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Organizing Roundup
Organizing Victories Elsewhere:
- CWA now represents 190 workers at Receivables Management Collections Center, following an 11-month campaign and a vote Nov. 14 of 106-64 for the union. Alex Minishak, District 13 organizing coordinator, said previous attempts to organize the Hershey, Pa., center when it was owned by Continental Telephone, then GTE, then Verizon met with resistance and rancor. “Favoritism, job security, and pay disparity both internally and with like titles at other employers were key issues,” Minishak said.
Local 13500 organizer Pamela Tronsor took the lead on the campaign, backed up by committee members Cleo Owens, Greg Potter and Lynette Wade, Vice President Anna Marie Byrne and President Sandy Kmetyk. CWA Representative Jim Byrne and Minishak assisted the local throughout.
- IUE-CWA Local 823 has nearly doubled its strength at Steris Corp. in St. Louis, Mo., with the addition of 49 formerly Teamsters members. IUE-CWA President Ed Fire and IUE-CWA District 8 President Bruce Van Ess welcomed their addition and extended greetings following a National Labor Relations Board Election Oct. 5, with both unions on the ballot. The bargaining unit chose CWA by a vote of 55-48, in part because CWA had the best contract.
IUE had represented manufacturing and distribution workers at Calgon Corp.’s Page Street plant since 1956. The company, also in the late ‘50s, opened a second plant on Manchester, with Teamsters representation, said IUE-CWA Representatives Ron Powers and Howard Foshinbaur. The facilities changed hands four times in the last 10 years from Calgon to Merck to Bristol Meyers to Steris. In July, the company announced it was closing the Manchester Street operation and transferring the workers to Page. The local went after authorization cards to demand a new election. Powers singled out for credit local Vice President Roger Brown, Recording-Secretary David Heist, Trustee Charlie Walker, Chief Steward Gerrion Grim and member Garry Hodges.
- About 60 workers at the Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy, Mass., chose 39-2 to join The Newspaper Guild-CWA by affiliating their independent union. The workers, in advertising, dispatch and building and financial services were formerly the Patriot Ledger Associates. The affiliation capped a three-year cooperative effort in coordinated negotiations and mobilization with the Guild-represented Brockton Enterprise. Both papers are part of the Enterprise Media Group.
The new unit will be known as the Quincy Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. PLA President Bob Neal and Treasurer Donna Marks and TNG-CWA International Representative Leo Ducharme talked up the affiliation among Association members. Local 31032 President and TNG-CWA Vice President Lesley Phillips, Local 31032 Administrative Officer Tom Hiltz, Local 31027 Treasurer Betsy Regan and Local 31245 President Bob Jordan contributed to the victory.
- NABET-CWA has its first new unit at ABC in 20 years, reported Local 51016 Vice President Jim Joyce. Five teleprompter operators at WABC-TV, the ABC-owned station in New York City, on Oct. 9, with 75 percent of the votes cast for CWA. “Before we came to the union for help, the company did not take our concerns about wages and benefits seriously, now they have to,” said Ron Reid, a teleprompter operator and member of the organizing committee. “With the union, the sky is the limit,” said Nelson Santos, another operator and committee member.