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Organizing Roundup: Card-Check Organizing Yields 1,600 Members
Confirming the wisdom of its "bargaining to organize" strategy, CWA has attained key organizing victories at Southwestern Bell Wireless, AT&T Local Service and Kaleida Health.
On June 7, CWA was certified by the American Arbitration Association as bargaining representative for 800 employees at the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas unit of Southwestern Bell Wireless.
"I can't praise the locals in Dallas and Fort Worth enough," said CWA District 6 Vice President Ben Turn Jr. "First, they helped us win card check, and now their Wireless workers won the biggest Wireless victory yet."
Turn also acknowledged the persistent effort of District 6 Area Director for Organizing Danny Fetonte and Organizing Coordinator Sandy Rusher. Both have worked to facilitate a district-wide campaign since District 6 negotiated card check and neutrality for SBC subsidiaries two years ago. Turn said the latest wireless victory brings to 3,500 the number of organized SBC workers in District 6, comprising Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and in California and Nevada, where CWA District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler negotiated an identical agreement following the SBC/Pacific Telesis merger.
More good news came on June 17, when AT&T Local Service in Mesa, Ariz. voted 81-31 to bring their unit of 117 workers into CWA. It was the union's first major victory under negotiated language applying to AT&T subsidiaries, allowing for expedited consent elections with company neutrality.
Said Jim Irvine, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies: "ALS employees understand the need for a union. They understand there is a need for workers to band together and speak with a single voice. They will join CWA if AT&T follows the language we negotiated and we get a chance to tell our story."
Also, as the CWA News went to press, District 1 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher also reported that Nurses United/CWA Local 1168 collected representation cards from a majority of workers in the 74-member professional unit at the Center for Laboratory Medicine.
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen praised all three organizing efforts, singling out Mesa as a test case in a new campaign:
"Our work in Mesa is a great example of what can happen when strong, competent CWA local organizers help build a strong inside committee. The inside committee provides consistent leadership for the campaign. In this case, they were backed up by both good work from our C&T office and consistent support from District 7 Organizing Coordinator Kevin Mulligan."
"Tear Down the Wall"
Management at the former TCG/AT&T Provisioning Center in Mesa - now AT&T Local Service - wanted so badly to prevent organized AT&T employees from influencing ALS workers that it erected a 10-foot high wall within the plant. CWA members worked on one side of the wall; ALS workers, on the other.
ALS workers were incensed by the wall separating them from 600 CWA members. They formed a strong internal organizing committee, with the help of CWA organizers Arlene Porter and Vivian McDonald of Local 7050, Judy Brown of Local 7019 and Local 7050 Executive Vice President Annie Rogers.
The 18-member organizing committee distributed a brochure bearing a mission statement, their photos and photos of CWA supporters, their signatures and personal statements. Its headline slogan, "Tear Down the Wall," became a battle cry.
"With CWA we will be looking out for each other's best interest," added committee member Charles Carter.
"Integrity, trust and honesty are things I am looking forward to with CWA," wrote Virginia McKinn.
MaryBeth Goodman wrote, "Being a previous union member, I have seen the difference a union can make."
The Mesa victory is a test case for expedited consent elections at ALS and most other AT&T subsidiaries - with management neutrality - starting July 1, 1999 when organizers present interest cards signed by more than 50 percent of the unit. The memorandum of agreement between CWA and AT&T also provides for third-party arbitration in May 2000 for violations, which can result in recognition based on card check alone. The agreement does not apply to AT&T cable, formerly Tele-Communications Inc., until March 2000.
Organizing coordinators have trained 100 local organizers for all CWA districts at three AT&T Organizing Institutes.
Wireless Campaign Snowballs
The drive to organize Southwestern Bell Wireless in Dallas/Fort Worth began in 1993, got a big boost when CWA negotiated card check and neutrality and took off in October 1998 when local organizers met with supporters at multiple work sites and began to build personal relationships. On March 1, when the signing of the first card started the 60-day clock on company neutrality, it picked up momentum like a snowball rolling down a mountainside.
For six months local organizers had met with SWB Wireless employees in 13 retail sales offices, Wireless kiosks, a major call center and corporate offices. Local 6201 President Denny Kramer put Ann McQueary, Ofelia Guerrrero, Hobbort Huffines and Gilbert Alba on the campaign. Local 6215 President J.D. Williams assigned Evelyn Toliver, John Sheehan, Wilma Miller, Doug Johnson Thedra Parker and Winston Evans.
They charted, strategized and held rallies where Wireless workers who formerly belonged to unions told colleagues the benefits of organization.
Other locals where Wireless workers had already organized gave before and after accounts of working conditions. Local 6202 President Ricky Williams sent Abilene shop steward B.J. Payne to Dallas. Local 6143 President Ralph Cortez sent San Antonio Wireless leaders. Cell tech Craig Ashby spent two days meeting with the MTSO Department in Euless, Texas, and Tammy Maywald spent a week visiting retail sales offices throughout Dallas.
In April, CWA members and internal organizers set up information tables at work sites and made hundreds of phone home visits. They intensified their contact with supporters, following up on every lead and tracking down workers who were on leaves of absence.
Their hard work paid off with a total of 551 Wireless workers signing recognition cards, about 150 more than needed to win the campaign.
Union Effect
CWA Local 1168 President Debbie Hayes took advantage of a major card check and neutrality agreement the local bargained in 1998 when three hospitals and their subsidiaries merged to become the CGF Health System - now known as Kaleida Health - by assigning three local organizers to work with technical employees at the Center for Laboratory Medicine.
The National Labor Relations Board requires companies to reopen bargaining to deal with the effects of a merger on working conditions, salary and representation issues. Local 1168 won card check and neutrality at any unorganized unit in the new Buffalo, N.Y. health system in "effects bargaining" as a trade for their support for a quick merger (see February 1999 CWA News).
Local 1168 had already, since effects bargaining, organized 130 technical employees at the Center for Laboratory Medicine. Local 1168 organizers Gail Krevy, Terry Shelter and Helen Cyrulik worked with the professional employees, visited their break rooms for one-on-one discussions and encouraged personal contact between the technical and professional units. They reported neutrality violations to an oversight committee, which quickly put a stop to them.
Sixty percent of the workers signed representation cards.
In the wake of the effects bargaining agreement, reported District 1 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher, the local has also organized 420 registered nurses at Millard-Gate Hospital and 20 employees at Niagara Family Health Center.
Organizing Roundup
Victories elsewhere:
District 1. CWA Local 1040 won an election for 20 registered nurses at Carriage House, a New Jersey nursing home, where the local already represents a service and technical unit including licensed practical nurses. Organizer Lorenzo Canizares reported the vote was 10 yes, 5 no and 2 challenge. Local 1040 also won an election for maintenance staff at Northgate II, a housing project in downtown Camden. Organizer Constance English reported a vote of 7-1.
District 6. CWA Representative David Locke reported a vote of 15-3 for CWA representation by technical workers at KRCG-TV, Kansas City, Mo. The unit will become part of CWA Local 6314, said local President Mark Franklin, who helped lead the campaign. On June 8 CWA Local 6203 received certification for 6 outside sales employees, bringing SBC Wireless in Lubbock, Texas, wall to wall.
Printing Sector. ITU-CWA Local 8/14616 President John Ebeling has obtained voluntary recognition for two printing department employees of United Way, reported Al Rudy, administrative assistant to sector President Bill Boarman. This brings Ebeling's total to five voluntary recognitions at commercial printers. Sector Representative Betty Whitte, CWA Representative Charles Boykin and CWA Local 3121 President Regina Ross won voluntary regognition for eight office staff, pre-press, press room and bindery workers at Daniel's Printing in Miami, Fla. ITU-CWA Local 4/14145 signed up 11 new members at Alchar Printing in Troy, N.Y., through voluntary recognition. A card-check campaign conducted by Sector Representative Artie Byrns and Local 14153 President Juergen Jaenicke yielded 17 new members at New Media Printing in Bethpage, N.Y.
TNG-CWA. After a 13-month wait 125 newsroom workers at The Halifax (Nova Scotia) Chronicle-Herald have been certified members of TNG-CWA Local 30130, according to local Pres. Gary LeBlanc. TNG-CWA Canada Organizer Gerry Whelan reported a 28-8 vote for representation by a unit of 41 mailroom employees at the Daily News in Halifax.
On June 7, CWA was certified by the American Arbitration Association as bargaining representative for 800 employees at the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas unit of Southwestern Bell Wireless.
"I can't praise the locals in Dallas and Fort Worth enough," said CWA District 6 Vice President Ben Turn Jr. "First, they helped us win card check, and now their Wireless workers won the biggest Wireless victory yet."
Turn also acknowledged the persistent effort of District 6 Area Director for Organizing Danny Fetonte and Organizing Coordinator Sandy Rusher. Both have worked to facilitate a district-wide campaign since District 6 negotiated card check and neutrality for SBC subsidiaries two years ago. Turn said the latest wireless victory brings to 3,500 the number of organized SBC workers in District 6, comprising Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and in California and Nevada, where CWA District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler negotiated an identical agreement following the SBC/Pacific Telesis merger.
More good news came on June 17, when AT&T Local Service in Mesa, Ariz. voted 81-31 to bring their unit of 117 workers into CWA. It was the union's first major victory under negotiated language applying to AT&T subsidiaries, allowing for expedited consent elections with company neutrality.
Said Jim Irvine, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies: "ALS employees understand the need for a union. They understand there is a need for workers to band together and speak with a single voice. They will join CWA if AT&T follows the language we negotiated and we get a chance to tell our story."
Also, as the CWA News went to press, District 1 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher also reported that Nurses United/CWA Local 1168 collected representation cards from a majority of workers in the 74-member professional unit at the Center for Laboratory Medicine.
CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen praised all three organizing efforts, singling out Mesa as a test case in a new campaign:
"Our work in Mesa is a great example of what can happen when strong, competent CWA local organizers help build a strong inside committee. The inside committee provides consistent leadership for the campaign. In this case, they were backed up by both good work from our C&T office and consistent support from District 7 Organizing Coordinator Kevin Mulligan."
"Tear Down the Wall"
Management at the former TCG/AT&T Provisioning Center in Mesa - now AT&T Local Service - wanted so badly to prevent organized AT&T employees from influencing ALS workers that it erected a 10-foot high wall within the plant. CWA members worked on one side of the wall; ALS workers, on the other.
ALS workers were incensed by the wall separating them from 600 CWA members. They formed a strong internal organizing committee, with the help of CWA organizers Arlene Porter and Vivian McDonald of Local 7050, Judy Brown of Local 7019 and Local 7050 Executive Vice President Annie Rogers.
The 18-member organizing committee distributed a brochure bearing a mission statement, their photos and photos of CWA supporters, their signatures and personal statements. Its headline slogan, "Tear Down the Wall," became a battle cry.
"With CWA we will be looking out for each other's best interest," added committee member Charles Carter.
"Integrity, trust and honesty are things I am looking forward to with CWA," wrote Virginia McKinn.
MaryBeth Goodman wrote, "Being a previous union member, I have seen the difference a union can make."
The Mesa victory is a test case for expedited consent elections at ALS and most other AT&T subsidiaries - with management neutrality - starting July 1, 1999 when organizers present interest cards signed by more than 50 percent of the unit. The memorandum of agreement between CWA and AT&T also provides for third-party arbitration in May 2000 for violations, which can result in recognition based on card check alone. The agreement does not apply to AT&T cable, formerly Tele-Communications Inc., until March 2000.
Organizing coordinators have trained 100 local organizers for all CWA districts at three AT&T Organizing Institutes.
Wireless Campaign Snowballs
The drive to organize Southwestern Bell Wireless in Dallas/Fort Worth began in 1993, got a big boost when CWA negotiated card check and neutrality and took off in October 1998 when local organizers met with supporters at multiple work sites and began to build personal relationships. On March 1, when the signing of the first card started the 60-day clock on company neutrality, it picked up momentum like a snowball rolling down a mountainside.
For six months local organizers had met with SWB Wireless employees in 13 retail sales offices, Wireless kiosks, a major call center and corporate offices. Local 6201 President Denny Kramer put Ann McQueary, Ofelia Guerrrero, Hobbort Huffines and Gilbert Alba on the campaign. Local 6215 President J.D. Williams assigned Evelyn Toliver, John Sheehan, Wilma Miller, Doug Johnson Thedra Parker and Winston Evans.
They charted, strategized and held rallies where Wireless workers who formerly belonged to unions told colleagues the benefits of organization.
Other locals where Wireless workers had already organized gave before and after accounts of working conditions. Local 6202 President Ricky Williams sent Abilene shop steward B.J. Payne to Dallas. Local 6143 President Ralph Cortez sent San Antonio Wireless leaders. Cell tech Craig Ashby spent two days meeting with the MTSO Department in Euless, Texas, and Tammy Maywald spent a week visiting retail sales offices throughout Dallas.
In April, CWA members and internal organizers set up information tables at work sites and made hundreds of phone home visits. They intensified their contact with supporters, following up on every lead and tracking down workers who were on leaves of absence.
Their hard work paid off with a total of 551 Wireless workers signing recognition cards, about 150 more than needed to win the campaign.
Union Effect
CWA Local 1168 President Debbie Hayes took advantage of a major card check and neutrality agreement the local bargained in 1998 when three hospitals and their subsidiaries merged to become the CGF Health System - now known as Kaleida Health - by assigning three local organizers to work with technical employees at the Center for Laboratory Medicine.
The National Labor Relations Board requires companies to reopen bargaining to deal with the effects of a merger on working conditions, salary and representation issues. Local 1168 won card check and neutrality at any unorganized unit in the new Buffalo, N.Y. health system in "effects bargaining" as a trade for their support for a quick merger (see February 1999 CWA News).
Local 1168 had already, since effects bargaining, organized 130 technical employees at the Center for Laboratory Medicine. Local 1168 organizers Gail Krevy, Terry Shelter and Helen Cyrulik worked with the professional employees, visited their break rooms for one-on-one discussions and encouraged personal contact between the technical and professional units. They reported neutrality violations to an oversight committee, which quickly put a stop to them.
Sixty percent of the workers signed representation cards.
In the wake of the effects bargaining agreement, reported District 1 Organizing Coordinator Jeff Lacher, the local has also organized 420 registered nurses at Millard-Gate Hospital and 20 employees at Niagara Family Health Center.
Organizing Roundup
Victories elsewhere: