to those workers, but that's work that may be lost for good," he said.

Philips said the local's workers protection committee monitors contractors hired by AT&T to make sure they are union represented. "If not, we use the company's own business code of conduct and critical guidelines and enforce those rules. We've been highly successful in getting these non-union contractors off the job in our area," he said.