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IUE-CWA Rolls Out WAGE Campaign at GE
GE, home to 20,000 IUE-CWA members in the United States, has become the seventh-largest employer in the world. Over the last two decades the corporate behemoth has exported 130,000 good-paying union jobs to countries that pay less than a subsistence wage and that routinely violate workers’ rights. It acquires about 100 new companies each year, mostly nonunion, and globally employs 314,000 workers.
There’s tremendous potential for organizing. But GE — with a track record of union-busting that rivals the worst telecom employers — maintains a union avoidance department to discourage hopefuls. Its subsidiaries go to great lengths to thwart organizing campaigns.
Take, for example, Johnson Technology in Muskegon, Mich. GE Aircraft Engines purchased Johnson’s main Latimer plant there in 1997, invested $18 million and opened a second plant at nearby Norton Shores. The two plants employ more than 500 workers who have tried since 1999 to form a union.
Management issued dozens of anti-union leaflets, sent an anti-union videotape to employees’ homes, and held about 20 captive audience meetings where they attacked the integrity of IUE-CWA and insinuated that voting for the union would lead to strikes.
When workers tried to conduct a rally outside the main Latimer plant, management went so far as to turn lawn sprinklers on them to douse their enthusiasm, leading organizers to call police.
The workers lost their representation election in October 2001 by a vote of 299-103, but that’s far from the end of the story. They’ve gone right back at it, embracing a new concept recently unveiled at a recent IUE-CWA/GE Conference Board meeting.
Workers United
The new program is called “Working at GE,” or WAGE. It will enable workers to become IUE-CWA members, with valuable union benefits, even though they don’t have a contract, and it will build solidarity among represented and non-represented GE workers.
“WAGE is a totally new approach to organizing for IUE-CWA,” said IUE-CWA President Ed Fire. “WAGE is a way for us to change the rules and reach nonunion workers directly in preparation for future joint action.”
“Building union committees at key unorganized facilities is critical to increasing our strength as we move toward bargaining in 2003,” said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, who is responsible for the union’s overall organizing program.
More than 15 workers at Johnson Technology have already become IUE-CWA members through WAGE.
“I think a union is a good thing, no matter what,” said Kerrie Belmarez, a Johnson technician, member of the WAGE committee and a veteran of past organizing efforts at Johnson. Belmarez is proud of her role in manufacturing turbo engines for military aircraft as the United States presses its war on terrorism. Her fiancé, Joe Helsen, another Johnson technician, helps build engines for commercial planes.
After all they’ve been through, they’re still determined to build a union and hope to eventually win full representation. In the meantime, they’re grateful to have a good program they can offer supporters now.
“One step at a time, and people can see a positive change,” Belmarez says. “Who wouldn’t want better wages and better working conditions?”
Outgrowth of IUE-CWA Merger
CWA District 4, encompassing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, has lent considerable support to WAGE, coordinating efforts with the international and with the conference board, through its secretary, Norman Klein.
District 4 pioneered “minority organizing” — helping workers form a union without the majority required to win a representation election — when from 1991 to 1994 it coordinated a national campaign for workers at NCR, the computer company then owned by AT&T. NANE, the National Association of NCR Employees/ CWA, at its height had as members 10 percent of NCR’s field engineers in 25 chapters nationwide.
“We learned a lot from that experience about building unions without majorities, and we’ve applied it elsewhere, at Microsoft and at IBM,” said Jeff Rechenbach, CWA District 4 vice president.
In 1998, with help from CWA, Microsoft “permatemps” in the Seattle area founded WashTech, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers/CWA Local 37083. WashTech has been a strong and effective voice for high-tech workers in both the legislative arena and the workplace.
More recently, IBM employees organizing to protect their pensions and gain a voice on the job, formed Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701. Their efforts helped spark a congressional inquiry into misuse of pension funds by IBM and other corporations and a class-action suit against IBM, which is pending in federal court.
How WAGE Works
Workers who join WAGE pay dues and become voting members of IUE-CWA, explained Larry O’Brien, a CWA organizer from Local 4340, Cleveland, and national coordinator for WAGE.
WAGE committees, with the help of IUE-CWA locals, will pressure GE management to improve wages and benefits, safety and health conditions, training opportunities and treatment on the job.
WAGE members will elect officers and, through their contact with local unions, influence national negotiations with GE.
Meanwhile, they will become eligible for Union Privilege benefits such as workplace accident insurance, low-cost mortgage rates and Union Plus MasterCard, as well as thousands of dollars in union-family scholarships.
IUE-CWA locals at GE facilities will be helping form WAGE committees at additional locations in several GE divisions:
The unveiling of WAGE at the conference board meeting in Myrtle Beach, S.C., dovetailed with a preview by Yvette Herrera, assistant to Cohen, of mobilization training being made available to IUE-CWA locals.
Said Conference Board Chairman Art Smith, “We’re starting earlier than ever to be prepared for GE negotiations, but it is up to the locals to take advantage of the training and put it into practice. We will help you, but you must lead the charge.”
There’s tremendous potential for organizing. But GE — with a track record of union-busting that rivals the worst telecom employers — maintains a union avoidance department to discourage hopefuls. Its subsidiaries go to great lengths to thwart organizing campaigns.
Take, for example, Johnson Technology in Muskegon, Mich. GE Aircraft Engines purchased Johnson’s main Latimer plant there in 1997, invested $18 million and opened a second plant at nearby Norton Shores. The two plants employ more than 500 workers who have tried since 1999 to form a union.
Management issued dozens of anti-union leaflets, sent an anti-union videotape to employees’ homes, and held about 20 captive audience meetings where they attacked the integrity of IUE-CWA and insinuated that voting for the union would lead to strikes.
When workers tried to conduct a rally outside the main Latimer plant, management went so far as to turn lawn sprinklers on them to douse their enthusiasm, leading organizers to call police.
The workers lost their representation election in October 2001 by a vote of 299-103, but that’s far from the end of the story. They’ve gone right back at it, embracing a new concept recently unveiled at a recent IUE-CWA/GE Conference Board meeting.
Workers United
The new program is called “Working at GE,” or WAGE. It will enable workers to become IUE-CWA members, with valuable union benefits, even though they don’t have a contract, and it will build solidarity among represented and non-represented GE workers.
“WAGE is a totally new approach to organizing for IUE-CWA,” said IUE-CWA President Ed Fire. “WAGE is a way for us to change the rules and reach nonunion workers directly in preparation for future joint action.”
“Building union committees at key unorganized facilities is critical to increasing our strength as we move toward bargaining in 2003,” said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, who is responsible for the union’s overall organizing program.
More than 15 workers at Johnson Technology have already become IUE-CWA members through WAGE.
“I think a union is a good thing, no matter what,” said Kerrie Belmarez, a Johnson technician, member of the WAGE committee and a veteran of past organizing efforts at Johnson. Belmarez is proud of her role in manufacturing turbo engines for military aircraft as the United States presses its war on terrorism. Her fiancé, Joe Helsen, another Johnson technician, helps build engines for commercial planes.
After all they’ve been through, they’re still determined to build a union and hope to eventually win full representation. In the meantime, they’re grateful to have a good program they can offer supporters now.
“One step at a time, and people can see a positive change,” Belmarez says. “Who wouldn’t want better wages and better working conditions?”
Outgrowth of IUE-CWA Merger
CWA District 4, encompassing Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, has lent considerable support to WAGE, coordinating efforts with the international and with the conference board, through its secretary, Norman Klein.
District 4 pioneered “minority organizing” — helping workers form a union without the majority required to win a representation election — when from 1991 to 1994 it coordinated a national campaign for workers at NCR, the computer company then owned by AT&T. NANE, the National Association of NCR Employees/ CWA, at its height had as members 10 percent of NCR’s field engineers in 25 chapters nationwide.
“We learned a lot from that experience about building unions without majorities, and we’ve applied it elsewhere, at Microsoft and at IBM,” said Jeff Rechenbach, CWA District 4 vice president.
In 1998, with help from CWA, Microsoft “permatemps” in the Seattle area founded WashTech, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers/CWA Local 37083. WashTech has been a strong and effective voice for high-tech workers in both the legislative arena and the workplace.
More recently, IBM employees organizing to protect their pensions and gain a voice on the job, formed Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701. Their efforts helped spark a congressional inquiry into misuse of pension funds by IBM and other corporations and a class-action suit against IBM, which is pending in federal court.
How WAGE Works
Workers who join WAGE pay dues and become voting members of IUE-CWA, explained Larry O’Brien, a CWA organizer from Local 4340, Cleveland, and national coordinator for WAGE.
WAGE committees, with the help of IUE-CWA locals, will pressure GE management to improve wages and benefits, safety and health conditions, training opportunities and treatment on the job.
WAGE members will elect officers and, through their contact with local unions, influence national negotiations with GE.
Meanwhile, they will become eligible for Union Privilege benefits such as workplace accident insurance, low-cost mortgage rates and Union Plus MasterCard, as well as thousands of dollars in union-family scholarships.
IUE-CWA locals at GE facilities will be helping form WAGE committees at additional locations in several GE divisions:
- Aircraft engines, IUE-CWA Local 201, Lynn, Mass.
- Lighting, IUE-CWA Local 707, Cleveland.
- Plastics, IUE-CWA Local 359, Mechanicville, N.Y.
- Appliances, IUE-CWA Local 767, Louisville, Ky.
The unveiling of WAGE at the conference board meeting in Myrtle Beach, S.C., dovetailed with a preview by Yvette Herrera, assistant to Cohen, of mobilization training being made available to IUE-CWA locals.
Said Conference Board Chairman Art Smith, “We’re starting earlier than ever to be prepared for GE negotiations, but it is up to the locals to take advantage of the training and put it into practice. We will help you, but you must lead the charge.”