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Organizing Victories Bring 2,500 New Members
Brisk organizing activity in May, June and July brought CWA more than 2,500 new members.
District 4 has a new local with the affiliation of the Columbus Municipal Association of Government Employees, District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said. Officers and organizers from Locals 4310, 4320 and 4501 worked to bring aboard the 1,300 supervisors and professional employees of the city of Columbus, Ohio. The members voted by a 57 percent margin to affiliate, facing expiration of their current contract in August.
“Key issues were support for their upcoming contract negotiations and the benefits they will obtain from CWA’s expertise and political clout,” said Rechenbach’s Administrative Assistant Seth Rosen, who with Rechenbach and District 4 staff assisted in the campaign. CMAGE will become CWA Local 4502.
In District 3, Vice President Jimmy Smith reported
AAA certification for 569 Cingular workers in Alabama. At the convention, Smith’s district and locals shared a President’s Annual Award for organizing nearly 10,000 Cingular Wireless workers in the South.
Additional President’s Awards, the union’s highest award for organizing, went to Districts 1, 2 and 13, shared by numerous locals, for VIS organizing, and to Local 13000 for AT&T Broadband organizing. (See story page 9.)
Smith gave special thanks to Sonja Abbott, president of Local 3902 in Birmingham, which organized the greatest concentration of workers, about 250, at the Birmingham customer service center. All Alabama locals participated in the campaign, organizing Cingular retail locations across the state, District 3 Organizing Coordinator Hugh Wolfe said. CWA Representatives Jack Baccari and Bob Kruckles assisted the locals.
In May, Local 7304 announced a card check victory for 318 production, warehouse and maintenance workers who build New Flyer buses in St. Paul, Minn. The buses — including some fueled by environmentally friendly natural gas — serve major metropolitan transit systems in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta and other cities. District 7 Organizing Coordinator Kevin Mulligan said Local 7304 President Daniel Byars, a New Flyer employee who organized the company’s Crookston, Minn., plant 10 years ago, played a major role in the campaign.
Byars was in bargaining with KPS Corp., which acquired New Flyer in January. The company wanted to stabilize its workforce, so Byars asked for card check recognition for the St. Paul plant. After an initial delay, the company granted card check to four different unions.
UNITE quickly lined up 50 supporters. But CWA organizers built a strong inside committee, stayed focused on the workers’ issues — dignity, job security and better health care — and built a majority in just 13 days. CWA Montana Organizer Rex Kendall, Local 7011 Organizer Sandy Sandoval and several volunteers from Local 7304 worked on the campaign.
In June, Executive Vice President Larry Cohen’s office announced the successful conclusion of the first joint organizing effort for TNG-CWA and IUE-CWA, resulting in the affiliation of the Schneider Office Employees Association in Kitchener, Ontario. Its 168 workers voted by a margin of 73 percent to join TNG Canada-CWA. IUE-CWA Local 80400 President Chris Grogan directed the campaign, with assistance from TNG Canada Director Arnold Amber and IUE-CWA Representative Don Riger.
Finally, the Minnesota Newspaper Guild/Typographical Union won representation through card check for 80 interpreters at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. TNG-CWA President Linda Foley credited Organizer Abram Isaacs and local Representative Martin Demgen, who served as the local’s organizer in 2001. The local recently secured a first contract for 25 employees of the Resource Center for the Americas, organized by Demgen in 2001.
District 4 has a new local with the affiliation of the Columbus Municipal Association of Government Employees, District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said. Officers and organizers from Locals 4310, 4320 and 4501 worked to bring aboard the 1,300 supervisors and professional employees of the city of Columbus, Ohio. The members voted by a 57 percent margin to affiliate, facing expiration of their current contract in August.
“Key issues were support for their upcoming contract negotiations and the benefits they will obtain from CWA’s expertise and political clout,” said Rechenbach’s Administrative Assistant Seth Rosen, who with Rechenbach and District 4 staff assisted in the campaign. CMAGE will become CWA Local 4502.
In District 3, Vice President Jimmy Smith reported
AAA certification for 569 Cingular workers in Alabama. At the convention, Smith’s district and locals shared a President’s Annual Award for organizing nearly 10,000 Cingular Wireless workers in the South.
Additional President’s Awards, the union’s highest award for organizing, went to Districts 1, 2 and 13, shared by numerous locals, for VIS organizing, and to Local 13000 for AT&T Broadband organizing. (See story page 9.)
Smith gave special thanks to Sonja Abbott, president of Local 3902 in Birmingham, which organized the greatest concentration of workers, about 250, at the Birmingham customer service center. All Alabama locals participated in the campaign, organizing Cingular retail locations across the state, District 3 Organizing Coordinator Hugh Wolfe said. CWA Representatives Jack Baccari and Bob Kruckles assisted the locals.
In May, Local 7304 announced a card check victory for 318 production, warehouse and maintenance workers who build New Flyer buses in St. Paul, Minn. The buses — including some fueled by environmentally friendly natural gas — serve major metropolitan transit systems in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta and other cities. District 7 Organizing Coordinator Kevin Mulligan said Local 7304 President Daniel Byars, a New Flyer employee who organized the company’s Crookston, Minn., plant 10 years ago, played a major role in the campaign.
Byars was in bargaining with KPS Corp., which acquired New Flyer in January. The company wanted to stabilize its workforce, so Byars asked for card check recognition for the St. Paul plant. After an initial delay, the company granted card check to four different unions.
UNITE quickly lined up 50 supporters. But CWA organizers built a strong inside committee, stayed focused on the workers’ issues — dignity, job security and better health care — and built a majority in just 13 days. CWA Montana Organizer Rex Kendall, Local 7011 Organizer Sandy Sandoval and several volunteers from Local 7304 worked on the campaign.
In June, Executive Vice President Larry Cohen’s office announced the successful conclusion of the first joint organizing effort for TNG-CWA and IUE-CWA, resulting in the affiliation of the Schneider Office Employees Association in Kitchener, Ontario. Its 168 workers voted by a margin of 73 percent to join TNG Canada-CWA. IUE-CWA Local 80400 President Chris Grogan directed the campaign, with assistance from TNG Canada Director Arnold Amber and IUE-CWA Representative Don Riger.
Finally, the Minnesota Newspaper Guild/Typographical Union won representation through card check for 80 interpreters at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. TNG-CWA President Linda Foley credited Organizer Abram Isaacs and local Representative Martin Demgen, who served as the local’s organizer in 2001. The local recently secured a first contract for 25 employees of the Resource Center for the Americas, organized by Demgen in 2001.