Historic Win: Workers Prevail Despite AT&T Wireless Abuses

Despite a full-fledged anti-union campaign by AT&T Wireless management, workers in West Palm Beach, Fla., scored a victory in the first organizing campaign at Wireless using expedited election provisions negotiated last year. The vote tally was 64 to 54.

So far CWA is batting 1.000 in expedited elections at AT&T following an earlier win at AT&T Local Service (formerly TCG) in Mesa, Ariz.

Vice President Jim Irvine credited the work of a strong internal organizing committee assisted by Local 3112 organizer Ernie Johnson and Local President Ed Ryan.

Wireless management completely flouted neutrality language in the CWA-AT&T agreement, according to Johnson, who reported, "Management brought in supervisors from all over the area to follow people around and create an atmosphere of intimidation." One manager even got in the face of a worker wearing a CWA logo sticker and said, "To me that (CWA logo) is threatening the same as if I wore a swastika."

The management campaign included the granting of wage increases to all except the lead CWA organizer - an action that would be an unfair labor practice if it were a National Labor Relations Board contest - as well as the destruction of union literature, and captive audience meetings with managers.

"This campaign dramatically points up the importance of having expedited elections, because we probably wouldn't have won if AT&T Wireless management had had several weeks to work the people over with intimidation tactics," said Irvine. He said CWA will utilize the neutrality language to formally protest these violations.

The approximately 120 Wireless employees in West Palm Beach work in the areas of high- value customer care, distribution, and fraud investigation.

Meanwhile, campaigns at other Wireless locations are picking up momentum, reported CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen. Other recent organizing wins include:

Microsoft Shuttle Bus Drivers

From now on, when Bill Gates hops on the Microsoft shuttle to go between buildings at the Redmond, Wash. headquarters of the world's richest company, he'll be in the hands of union drivers. That's because drivers and dispatchers for the Microsoft Shuttle Service, which is run by Laidlaw Transit Services, Inc., have voted overwhelmingly for WashTech/CWA representation.

The historic election came on June 25 when the shuttle workers voted 33-10 (a 77 percent pro-union margin) to be represented by CWA.

Throughout the campaign, the shuttle employees worked closely with WashTech/CWA organizer Andrea de Majewski in building a strong internal organizing committee that produced strong support for the union.

WashTech - the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers - was established by former Microsoft "permatemps" to help workers gain the benefits and respect they deserve.

Unlike the Microsoft permatemps who are hired through temp agencies but supervised by Microsoft managers, the shuttle drivers and dispatchers are managed and supervised by Laidlaw Transit.

Low pay was the driving force behind the workers' drive to form a union. Last May, some 70 percent of the shuttle workers signed and presented a petition to Laidlaw asking for voluntary recognition of the union. Not surprisingly, management refused and the workers filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board.

Syracuse Cellular One Workers

Some 60 workers at a Cellular One facility in Syracuse, N.Y., recently became the first "out of region" unit of Southwestern Bell's national wireless network to gain card check recognition under SBC's neutrality agreement with CWA. The Cellular One workers won the right to self representation when a majority of the union cards signed by the workers were certified by the American Arbitration Association.

The Syracuse card check campaign was supported by CWA Local 1123 organizer Nancy Fleming and Local 1123 President Kathleen Fikes. Fleming said the key to the successful campaign was a strong internal organizing committee that built support for the union.

Primary issues in the drive for represention included below-standard wages, high medical insurance costs and increasingly reduced benefits. The company is currently paying only a small portion of the employees' health insurance costs and has recently reduced the number of paid holidays.

Buffalo Nurses

CWA's growing presence in the health care field was underscored again on July 2 when 109 registered nurses and 21 licensed practical nurses/schedulers at Buffalo's McAuley-Seton Home Care voted to join CWA.

In separate representation elections, the RNs chose CWA by a vote of 40-35 while the LPN/Schedulers chose CWA by a vote of 10-7. Leadership support for this hard-fought campaign was provided by CWA Local 1133 organizer Marian MacDonald and Local 1133 President Barbara Bauch.

The campaign began in early April and was driven by stress created by overwork, low pay and a general lack of respect from management at the facility which is owned by Catholic Health System, one of the major health care providers in Buffalo.