IUE-CWA Members at Logan's Budget Rent-A-Car Ratify First Contract

Two years after first organizing their union, Budget Rent-A-Car workers at Boston's Logan Airport have a first contract. Pictured, from left, are IUE-CWA Local 81201 Organizer Sheila McGillicuddy and Budget employees Mukhtar Abdul, Manny Chery and Kamau Hashim.

Budget Rent-A-Car workers at Boston's Logan Airport, members of IUE-CWA Local 81201, have ratified a hard-won first contract that improves wages and benefits and sets up a grievance procedure with arbitration.

The contract also spells out the right of workers to picket their employer in the event that Budget attempts to outsource jobs at Logan, as it has done at airports in Rhode Island and Maine.

Local 81201 Executive Board Member Bill Rounseville, who served on the bargaining team, said while the provision doesn't bar outsourcing, it will discourage it because pickets are bad for business. "This helps keep the playing field as level as possible," he said.

The 50-plus Budget employees, who include sales agents, service agents who clean vehicles, shuttle bus drivers and others, first organized their unit in October 2009.

For a full year, the company stalled bargaining, leading to an attempt to decertify the unit. But the workers' strong rank-and-file campaign prevailed last fall and ultimately "broke the logjam" in negotiations, Rounseville said.