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President’s Awards Honor Cingular, VIS, Broadband Campaigns
CWA President Morton Bahr presented the union’s highest organizing award to districts and locals that provided exceptional leadership in nationwide campaigns:
Bahr stressed that all three campaigns built upon the union’s bargain-to-organize strategy that opened the door to card check recognition or expedited elections.
Cingular
Praising the work of District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith, staff and locals, Bahr gave Smith the statue that is a replica of founding CWA President Joseph Beirne’s famed Stetson hat. He gave local presidents a similarly engraved plaque, “for wholehearted acceptance of CWA’s growth policy and for dedicated effort to making that policy effective.”
Smith, working with Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, negotiated an extension of the union's existing card check and neutrality agreement with Cingular, covering all Bell South territory. Locals helped workers form organizing committees, held meetings for them at union halls, and made site visits to explain the advantages of working under a CWA contract.
“This is the most successful organizing campaign that any union in the South has had for decades,” Bahr said.
Cingular CEO Stephen Carter, who has promoted a mutual growth policy for the company and CWA, pointed out that Cingular is growing rapidly, with 30,000 employees in 42 U.S. markets and $14 billion in revenue.
“We are a young company, less than two years old, and since the beginning of last year we have increased the number of eligible employees covered by contract by approximately 123 percent. We need your help, we need your commitment and we need your professional people,” Carter said.
Just prior to the convention the American Arbitration Association certified that Local 3902 turned in a majority of cards requesting representation for 200 workers at the Birmingham, Ala., customer service center and that locals across the state turned in cards for 100 more workers at retail locations.
District 3 locals also organized 300 Cingular workers in Ashland, Ky.; 600 in Miami and Ocala, Fla.; 500 in Cedartown, Norcross and Atlanta, Ga.; 425 in Ocean Springs, Miss.; 509 in Johnson City, Tenn.; 161 in Baton Rouge and 277 in Lafayette, La.
Locals and their presidents sharing in the District 3 award are 3122, Jose Dorado; 3176, Bob Campbell; 3204, Walter Andrews; 3212, Larry Wofford; 3371, Phil Coldiron; 3403, Walter Bagot; 3406, Judy Bruno; 3519, Richard Scruggs; 3680, Rocky Barnes; 3871, Ralph Hicks; and 3902, Sonja Abbott. Each local organized more than 100 Cingular workers.
VIS Campaign
Bahr praised the efforts of Vice Presidents Larry Mancino, District 1, Pete Catucci, District 2, and Vince Maisano, District 13, who won a card check and neutrality agreement for Information Services in their August 2001 contract with Verizon. He presented a statue to each man and a plaque to the presidents of locals that organized more than a hundred VIS workers.
In February 2001, New York locals collected cards from a majority of VIS workers in just 10 days, but it immediately became apparent that Verizon had no intention of honoring its agreement.
Campaigns continued in all three districts. Organizers recorded numerous instances of one-on-one meetings with workers and warnings that if they organized they might lose sales incentives.
While the union fought a 17-month court battle and pursued unfair labor practice charges, “CWA members took advantage of every possible public platform to call attention to Verizon’s actions,” Bahr said.
Locals leafleted shareholder meetings, picketed outside executives’ homes, testified before state public utility commissions and conducted numerous workplace demonstrations. Following an NLRB complaint listing 86 management violations of labor law, the company agreed in March to certification for VIS workers from New York to Virginia.
The locals and presidents sharing in the award are 1020, Richard Kennedy; 1105, Keith Edwards; 1118, Jim O’Hare; 1122, Don Loretto; 1301, George Alcott; 2101, Maria Bury; 2108, Bob Campbell; 2201, Tom Moss; 2202, Lou Scinaldi; 2222, Jim Hilleary; and 13500, Sandy Kmetyk.
AT&T Broadband
As more than 50 CWA locals in 20 states worked to organize 3,500 AT&T Broadband workers nationally, “One CWA local has shown exceptional leadership, organizing more than 800 workers since our last convention,” Bahr said.
He presented the President’s Annual Award to Local 13000 President Ed Carr, who was accompanied onstage by Marge Krueger, administrative assistant to District 13 Vice President Maisano, and Local 13000 Organizer Dave Hoskowicz.
Hoskowicz, a full-time organizer, worked with Krueger and more than two dozen officers and members to overcome an election loss at Broadband’s South Hills location near Pittsburgh in August 2000, when an arbitrator ruled for a card check campaign as a remedy for management violation of a neutrality and consent agreement.
Unit Presidents Darrell Novotny, Mary Ellen Volker and Mickey O’Rourke; Regional Vice President Dick Johns, Steward Keith Grable, Volunteer Organizer Chuck Douglas and others visited workers’ homes to boost support for the union, while an inside committee collected cards f rom a majority within 12 days.
In March 2001, the AAA certified the unit of about 140 technicians, who in turn spoke to workers at other locations, as the local’s campaign snowballed throughout western Pennsylvania.
On May 1, the local won an election among eight customer service representatives at South Hills. In June 2001, 436 technicians at Pittsburgh’s Corliss Street location voted for CWA, with subsequent victories in Coraopolis and Penn Hills.
“All in all, a fantastic job,” Bahr said.
- District 3 for organizing more than 10,000 Cingular Wireless workers in the South;
- Districts 1, 2 and 13 for organizing more than 1,700 workers at Verizon Information Services; and
- CWA Local 13000 for organizing more than 800 AT&T Broadband workers since the 2001 CWA Convention.
Bahr stressed that all three campaigns built upon the union’s bargain-to-organize strategy that opened the door to card check recognition or expedited elections.
Cingular
Praising the work of District 3 Vice President Jimmy Smith, staff and locals, Bahr gave Smith the statue that is a replica of founding CWA President Joseph Beirne’s famed Stetson hat. He gave local presidents a similarly engraved plaque, “for wholehearted acceptance of CWA’s growth policy and for dedicated effort to making that policy effective.”
Smith, working with Executive Vice President Larry Cohen, negotiated an extension of the union's existing card check and neutrality agreement with Cingular, covering all Bell South territory. Locals helped workers form organizing committees, held meetings for them at union halls, and made site visits to explain the advantages of working under a CWA contract.
“This is the most successful organizing campaign that any union in the South has had for decades,” Bahr said.
Cingular CEO Stephen Carter, who has promoted a mutual growth policy for the company and CWA, pointed out that Cingular is growing rapidly, with 30,000 employees in 42 U.S. markets and $14 billion in revenue.
“We are a young company, less than two years old, and since the beginning of last year we have increased the number of eligible employees covered by contract by approximately 123 percent. We need your help, we need your commitment and we need your professional people,” Carter said.
Just prior to the convention the American Arbitration Association certified that Local 3902 turned in a majority of cards requesting representation for 200 workers at the Birmingham, Ala., customer service center and that locals across the state turned in cards for 100 more workers at retail locations.
District 3 locals also organized 300 Cingular workers in Ashland, Ky.; 600 in Miami and Ocala, Fla.; 500 in Cedartown, Norcross and Atlanta, Ga.; 425 in Ocean Springs, Miss.; 509 in Johnson City, Tenn.; 161 in Baton Rouge and 277 in Lafayette, La.
Locals and their presidents sharing in the District 3 award are 3122, Jose Dorado; 3176, Bob Campbell; 3204, Walter Andrews; 3212, Larry Wofford; 3371, Phil Coldiron; 3403, Walter Bagot; 3406, Judy Bruno; 3519, Richard Scruggs; 3680, Rocky Barnes; 3871, Ralph Hicks; and 3902, Sonja Abbott. Each local organized more than 100 Cingular workers.
VIS Campaign
Bahr praised the efforts of Vice Presidents Larry Mancino, District 1, Pete Catucci, District 2, and Vince Maisano, District 13, who won a card check and neutrality agreement for Information Services in their August 2001 contract with Verizon. He presented a statue to each man and a plaque to the presidents of locals that organized more than a hundred VIS workers.
In February 2001, New York locals collected cards from a majority of VIS workers in just 10 days, but it immediately became apparent that Verizon had no intention of honoring its agreement.
Campaigns continued in all three districts. Organizers recorded numerous instances of one-on-one meetings with workers and warnings that if they organized they might lose sales incentives.
While the union fought a 17-month court battle and pursued unfair labor practice charges, “CWA members took advantage of every possible public platform to call attention to Verizon’s actions,” Bahr said.
Locals leafleted shareholder meetings, picketed outside executives’ homes, testified before state public utility commissions and conducted numerous workplace demonstrations. Following an NLRB complaint listing 86 management violations of labor law, the company agreed in March to certification for VIS workers from New York to Virginia.
The locals and presidents sharing in the award are 1020, Richard Kennedy; 1105, Keith Edwards; 1118, Jim O’Hare; 1122, Don Loretto; 1301, George Alcott; 2101, Maria Bury; 2108, Bob Campbell; 2201, Tom Moss; 2202, Lou Scinaldi; 2222, Jim Hilleary; and 13500, Sandy Kmetyk.
AT&T Broadband
As more than 50 CWA locals in 20 states worked to organize 3,500 AT&T Broadband workers nationally, “One CWA local has shown exceptional leadership, organizing more than 800 workers since our last convention,” Bahr said.
He presented the President’s Annual Award to Local 13000 President Ed Carr, who was accompanied onstage by Marge Krueger, administrative assistant to District 13 Vice President Maisano, and Local 13000 Organizer Dave Hoskowicz.
Hoskowicz, a full-time organizer, worked with Krueger and more than two dozen officers and members to overcome an election loss at Broadband’s South Hills location near Pittsburgh in August 2000, when an arbitrator ruled for a card check campaign as a remedy for management violation of a neutrality and consent agreement.
Unit Presidents Darrell Novotny, Mary Ellen Volker and Mickey O’Rourke; Regional Vice President Dick Johns, Steward Keith Grable, Volunteer Organizer Chuck Douglas and others visited workers’ homes to boost support for the union, while an inside committee collected cards f rom a majority within 12 days.
In March 2001, the AAA certified the unit of about 140 technicians, who in turn spoke to workers at other locations, as the local’s campaign snowballed throughout western Pennsylvania.
On May 1, the local won an election among eight customer service representatives at South Hills. In June 2001, 436 technicians at Pittsburgh’s Corliss Street location voted for CWA, with subsequent victories in Coraopolis and Penn Hills.
“All in all, a fantastic job,” Bahr said.