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National Operator Conference Takes on Challenges of Change
Mariachi musicians and down-home Texas hospitality set the stage for CWA’s 20th annual National Operator Conference, Oct. 26-28, in San Antonio. But the agenda was dead serious: politics, empowerment in today’s workplace and preparation for the jobs of tomorrow.
More than 200 operators from throughout the telecommunications industry heard from top CWA leaders and participated in workshops on labor law, safety and health, the 2000 elections and workplace mobilization.
They passed resolutions to confront two-tier wage scales, to restrict monitoring, to improve standards for call time duration and to adhere to a high standard of professionalism.
From CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen they heard an overview of the restructuring that is occurring in the telecommunications industry. Cohen drew a sharp distinction between SBC Communications, which has positioned itself as an industry leader by consolidating, or “bundling” local telephone, long distance, data and Internet services, and AT&T, which has announced it is splitting the company into four separate operations: broadband, wireless, business and consumer services.
“Your solidarity will be critical in the coming months as we bargain with SBC to improve wages and benefits and to expand employment security by keeping that company union wall-to-wall,” Cohen stressed.
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, who started her career as an operator with Ohio Bell, took advantage of being on George W. Bush’s home turf to hammer the governor’s record in that state.
Texas is worst in the nation for pollution, and Houston has the most smog. The state ranks fifth for both the number of children and senior citizens living in poverty. And, because of Bush’s tax breaks for the oil industry, Easterling pointed out, Texas is running a $610 million budget deficit.
“The American people can be tricked into electing the most anti-worker ticket in recent history, or they can treat themselves to four more years of prosperity under Al Gore and Joe Lieberman. It’s up to you to reject the trick and deliver the treats,” Easterling stressed, “by leaving this meeting, going back to your communities and working your rear ends off for the next 10 days.”
District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn and Ralph Cortez, president of host Local 6143, welcomed the operators, and they heard from CWA Vice Presidents T.O. Moses, telecommunications, and Tony Bixler, of District 9.
They were inspired to a higher level of solidarity by Bixler’s story of how his own Local 11513, now 9400, mortgaged its union hall to provide relief for members during a Bell System strike during the 1970s. Oper-ators conducted bake sales and other fund-raisers enabling the local to pay off its mortgage and purchase a new building.
One steward, said Dina Beaumont, executive assistant to CWA President Morton Bahr, resolved to strengthen her own unit by asking all the operators on the floor to wear black ribbons every time she has to meet with management over a grievance.
Beaumont, who came to CWA as an operator in California, thanked conference organizer and Local 6143 Executive Vice President Sylvia Ramos, and praised today’s operators as “realistic” and “grounded in the here and now.”
She noted that the employment of union operators has dropped from 110,000 prior to the 1984 breakup of the Bell System to 43,755 in December 1994 to 24,314 today.
The conferees, she said, resolved to enhance employment security for union operators by looking to provide new services and by encouraging operators to take advantage of CWA-negotiated training opportunities to prepare for other jobs in their companies. Operators also will take increased responsibility for mobilizing and organizing their own workplaces and for reaching out to operators at nonunion companies such as Excel, a provider of long distance paging and telecommunications services for residential and commercial customers, Beaumont said.
“Our operators have excellent skills; they are in constant contact with customers,” Beaumont stressed, noting that customers are often frustrated by voice robotic answering systems. “We need to find new ways to get the human touch back into service.”
More than 200 operators from throughout the telecommunications industry heard from top CWA leaders and participated in workshops on labor law, safety and health, the 2000 elections and workplace mobilization.
They passed resolutions to confront two-tier wage scales, to restrict monitoring, to improve standards for call time duration and to adhere to a high standard of professionalism.
From CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen they heard an overview of the restructuring that is occurring in the telecommunications industry. Cohen drew a sharp distinction between SBC Communications, which has positioned itself as an industry leader by consolidating, or “bundling” local telephone, long distance, data and Internet services, and AT&T, which has announced it is splitting the company into four separate operations: broadband, wireless, business and consumer services.
“Your solidarity will be critical in the coming months as we bargain with SBC to improve wages and benefits and to expand employment security by keeping that company union wall-to-wall,” Cohen stressed.
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, who started her career as an operator with Ohio Bell, took advantage of being on George W. Bush’s home turf to hammer the governor’s record in that state.
Texas is worst in the nation for pollution, and Houston has the most smog. The state ranks fifth for both the number of children and senior citizens living in poverty. And, because of Bush’s tax breaks for the oil industry, Easterling pointed out, Texas is running a $610 million budget deficit.
“The American people can be tricked into electing the most anti-worker ticket in recent history, or they can treat themselves to four more years of prosperity under Al Gore and Joe Lieberman. It’s up to you to reject the trick and deliver the treats,” Easterling stressed, “by leaving this meeting, going back to your communities and working your rear ends off for the next 10 days.”
District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn and Ralph Cortez, president of host Local 6143, welcomed the operators, and they heard from CWA Vice Presidents T.O. Moses, telecommunications, and Tony Bixler, of District 9.
They were inspired to a higher level of solidarity by Bixler’s story of how his own Local 11513, now 9400, mortgaged its union hall to provide relief for members during a Bell System strike during the 1970s. Oper-ators conducted bake sales and other fund-raisers enabling the local to pay off its mortgage and purchase a new building.
One steward, said Dina Beaumont, executive assistant to CWA President Morton Bahr, resolved to strengthen her own unit by asking all the operators on the floor to wear black ribbons every time she has to meet with management over a grievance.
Beaumont, who came to CWA as an operator in California, thanked conference organizer and Local 6143 Executive Vice President Sylvia Ramos, and praised today’s operators as “realistic” and “grounded in the here and now.”
She noted that the employment of union operators has dropped from 110,000 prior to the 1984 breakup of the Bell System to 43,755 in December 1994 to 24,314 today.
The conferees, she said, resolved to enhance employment security for union operators by looking to provide new services and by encouraging operators to take advantage of CWA-negotiated training opportunities to prepare for other jobs in their companies. Operators also will take increased responsibility for mobilizing and organizing their own workplaces and for reaching out to operators at nonunion companies such as Excel, a provider of long distance paging and telecommunications services for residential and commercial customers, Beaumont said.
“Our operators have excellent skills; they are in constant contact with customers,” Beaumont stressed, noting that customers are often frustrated by voice robotic answering systems. “We need to find new ways to get the human touch back into service.”