Michigan, Kansas City Locals Make Mergers Work

By Candice Johnson

Many CWA locals have been exploring merger as a way to build bargaining power, grow the union and continue to provide effective representation for members.

Locals 4108 in Saginaw, Mich., and 6360 in Kansas City are two that determined that joining forces with other locals in their regions was the way to go.

Billy Martin, president of Local 4108 in Saginaw, said that "in our region, there has been a lot of discussion around mergers and how to make our locals as effective as possible." About eight years ago, the Midland, Mich., local merged with 4108; more recently, locals in Traverse City and Manistee have merged with Local 4108.

"The process took several years, it didn't happen overnight. It's a long process that you have to get right to survive. Just as collective bargaining works because the stronger you are, the greater your voice, well, it's no different with the local structure. With a smaller local, sometimes the company has the ability to push you around, and sometimes it's harder to police the contract," Martin said.

Real Benefits
"Starting January 2006, we will have a full time organizer. This is something we couldn't do on our own, but collectively, we can," Martin said.

"We have a website, a toll-free number and a full-time secretary to staff our office. Pooling our resources means we can send someone to just about every CWA meeting. All that helps us better represent our members," he said.

Leann Hendrix, executive vice president of CWA Local 6360, agreed. In September 2005, three CWA locals in the Kansas City metro area merged. Local 6360 President Linda Nesler, Hendrix and other officers were elected to head the new local. Officers of the three locals determined that financially, merger was the smart thing to do. Prior to the merger, Locals 6333, 6325 and 6326 had lost members due to attrition and surpluses at their now AT&T (formerly SBC) facilities.

"We're hoping that the merger will strengthen us and enable us to expand our power. Before the mergers, all the locals shared the same building but there wasn't much interaction among the members," she said. We want that to change and we're seeing signs of that already. Not too long after the merger was official, we had some informational pickets, and people from all the former locals were standing together."

Putting it All Together
Right after the merger was approved by the membership, everyone was very curious as to how things would go, especially at the first membership meeting, Hendrix said.

"Everyone was interested in what members of other locals had to say, everyone participated and was interested in each other's issues. Everyone was coming together and not standing separately, it was a great thing to see."

People also commented that it was interesting to hear the other side — what a splicer does or what are the big job issues for operators, she recalled.

Local 6360 has designated chief stewards for inside and outside plant members, and operators. The local's executive board has representatives for all the major workgroups.

Hendrix said putting the merger together took a lot of thought and initially was a little difficult because the three locals were diverse, representing workers in completely different departments, doing different jobs. The new local now represents about 1,500 workers.

Taking Geography Out of the Equation
Local 4108 covers a big territory and represents outside network technicians, call center workers and some specialized units. Nearly all members work for the new AT&T.

The local holds audio teleconferences for general membership meetings and also has made sure that stewards have the tools they need as they travel throughout the region. "Our goal is to take geography out of the equation," Martin said. The local also holds union get-togethers in different locations. "We're always looking for ways to get the members together and take the union to the people," Martin said.

"Our new steward system has 16 lead stewards, allowing us a more visual presence throughout the local. We also said that regardless of the size of your work group, you have a lead steward. We wanted to make everyone feel included, " he said.

Local 4108 has its own legislative committee and "we look at the triangle and try to envision how we can bring about a stronger union. You have to consider all the sides: bargaining, political work and organizing."

"We're always looking at ways to grow the local. We want people to see their union dues as an investment in their future and for us, as local union officers and representatives, to give back a greater value for that investment. We want people to feel a greater return and become more involved in the union.

"At the time of that first merger eight years ago, there was resistance to change. There always is. I believe that over the years, we've demonstrated that we've provided the opportunity for people to become involved in the local," said Martin.