Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Organizing Roundup: CWA Leaps Ahead with Late Winter Growth Spurt
CWA grew by more than 1,600 members in February and March with the addition of Cingular Wireless, SBC Telecom, Ameritech Yellow Pages, Camden, N.J., public schools and other units.
By far the largest numbers came in Districts 3 and 6, in coordinated campaigns at Cingular Wireless.
The American Arbitration Association certified a card
check victory for 425 Cingular workers in Ocean Springs, Miss., District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith announced on Jan. 30. Then, on March 6, District 3 Organizing Coordinator Hugh Wolfe reported the AAA certified a unit of 404 Cingular workers in Fayetteville, N.C. March 19 marked another District 3 win, for 509 Cingular employees in Johnson City, Tenn.
On March 1, Danny Fetonte, administrative assistant to District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn, reported the AAA certified representation rights for 186 Cingular workers in Oklahoma City, Okla., in what he called “the last major Cingular market in District 6 to be organized.”
All of these campaigns were conducted under CWA’s card check and neutrality agreement with SBC Corp, extending to the company’s subsidiaries.
With the assistance of Dina Beaumont, executive
assistant to President Morton Bahr, CWA negotiated a similar agreement that eventually made possible a nationwide victory for 250 technicians at SBC Telecom, a competitive local exchange carrier that the Federal Communications Commission called for in 1999 when it approved the merger of SBC and Ameritech.
Fear Factor in Johnson City
For Cingular workers in Johnson City, a traditionally nonunion area, “It took some convincing for the people to really believe they had neutrality,” Wolfe said. “Many expected that attempting to form a union would get them fired.”
Local 3871 President Eddie Hicks, Vice President Jerry Range and volunteer organizer Paula Nelson met with workers several times at a Holiday Inn near the work location. After two initial meetings they put together a 30-member internal committee of Cingular workers including Mary Burke, Carl Shelton, Tammy Hicks and Lanetta White.
Throughout a 10-week campaign, “they distributed literature inside the call center, and when we set up tables in the call center, they ushered people to the tables. They sent out emails, answered telephone calls, did basically everything to get the word out,” said Wolfe, who was assisted on the campaign by CWA Representative Doug Stearman.
On Their Own Time
Local 3680 President Rocky Barnes said volunteer organizers did a tremendous job at Cingular’s call center in Fayetteville.
Local Organizing Chair Rebecca “Tom” Matthews, members James Blake, Crystal McDonald, Ernest Johnson and others began making site visits in mid-November, making contacts in the two employee lounges and building an internal committee.
“They worked their jobs at Sprint during the day and spent countless hours afterwards meeting with Cingular workers,” Barnes said. “I can’t tell you how much time they spent on the telephone. Their effort was key to this, along with the in-house committee.”
Over the course of five “sign-up days” the organizers built a substantial margin above the required majority for card signings, Barnes said.
Wolfe said Local 3519 President Richard Scruggs, assisted by retired CWA staffer Norma Powell and Booker Lester, administrative assistant to the District 3 vice president, ran a similar and successful campaign in Ocean Springs, helping 425 Cingular workers win representation.
Triple Threat in OKC
Local 6016 attempted for four years to organize the Cingular call center in Oklahoma City. Local Vice President Ron Dye and others last spring worked a list of employees, made individual contacts and started building an inside committee. But Local President Barry Gardner said the recent sweep to victory by three CWA locals took even him by complete surprise.
The campaign was headed by District 6 staff, along with Karen Avington, Cingular organizer from Local 6012, and local organizer Cheryl Allen from Local 6222, Fetonte said.
“Vice President Milburn gave special praise for the cooperation of the Oklahoma locals on this campaign,” he said.
Allen said organizers “talked to workers about the advantages of union membership, and they talked to us about their needs and concerns. They had just had an ice storm in Oklahoma, and afterward the employees were told they had to use a vacation day. That really helped us close the campaign, because with a union there, management would have had to talk about it.”
Fetonte said Local 6016 Executive Vice President Kay Samaripa coordinated Local 6016’s support of the campaign, which signed 115 of 186 workers.
All About Competition
When SBC and Ameritech proposed to merge, some consumer advocates objected. So to win FCC approval, the companies agreed to allow SBC Telecom, an unregulated subsidiary of SBC, to provide for local telephone services outside of the large SBC wireline areas.
CWA negotiated a separate card check and neutrality agreement with SBC Telecom, which has 250 technicians spread across 30 cities.
Originally, the company did not want to let workers organize until all locations were fully staffed, but Beaumont got management to agree to recognition on a city-by-city basis.
Campaigns sprouted nationwide, headed by Ed Sabol, administrative assistant to District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, Organizing Coordinators Ron Collins (District 2), Kevin Mulligan (District 7) and others.
Among numerous local leaders who participated, Beaumont gave special credit to President Michael Jones of Local 3108 in Orlando, Fla.
District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn assigned CWA Representative Donna Bentley, in Dallas, to coordinate the collection of cards from the districts and to get them to the AAA for certification.
In the fall of 2001, District 1 CWA Representative Dennis Trainor negotiated a three-year contract for units in Boston, Baltimore, Phoenix and Newark. The pact provided wages comparable to telecoms in those areas, wage progression scales and benefits comparable to SBC’s.
Coordinating with local bargainers as units won elections in Denver, Charlotte and Portland, Trainor helped them negotiate equivalent pacts. Meanwhile, Beaumont continued working behind the scenes to develop a relationship that would be beneficial to both the union and the company.
She negotiated a revision to the card check agreement that would permit recognition nationwide when 60 percent of the units were organized, as well as an agreement that the contract negotiated by Trainor will apply throughout the company, with wages only being negotiated for particular areas.
On March 7, after New York City and Nassau County, N.Y., units won their card check campaigns, Beaumont announced that national recognition had been achieved, with CWA having organized 63 percent of the markets.
“We hope the company — and our membership — will continue to grow in these 30 markets,” Beaumont said. “If they do grow, we’re certainly well-positioned.”
It’s Academic
Lovie Harris, a music teacher in Camden, N.J., took a call one day asking her to cover at Bonsall High School.
The professional, long-term sub was used to short notice, but she said she needed time to put together a lesson. Then came the insult that convinced her and many of her colleagues to vote for CWA representation:
“What do you mean, you need time to prepare,” she heard over the phone. “You’re only a substitute.”
Maybe management buys the stereotype, but Harris and colleagues in the Camden public schools take themselves and their work seriously — so much so, they voted 68-1 in an election conducted by the Public Employment Relations Commission to join CWA Local 1034.
Their victory brings representation to nearly 200 substitute teachers in Camden. With 35 schools, it is the largest school district in southern New Jersey.
Tired of earning only $80 a day with no sick leave, vacation or benefits, the teachers, with the help of Local 1034 Organizing Director Tim Dubnau, put together a nearly 30-member committee including Neva Taylor, Chelsea Worlds and Annie Wilcox.
Dubnau says that to his knowledge this is a first for South Jersey. “The teachers are ecstatic about their victory. Their support for this campaign was overwhelming.”
Walking Fingers
CWA Local 4216 on Feb. 5 won recognition for 70 Yellow Pages customer service, collections and clerical employees who work for Ameritech advertising services in downtown Chicago, reported Seth Rosen, administrative assistant to District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach.
Local 4216 President Mabel Huff and local organizer Daphne Roach worked with CWA Representative Celia Cody on the drive, which was conducted under the SBC card check agreement.
Rosen said the AAA certified that two-thirds of eligible workers, well over the 50 percent required, had signed up.
By far the largest numbers came in Districts 3 and 6, in coordinated campaigns at Cingular Wireless.
The American Arbitration Association certified a card
check victory for 425 Cingular workers in Ocean Springs, Miss., District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith announced on Jan. 30. Then, on March 6, District 3 Organizing Coordinator Hugh Wolfe reported the AAA certified a unit of 404 Cingular workers in Fayetteville, N.C. March 19 marked another District 3 win, for 509 Cingular employees in Johnson City, Tenn.
On March 1, Danny Fetonte, administrative assistant to District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn, reported the AAA certified representation rights for 186 Cingular workers in Oklahoma City, Okla., in what he called “the last major Cingular market in District 6 to be organized.”
All of these campaigns were conducted under CWA’s card check and neutrality agreement with SBC Corp, extending to the company’s subsidiaries.
With the assistance of Dina Beaumont, executive
assistant to President Morton Bahr, CWA negotiated a similar agreement that eventually made possible a nationwide victory for 250 technicians at SBC Telecom, a competitive local exchange carrier that the Federal Communications Commission called for in 1999 when it approved the merger of SBC and Ameritech.
Fear Factor in Johnson City
For Cingular workers in Johnson City, a traditionally nonunion area, “It took some convincing for the people to really believe they had neutrality,” Wolfe said. “Many expected that attempting to form a union would get them fired.”
Local 3871 President Eddie Hicks, Vice President Jerry Range and volunteer organizer Paula Nelson met with workers several times at a Holiday Inn near the work location. After two initial meetings they put together a 30-member internal committee of Cingular workers including Mary Burke, Carl Shelton, Tammy Hicks and Lanetta White.
Throughout a 10-week campaign, “they distributed literature inside the call center, and when we set up tables in the call center, they ushered people to the tables. They sent out emails, answered telephone calls, did basically everything to get the word out,” said Wolfe, who was assisted on the campaign by CWA Representative Doug Stearman.
On Their Own Time
Local 3680 President Rocky Barnes said volunteer organizers did a tremendous job at Cingular’s call center in Fayetteville.
Local Organizing Chair Rebecca “Tom” Matthews, members James Blake, Crystal McDonald, Ernest Johnson and others began making site visits in mid-November, making contacts in the two employee lounges and building an internal committee.
“They worked their jobs at Sprint during the day and spent countless hours afterwards meeting with Cingular workers,” Barnes said. “I can’t tell you how much time they spent on the telephone. Their effort was key to this, along with the in-house committee.”
Over the course of five “sign-up days” the organizers built a substantial margin above the required majority for card signings, Barnes said.
Wolfe said Local 3519 President Richard Scruggs, assisted by retired CWA staffer Norma Powell and Booker Lester, administrative assistant to the District 3 vice president, ran a similar and successful campaign in Ocean Springs, helping 425 Cingular workers win representation.
Triple Threat in OKC
Local 6016 attempted for four years to organize the Cingular call center in Oklahoma City. Local Vice President Ron Dye and others last spring worked a list of employees, made individual contacts and started building an inside committee. But Local President Barry Gardner said the recent sweep to victory by three CWA locals took even him by complete surprise.
The campaign was headed by District 6 staff, along with Karen Avington, Cingular organizer from Local 6012, and local organizer Cheryl Allen from Local 6222, Fetonte said.
“Vice President Milburn gave special praise for the cooperation of the Oklahoma locals on this campaign,” he said.
Allen said organizers “talked to workers about the advantages of union membership, and they talked to us about their needs and concerns. They had just had an ice storm in Oklahoma, and afterward the employees were told they had to use a vacation day. That really helped us close the campaign, because with a union there, management would have had to talk about it.”
Fetonte said Local 6016 Executive Vice President Kay Samaripa coordinated Local 6016’s support of the campaign, which signed 115 of 186 workers.
All About Competition
When SBC and Ameritech proposed to merge, some consumer advocates objected. So to win FCC approval, the companies agreed to allow SBC Telecom, an unregulated subsidiary of SBC, to provide for local telephone services outside of the large SBC wireline areas.
CWA negotiated a separate card check and neutrality agreement with SBC Telecom, which has 250 technicians spread across 30 cities.
Originally, the company did not want to let workers organize until all locations were fully staffed, but Beaumont got management to agree to recognition on a city-by-city basis.
Campaigns sprouted nationwide, headed by Ed Sabol, administrative assistant to District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, Organizing Coordinators Ron Collins (District 2), Kevin Mulligan (District 7) and others.
Among numerous local leaders who participated, Beaumont gave special credit to President Michael Jones of Local 3108 in Orlando, Fla.
District 6 Vice President Andy Milburn assigned CWA Representative Donna Bentley, in Dallas, to coordinate the collection of cards from the districts and to get them to the AAA for certification.
In the fall of 2001, District 1 CWA Representative Dennis Trainor negotiated a three-year contract for units in Boston, Baltimore, Phoenix and Newark. The pact provided wages comparable to telecoms in those areas, wage progression scales and benefits comparable to SBC’s.
Coordinating with local bargainers as units won elections in Denver, Charlotte and Portland, Trainor helped them negotiate equivalent pacts. Meanwhile, Beaumont continued working behind the scenes to develop a relationship that would be beneficial to both the union and the company.
She negotiated a revision to the card check agreement that would permit recognition nationwide when 60 percent of the units were organized, as well as an agreement that the contract negotiated by Trainor will apply throughout the company, with wages only being negotiated for particular areas.
On March 7, after New York City and Nassau County, N.Y., units won their card check campaigns, Beaumont announced that national recognition had been achieved, with CWA having organized 63 percent of the markets.
“We hope the company — and our membership — will continue to grow in these 30 markets,” Beaumont said. “If they do grow, we’re certainly well-positioned.”
It’s Academic
Lovie Harris, a music teacher in Camden, N.J., took a call one day asking her to cover at Bonsall High School.
The professional, long-term sub was used to short notice, but she said she needed time to put together a lesson. Then came the insult that convinced her and many of her colleagues to vote for CWA representation:
“What do you mean, you need time to prepare,” she heard over the phone. “You’re only a substitute.”
Maybe management buys the stereotype, but Harris and colleagues in the Camden public schools take themselves and their work seriously — so much so, they voted 68-1 in an election conducted by the Public Employment Relations Commission to join CWA Local 1034.
Their victory brings representation to nearly 200 substitute teachers in Camden. With 35 schools, it is the largest school district in southern New Jersey.
Tired of earning only $80 a day with no sick leave, vacation or benefits, the teachers, with the help of Local 1034 Organizing Director Tim Dubnau, put together a nearly 30-member committee including Neva Taylor, Chelsea Worlds and Annie Wilcox.
Dubnau says that to his knowledge this is a first for South Jersey. “The teachers are ecstatic about their victory. Their support for this campaign was overwhelming.”
Walking Fingers
CWA Local 4216 on Feb. 5 won recognition for 70 Yellow Pages customer service, collections and clerical employees who work for Ameritech advertising services in downtown Chicago, reported Seth Rosen, administrative assistant to District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach.
Local 4216 President Mabel Huff and local organizer Daphne Roach worked with CWA Representative Celia Cody on the drive, which was conducted under the SBC card check agreement.
Rosen said the AAA certified that two-thirds of eligible workers, well over the 50 percent required, had signed up.