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Lucent, AT&T Union Leaders Plan for 2000
Local union leaders representing CWA members at AT&T and Lucent Technologies met to sharpen skills and further develop strategies to stop the companies from shifting work away from quality union jobs. The week- long leadership conference, held in Orlando, Fla., brought together 325 union officers, including many elected for the first time.
Jim Irvine, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies, called on AT&T and Lucent locals to step up their efforts to gain new leverage with the companies. “Our relationship with both Lucent and AT&T has drastically changed over the past year and a half, and we’re determined to use all the tools and new strategies we have to make certain we have their attention,” Irvine said.
Participants heard from CWA Secretary- Treasurer Barbara Easterling; Vice Presidents John Thompson, District 7, and Vince Maisano, District 13; Ron Allen, assistant to the CWA president; Ralph Maly, assistant to Irvine and Mike Jones, president of host Local 3108. The featured speaker was Lester Brown, who motivated and energized the group.
In workshop sessions on mobilization, participants looked at ways to expand community coalitions, draw on support from the international trade union movement, improve their one-on-one programs and work with union and community partners to focus attention on the fight for workers’ rights to organize. Seth Rosen, assistant to CWA District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach, and Simon Greer of Jobs with Justice worked with Communications and Technologies staff in presenting the three-phase mobilization program.
Workshop participants also had the opportunity to develop skills to work better with the media, both on and off camera, in sessions presented by the CWA Communications Department.
Mobilization strategists for both Lucent and AT&T met just before the conference to continue planning actions that will bring about new union leverage at the companies. In bargaining unit meetings, participants set out short and long-term goals for building union power at the companies. Lucent delegates voted to encourage participation at the Lucent shareholders’ meeting set for Feb. 16 in Oakland, Calif., and put in place a drive to collect proxies of shareholders. Lucent presidents will meet in Oakland the day before the shareholders’ meeting.
Jim Irvine, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies, called on AT&T and Lucent locals to step up their efforts to gain new leverage with the companies. “Our relationship with both Lucent and AT&T has drastically changed over the past year and a half, and we’re determined to use all the tools and new strategies we have to make certain we have their attention,” Irvine said.
Participants heard from CWA Secretary- Treasurer Barbara Easterling; Vice Presidents John Thompson, District 7, and Vince Maisano, District 13; Ron Allen, assistant to the CWA president; Ralph Maly, assistant to Irvine and Mike Jones, president of host Local 3108. The featured speaker was Lester Brown, who motivated and energized the group.
In workshop sessions on mobilization, participants looked at ways to expand community coalitions, draw on support from the international trade union movement, improve their one-on-one programs and work with union and community partners to focus attention on the fight for workers’ rights to organize. Seth Rosen, assistant to CWA District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach, and Simon Greer of Jobs with Justice worked with Communications and Technologies staff in presenting the three-phase mobilization program.
Workshop participants also had the opportunity to develop skills to work better with the media, both on and off camera, in sessions presented by the CWA Communications Department.
Mobilization strategists for both Lucent and AT&T met just before the conference to continue planning actions that will bring about new union leverage at the companies. In bargaining unit meetings, participants set out short and long-term goals for building union power at the companies. Lucent delegates voted to encourage participation at the Lucent shareholders’ meeting set for Feb. 16 in Oakland, Calif., and put in place a drive to collect proxies of shareholders. Lucent presidents will meet in Oakland the day before the shareholders’ meeting.