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Reaping the Benefits of Cardcheck at Bell Atlantic
Nearly 300 workers at Bell Atlantic Directory Graphics in Valley Forge, Pa. will become CWA members under a major organizing campaign conducted under the cardcheck and neutrality rules the union negotiated in its 1998 Bell Atlantic contract.
"This is only the first," promised District 13 Vice President Vincent Maisano. "We’re going after every subsidiary in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and will use this agreement to the fullest."
BADG jobs include, among nearly 20 titles, compositors, scanner operators, expediters and paginators. Disparity in treatment, overlapping work and evaluations, as well as rates of pay, were among concerns that motivated these workers to join the union, said Jim Short, assistant to the District 13 vice president.
Larry Cohen, CWA executive vice president and director of organizing, praised "a tremendous effort" on the campaign by CWA Local 13500. "Just think of the time spent on this!" Cohen pointed out that it requires, on average, 15 minutes of one-on-one conversation with a prospective member to convince that person to choose CWA.
Local 13500 presented 161 signed cards to the American Arbitration Association for a bargaining unit of 240 graphics workers. AAA recognized 154 cards. Five are disputed by the company. There are at least 40 additional workers CWA says are eligible for inclusion in the bargaining unit, but who the company claims are management, said Local 13500 Executive Secretary-Treasurer Victoria Kintzer.
Kintzer met with Short in December to plan strategy for an organizing campaign and to secure the support of District 13 staff.
She coordinated local and in-plant organizers, including Local 13500 President Sandra Kmetyk, Eastern Division Executive Vice President Michael Sowycz and Eastern Division Secretary-Treasurer Sharon Marion, and BADG group representatives Shirlene Washington, Michael Green and Cassandra Goodwin.
Contract language permits CWA 60 days to come on-site and solicit union authorization cards, with the company taking a neutral position, at any Bell Atlantic subsidiary with a market capitalization value of less than $3 billion. Bell Atlantic Mobile and certain other subsidiaries are excluded. If 50 percent plus one member of the unit sign, the company agrees to recognize CWA as bargaining agent without a National Labor Relations Board Election.
Kintzer said BADG group members arranged early meetings in workers’ homes. Short said organizers did not request that cards be signed until they felt certain they had about 40 percent support, sometime around Dec. 22.
"When we had about 45 percent of cards signed, we notified the company that we wanted access to the site," Short explained. "On Jan. 4 we set up a table in the lunch room. People could stop by on their lunch hour or breaks, pick up literature and sign cards right there. We also sent cards to people in the mail and got some back that way as well."
CWA Representative Jim Byrne met with the company Feb. 16 to determine bargaining issues. Byrne and local Executive Vice President Sowycz will head first contract bargaining beginning March 31.
"This is only the first," promised District 13 Vice President Vincent Maisano. "We’re going after every subsidiary in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and will use this agreement to the fullest."
BADG jobs include, among nearly 20 titles, compositors, scanner operators, expediters and paginators. Disparity in treatment, overlapping work and evaluations, as well as rates of pay, were among concerns that motivated these workers to join the union, said Jim Short, assistant to the District 13 vice president.
Larry Cohen, CWA executive vice president and director of organizing, praised "a tremendous effort" on the campaign by CWA Local 13500. "Just think of the time spent on this!" Cohen pointed out that it requires, on average, 15 minutes of one-on-one conversation with a prospective member to convince that person to choose CWA.
Local 13500 presented 161 signed cards to the American Arbitration Association for a bargaining unit of 240 graphics workers. AAA recognized 154 cards. Five are disputed by the company. There are at least 40 additional workers CWA says are eligible for inclusion in the bargaining unit, but who the company claims are management, said Local 13500 Executive Secretary-Treasurer Victoria Kintzer.
Kintzer met with Short in December to plan strategy for an organizing campaign and to secure the support of District 13 staff.
She coordinated local and in-plant organizers, including Local 13500 President Sandra Kmetyk, Eastern Division Executive Vice President Michael Sowycz and Eastern Division Secretary-Treasurer Sharon Marion, and BADG group representatives Shirlene Washington, Michael Green and Cassandra Goodwin.
Contract language permits CWA 60 days to come on-site and solicit union authorization cards, with the company taking a neutral position, at any Bell Atlantic subsidiary with a market capitalization value of less than $3 billion. Bell Atlantic Mobile and certain other subsidiaries are excluded. If 50 percent plus one member of the unit sign, the company agrees to recognize CWA as bargaining agent without a National Labor Relations Board Election.
Kintzer said BADG group members arranged early meetings in workers’ homes. Short said organizers did not request that cards be signed until they felt certain they had about 40 percent support, sometime around Dec. 22.
"When we had about 45 percent of cards signed, we notified the company that we wanted access to the site," Short explained. "On Jan. 4 we set up a table in the lunch room. People could stop by on their lunch hour or breaks, pick up literature and sign cards right there. We also sent cards to people in the mail and got some back that way as well."
CWA Representative Jim Byrne met with the company Feb. 16 to determine bargaining issues. Byrne and local Executive Vice President Sowycz will head first contract bargaining beginning March 31.