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Ten Websites to Watch
www.allianceibm.org
Local 1701, Alliance@IBM
CWA's Alliance@IBM is in part a creation of the Internet. The local, which represents IBM employees across the country, grew out of web-based protests against IBM's unilateral changes in its pension plan in 1999. "Using online chat rooms and bulletin boards, workers educated and empowered each other," Cohen said. "Their collective action forced the company to make some concessions."
The Alliance website has been critical to the unit's growth. The Alliance currently has several hundred members and almost 2,600 supporter-subscribers. Roughly 80 percent of members and 100 percent of subscribers have signed up through the site. Union updates are e-mailed at least once a week to 1,500 addresses collected from the site.
The site includes company news from an employee perspective, flyers that can be downloaded and distributed, stories from workers who've lost their jobs and an "IBM Employee Job Cut Survival Kit" with tips to help workers in the event of future dismissals and details about the rights of laid-off workers. Even the media has turned to the site for information, particularly in covering proxy battles at the last three shareholder meetings.
www.cwa9415.org
Local 9415, Oakland, Calif.
Local 9415's website has been a valuable source for organizing. Five new high-tech units have come to the local as a direct result of the site, which they found using Internet search engines. To help unorganized workers find their site, the local uses keywords such as "organize," "unionize," "telephone," and "high-tech." Putting those words in search engines brings up the local's web address.
To keep online visitors coming back, Local 9415 updates its site almost daily with news, photos, bargaining, benefits and political information and links to other labor sites. A number of contracts are available in searchable PDF format, making it easy to find particular contract language. Members can also download grievance request forms.
www.cwa3122.org
Local 3122, Miami
The local skillfully used its website recently while organizing workers at the Cingular call center in Miami. Everything the local distributed to potential members was posted on the site, which was updated frequently with news and pictures. The new members at Cingular, many of them young enough to have grown up with the Internet, say they use the site often and find it informative and proactive.
The site includes copies of all contracts, spells out benefit information, lists contact numbers for stewards and officers and more. Pictures from rallies, steward training, and other special events are regularly posted. The site also highlights legislation important to workers and lists state and national lawmakers' voting records. An e-mail link makes it easy for members to contact elected officials.
www.cwalocal13000.com
Local 13000, Pennsylvania
Local 13000 has 8,000 members across Pennsylvania who work for Verizon, Alltel, North Pittsburgh Telephone, AT&T Broadband, the Red Cross, and Loral Skynet. Before launching its website in 1997, the local had trouble distributing timely information to stewards and members over such a large geographic area.
Now, the local tries to use the web for every facet of its operations. The site updates members on bargaining, mobilization, organizing, political action, labor news, apparel for
sale, Union Privilege, boycotts and union-made products. Membership meetings are posted. Contracts and bylaws are available, as are reports on recent arbitrations. Stewards can download forms for members. And there's a link to 'It's in the Loop.com" a District 13 e-zine for both Verizon customers and employees.
The website provided essential information to members during the Verizon strike of 2000, with bargaining updates posted twice a day. "The success we got at the bargaining table was due to member solidarity," Local 13000 President Eddie Carr said. "And the web was key to our success, especially given our geography."
www.cwalocal2108.org
Local 2108, Landover, Md.
Local 2108 also used the Internet to speed information to members and mobilize them during the 2000 Verizon contract campaign and strike. The site's daily updates recorded 20,000 hits during the strike, and local officers estimate that attendance at strike rallies was up 50 percent because details were easily and quickly available online.
www.cwaunion.com
Local 6450, Kansas City, Mo.
During AT&T bargaining this spring, Local 6450 used its website to publish regular updates, including hotline recordings from other AT&T locals. The local's growing e-mail list, presently more than 250 addresses, was critical in getting members to turn out for informational pickets, leafleting and rallies.
www.cwa1180.org
Local 1180, New York City
Local 1180, which represents public workers in New York, successfully used the web and e-mail during bargaining with the city last year. The local created a special section on its site for all contract-related news and updated it daily. As negotiations heated up, traffic on the website tripled.
www.riguild.org
TNG-CWA Local 31041, Providence, R.I.
When the Providence Journal was on trial for unfair labor practice complaints over conditions imposed on 500 members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA, the paper refused to publish any stories about it. So the Guild created a website to cover the trial, providing a news source for members and the public.
During the two-week trial in February, the "Journal on Trial" website - updated twice daily - received more than 3,000 hits a day. The trade press, as well as competing media, frequently linked to the site and quoted from it in their own reporting.
www.cwa4322.org
Local 4322, Dayton, Ohio
The Ohio local has used its website and e-mail list to encourage members to make phone calls, send e-mails and write letters to politicians and civic leaders about matters of political importance to workers. The local updates its site twice a week with news about bargaining, organizing and union events, as well as national issues such as trade, prescription drug benefits for seniors, and elections.
www.7906.org
Local 7906, Eugene, Ore.
Since creating its website last year, Local 7906 has increased its membership, going wall-to-wall at three outlying Qwest offices. The site provides copies of contracts and arbitration decisions, as well as news on employers, out-sourcing and job openings. The site has helped increase attendance at meetings by 50 percent, especially among younger workers, and has encouraged more members to participate in local activities. The electronic contact has also helped double members' contributions to CWA-COPE, the union's political action fund.
Local 1701, Alliance@IBM
CWA's Alliance@IBM is in part a creation of the Internet. The local, which represents IBM employees across the country, grew out of web-based protests against IBM's unilateral changes in its pension plan in 1999. "Using online chat rooms and bulletin boards, workers educated and empowered each other," Cohen said. "Their collective action forced the company to make some concessions."
The Alliance website has been critical to the unit's growth. The Alliance currently has several hundred members and almost 2,600 supporter-subscribers. Roughly 80 percent of members and 100 percent of subscribers have signed up through the site. Union updates are e-mailed at least once a week to 1,500 addresses collected from the site.
The site includes company news from an employee perspective, flyers that can be downloaded and distributed, stories from workers who've lost their jobs and an "IBM Employee Job Cut Survival Kit" with tips to help workers in the event of future dismissals and details about the rights of laid-off workers. Even the media has turned to the site for information, particularly in covering proxy battles at the last three shareholder meetings.
www.cwa9415.org
Local 9415, Oakland, Calif.
Local 9415's website has been a valuable source for organizing. Five new high-tech units have come to the local as a direct result of the site, which they found using Internet search engines. To help unorganized workers find their site, the local uses keywords such as "organize," "unionize," "telephone," and "high-tech." Putting those words in search engines brings up the local's web address.
To keep online visitors coming back, Local 9415 updates its site almost daily with news, photos, bargaining, benefits and political information and links to other labor sites. A number of contracts are available in searchable PDF format, making it easy to find particular contract language. Members can also download grievance request forms.
www.cwa3122.org
Local 3122, Miami
The local skillfully used its website recently while organizing workers at the Cingular call center in Miami. Everything the local distributed to potential members was posted on the site, which was updated frequently with news and pictures. The new members at Cingular, many of them young enough to have grown up with the Internet, say they use the site often and find it informative and proactive.
The site includes copies of all contracts, spells out benefit information, lists contact numbers for stewards and officers and more. Pictures from rallies, steward training, and other special events are regularly posted. The site also highlights legislation important to workers and lists state and national lawmakers' voting records. An e-mail link makes it easy for members to contact elected officials.
www.cwalocal13000.com
Local 13000, Pennsylvania
Local 13000 has 8,000 members across Pennsylvania who work for Verizon, Alltel, North Pittsburgh Telephone, AT&T Broadband, the Red Cross, and Loral Skynet. Before launching its website in 1997, the local had trouble distributing timely information to stewards and members over such a large geographic area.
Now, the local tries to use the web for every facet of its operations. The site updates members on bargaining, mobilization, organizing, political action, labor news, apparel for
sale, Union Privilege, boycotts and union-made products. Membership meetings are posted. Contracts and bylaws are available, as are reports on recent arbitrations. Stewards can download forms for members. And there's a link to 'It's in the Loop.com" a District 13 e-zine for both Verizon customers and employees.
The website provided essential information to members during the Verizon strike of 2000, with bargaining updates posted twice a day. "The success we got at the bargaining table was due to member solidarity," Local 13000 President Eddie Carr said. "And the web was key to our success, especially given our geography."
www.cwalocal2108.org
Local 2108, Landover, Md.
Local 2108 also used the Internet to speed information to members and mobilize them during the 2000 Verizon contract campaign and strike. The site's daily updates recorded 20,000 hits during the strike, and local officers estimate that attendance at strike rallies was up 50 percent because details were easily and quickly available online.
www.cwaunion.com
Local 6450, Kansas City, Mo.
During AT&T bargaining this spring, Local 6450 used its website to publish regular updates, including hotline recordings from other AT&T locals. The local's growing e-mail list, presently more than 250 addresses, was critical in getting members to turn out for informational pickets, leafleting and rallies.
www.cwa1180.org
Local 1180, New York City
Local 1180, which represents public workers in New York, successfully used the web and e-mail during bargaining with the city last year. The local created a special section on its site for all contract-related news and updated it daily. As negotiations heated up, traffic on the website tripled.
www.riguild.org
TNG-CWA Local 31041, Providence, R.I.
When the Providence Journal was on trial for unfair labor practice complaints over conditions imposed on 500 members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA, the paper refused to publish any stories about it. So the Guild created a website to cover the trial, providing a news source for members and the public.
During the two-week trial in February, the "Journal on Trial" website - updated twice daily - received more than 3,000 hits a day. The trade press, as well as competing media, frequently linked to the site and quoted from it in their own reporting.
www.cwa4322.org
Local 4322, Dayton, Ohio
The Ohio local has used its website and e-mail list to encourage members to make phone calls, send e-mails and write letters to politicians and civic leaders about matters of political importance to workers. The local updates its site twice a week with news about bargaining, organizing and union events, as well as national issues such as trade, prescription drug benefits for seniors, and elections.
www.7906.org
Local 7906, Eugene, Ore.
Since creating its website last year, Local 7906 has increased its membership, going wall-to-wall at three outlying Qwest offices. The site provides copies of contracts and arbitration decisions, as well as news on employers, out-sourcing and job openings. The site has helped increase attendance at meetings by 50 percent, especially among younger workers, and has encouraged more members to participate in local activities. The electronic contact has also helped double members' contributions to CWA-COPE, the union's political action fund.