Members Want to Know: How will the IUE-CWA Merger Affect Us?

When IUE convention delegates last fall voted to merge their 110,000-member union with CWA, the decision was immediately hailed by CWA and IUE leaders for the increased power and effectiveness it brings.

“This merger strengthens the ability of both unions to bargain effectively with the large, global corporations that employ our members, and it opens the door to a revitalized industrial organizing thrust in both the traditional and the new high-tech manufacturing sectors,” said CWA President Morton Bahr.

“You can’t bargain unless you are strong, and you can’t get stronger without organizing,” said IUE-CWA President Ed Fire. “Now with CWA, we’ll be able to do both.”

CWA and IUE-CWA leaders at all levels have been working together to make the vision a reality.

Recently, CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino attended the IUE-CWA District 3 meeting in Albany, N.Y. on Feb. 28, as did CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen. CWA District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach and District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith addressed the IUE-CWA District 7 meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., March 8-10.

CWA District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler attended the IUE-CWA District 8 meeting March 8 in Reno, Nev., and the vice presidents of CWA Districts 4,6 and 7 sent their assistants. Other CWA Executive Board members have also sent staff on the road to make sure members understand the merger and its importance to the union. Following are some of the questions they have been asked:

How Will IUE-CWA’s Structure Fit With CWA’s?

IUE-CWA is comprised of three geographical districts, which overlay CWA’s eight.

Currently, IUE-CWA President Fire and the IUE-CWA vice presidents for each IUE district — Sal Ingrassia, IUE District 3, Michael Bindas, IUE District 7, and Bruce Van Ess, IUE District 8 — hold seats on the CWA Executive Board. As the three IUE district vice presidents’ terms expire over the next three years, their districts will become part of CWA’s geographical districts and they will retire from the executive board. IUE Secretary-Treasurer and CWA Board Member Tom Rebman retired at the end of 2000. By the end of 2004, the IUE-CWA president will be the sole IUE-CWA representative on the CWA Executive Board.

The greatest concentration of IUE-CWA members is in the northeast, CWA District 1, in the Midwest, CWA District 4, and in Pennsylvania.

Noted CWA District 13 Vice President Vince Maisano, “Our power in Pennsylvania increases substantially with the addition of several thousand IUE members.”

IUE District 3 represents the northeastern states, and IUE District 7, the eastern Midwest — Pennsylvania and Ohio — the Middle Atlantic states and the southern states east of the Mississippi River. IUE District 8 takes in all the states west of the Mississippi, and Illinois and Indiana.

About half of IUE-CWA’s total membership of 110,000 live and work in CWA District 4, with 37,000 IUE-CWA members in Ohio alone. “CWA and IUE have a common heritage as industrial unions here in the Great Lakes states, where IUE was born,” said Rechenbach. “Our district contains the heart of IUE’s membership, and we’re very excited about increasing the union’s power through our close cooperation.”

What is IUE’s Financial Commitment To CWA?

“The IUE is a strong union,” Rechenbach stressed. “They came right in paying full dues, and they put money into the defense fund immediately.”

IUE-CWA has paid $5 million into the CWA Defense Fund, and is paying the same percentage of dues payments per member that CWA members pay into the Members Relief Fund (11 percent, equal to 1/4-hour dues ÷ 2 hours).

“There are significant operational savings by combining the unions, which will be channeled into providing better service to all our members,” Easterling said.

IUE members often pay “flat” dues — the same amount regardless of pay. Some pay two hours, others pay three, and some pay one. Over the eight-year transition period, IUE locals will increase the share of dues they retain from 40 percent to 60 percent and move to a two-hour system, all the while paying 11 percent into the Members Relief Fund.

CWA District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino has assured IUE-CWA leaders that this in no way negatively impacts the districts and that District 1, which gains more than 30,000 members in the merger, is more than adequately funded to service all of its locals.

“The merger will strengthen us politically,” Mancino said. “Not only do we have more members, but IUE has a higher percentage of COPE checkoff than we do.”

How Can CWA and IUE-CWA Locals Work Together?

Rechenbach said that in communities where there are both IUE-CWA and CWA members, “a synergy develops.”

“For instance, our ability to play a significant role in state politics, community work and organizing, will be significantly enhanced.”

For example, he explained, a manufacturer of seats that employs IUE-CWA members was turned down in its bid to supply tens of thousands of seats for the Detroit Lions football stadium. CWA Local 4050 is working with the building trades unions and the Detroit Central Labor Council to send a message that union workers will not install non-union-made seats.

In Dayton, Ohio, CWA Local 4322 represents SBC/Ameritech workers, CWA Local 4404 has US Airways, and TNG-CWA Local 34157, employees of the Dayton News. There are nine IUE-CWA locals there. All are gearing up to work together with their regional AFL-CIO labor council to unseat the last Republican mayor of a major city in Ohio and to elect in his place Rhine McLin, currently Democratic leader of the state legislature, who has a 100-percent record of voting the interests of working families.

District 3 Vice President Smith said CWA and IUE-CWA locals are also starting to work together politically in South Carolina and Mississippi.

“We look forward to building our structure together throughout the South,” Smith said.

Both Cohen and Rechenbach attended an IUE District 7 staff meeting in late January to help form a task force of CWA and IUE-CWA organizing coordinators.
“I was really excited by the possibilities of card check and new ideas for organizing at Delphi Automotive and GM,” said IUE District 7 Vice President Bindas. “I think that together we can be very successful in organizing the industrial sector and in increasing the membership base of the entire union.”

Can IUE and CWA Locals Merge?

CWA District 7 Vice President John Thompson said he has frequently been asked whether CWA and IUE-CWA locals can merge.

“My response, along with (IUE District 8 Vice President) Bruce Van Ess, has been yes, and we strongly urge the same. In fact, we have merger talks going on in Washington state at this point in time.”

Thompson hastened to add that mergers between CWA locals have long been common and that they are completely voluntary. Locals that cover much of the same or contiguous territory often find they are able to eliminate the expense of maintaining separate offices and staff and that by merging they will grow stronger and more capable of providing the best representation for all their members.

Sandie Cox, his assistant, represented CWA District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn at the IUE District 8 meeting. “Where we have isolated IUE members and locals, they will be welcomed in the CWA family,” Milburn said.

CWA District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler said he was inspired by the work of IUE in fighting for Jobs with Justice at the Quadrtech factory, and he was impressed by the range of industries represented by local leaders he met: automotive, refrigeration, furniture manufacturing. “That’s just the kind of diversity that CWA needs to grow stronger,” Bixler said.

Joint Meetings Continue
Officers and staff at all levels of CWA and IUE-CWA continue to explore opportunities to best serve all their members.

Rechenbach, in District 4, is conducting a series of state meetings to brief CWA locals on the merger.
CWA District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci said that IUE District 7 Vice President Bindas will address the CWA District 2 Conference, April 8-10, and he has invited IUE-CWA locals to attend.

“I have talked to a number of the IUE officers, and they are as excited as I am about IUE joining our CWA family,” Catucci said.