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Sprint Members Take Issues to the Public
Sprint locals in North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and Oregon were in the process of taking a strike authorization vote as the CWA News went to press, even though a small unit of Sprint workers in Pennsylvania had voted to ratify a tentative agreement.
CWA members represented by Local 13000 in Pennsylvania, voted 46-2 to accept a contract bringing them annual raises of 3 percent in each of three years, pension band increases in line with wages, and a health benefit plan that would significantly reduce out-of-pocket payments.
"Sprint withdrew most of its regressive demands," said T.O. Moses, CWA vice president for telecommunications. "The decision was reached in consultation with District 13 Vice President Vince Maisano, making it possible for this unit to ratify.
"We hope this marks a turning point for all Sprint negotiations, as several large bargaining units are preparing to set a strike date subject to approval by the CWA Executive Board and President Bahr," Moses said.
Contracts have expired for 5,000 Sprint workers nationwide.
Various issues, including jurisdiction over boundaries, overtime rules, seniority recognition and subcontracting, still impeded settlements in different parts of the country. "We're working to get a lot of negative things off all the tables," said John Howard, assistant to Moses.
Mobilization on behalf of Sprint bargaining escalated the day after Thanksgiving, with CWA and IBEW members across the nation passing out thousands of leaflets calling attention to a deterioration of service quality, dissatisfaction among both customers and employees and excessive compensation for Sprint CEO William Esrey.
Sherman Wright, an activist in CWA Local 3682 in North Carolina, said about 40 members hand billed at Henderson Mall, Roanoke Rapids Mall, Golden East Mall in Rocky Mount, and in downtown Warrenton.
"We did windshields, talked to people at stoplights and went into establishments where our members do business every day," Wright said. "We explained our situation to people and, when they look at it, they're all dissatisfied with Sprint service. They think $67,000 an hour (for CEO Esrey) is unbelievable."
The Coalition for Quality Telecommunications Services, with CWA support, has prepared a research paper showing a 66 percent increase among Sprint customers in North Carolina reporting service outages from 1996 to 1998 and an increase of 51 percent in the number of customers reporting trouble on the line. Meanwhile, Sprint has drastically cut jobs, frozen hiring of technicians and all but abandoned preventive maintenance of its network.
CWA locals in Ohio have submitted photos to CWA headquarters, showing widespread deterioration of the Sprint network in that state.
Bob Campbell, president of CWA Local 3176, representing 650 Sprint workers in north central and central Florida, said his local distributed more than 2,500 fliers the day after Thanksgiving, at K-Marts, Radio Shacks and other Sprint retail outlets.
"We're getting a lot of favorable response from the public," said Campbell, who is the bargaining representative for his local.
"Sprint has said they want to provide the best phone service," he said. "Now instead of getting far above the standard of the public service commission, they say they're just trying to get in under it."
CWA members represented by Local 13000 in Pennsylvania, voted 46-2 to accept a contract bringing them annual raises of 3 percent in each of three years, pension band increases in line with wages, and a health benefit plan that would significantly reduce out-of-pocket payments.
"Sprint withdrew most of its regressive demands," said T.O. Moses, CWA vice president for telecommunications. "The decision was reached in consultation with District 13 Vice President Vince Maisano, making it possible for this unit to ratify.
"We hope this marks a turning point for all Sprint negotiations, as several large bargaining units are preparing to set a strike date subject to approval by the CWA Executive Board and President Bahr," Moses said.
Contracts have expired for 5,000 Sprint workers nationwide.
Various issues, including jurisdiction over boundaries, overtime rules, seniority recognition and subcontracting, still impeded settlements in different parts of the country. "We're working to get a lot of negative things off all the tables," said John Howard, assistant to Moses.
Mobilization on behalf of Sprint bargaining escalated the day after Thanksgiving, with CWA and IBEW members across the nation passing out thousands of leaflets calling attention to a deterioration of service quality, dissatisfaction among both customers and employees and excessive compensation for Sprint CEO William Esrey.
Sherman Wright, an activist in CWA Local 3682 in North Carolina, said about 40 members hand billed at Henderson Mall, Roanoke Rapids Mall, Golden East Mall in Rocky Mount, and in downtown Warrenton.
"We did windshields, talked to people at stoplights and went into establishments where our members do business every day," Wright said. "We explained our situation to people and, when they look at it, they're all dissatisfied with Sprint service. They think $67,000 an hour (for CEO Esrey) is unbelievable."
The Coalition for Quality Telecommunications Services, with CWA support, has prepared a research paper showing a 66 percent increase among Sprint customers in North Carolina reporting service outages from 1996 to 1998 and an increase of 51 percent in the number of customers reporting trouble on the line. Meanwhile, Sprint has drastically cut jobs, frozen hiring of technicians and all but abandoned preventive maintenance of its network.
CWA locals in Ohio have submitted photos to CWA headquarters, showing widespread deterioration of the Sprint network in that state.
Bob Campbell, president of CWA Local 3176, representing 650 Sprint workers in north central and central Florida, said his local distributed more than 2,500 fliers the day after Thanksgiving, at K-Marts, Radio Shacks and other Sprint retail outlets.
"We're getting a lot of favorable response from the public," said Campbell, who is the bargaining representative for his local.
"Sprint has said they want to provide the best phone service," he said. "Now instead of getting far above the standard of the public service commission, they say they're just trying to get in under it."