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Turning Up the Heat - '7 Days in June': Nationwide Demonstration for Workers' Organizing Rights
Jobs with Justice and Workers' Rights Boards in Seattle and Cleveland highlighted the struggles of workers to obtain CWA representation, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO's "7 Days in June" campaign. Union activists and supporters across the nation participated in 110 events, June 19-25, focusing public attention on key organizing campaigns and asserting the right of workers to organize.
Elected officials, union members and the media climbed aboard a "Freedom Bus" in Seattle, June 23, to tour several job sites where workers are demanding the right to join a union. Their rented Gray Line bus was escorted to its first stop by several Shuttle Express drivers, who had experienced a simultaneous "malfunction" of their radios.
The Shuttle Express bargaining unit of 200 drivers, formed with help from CWA organizer Andrea de Majewski, nearly a year ago participated in a consent election arranged by the Seattle Workers' Rights Board and overseen by the Rev. John Boonstra, head of the Washington Association of Churches.
"We won recognition from the company with a 70 percent vote," said de Majewski, "but after nine months of bargaining, the company has yet to give us even a counter proposal on wages."
The King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the Workers' Rights Board and Seattle Jobs with Justice - a coalition of union, religious and community activists - are stepping up the pressure to help them win a first contract.
On June 24, the action in Seattle shifted to a hearing at St. Mark's Cathedral, where both an American Airlines operations agent and a Microsoft "permatemp" testified before the Workers' Rights Board, an outgrowth of that city's Jobs with Justice coalition.
American Dream
Addressing the Seattle board, American airport operations agent Pam McCartney spoke out strongly against the "super majority" provision of the Railway Labor Act, which thwarted passenger service agents' union election drive last fall. Nearly 5,800 agents - 41 percent of the workers - returned "yes" votes in mail balloting. But the Act requires that more than a majority of the unit cast votes in order for the election to be valid; anyone not returning a ballot is counted as a "no" vote. The number of agents eligible to vote was 14,177.
"The Workers' Rights Board could bring a little more awareness to Congress," said McCartney. "Stop penalizing us under this outdated act that just isn't fair. We need to be regulated under the National Labor Relations Act, and we need all the unions on board to make this fly."
McCartney pointed out that American's pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, fuelers and ramp agents across the country are all represented by unions and enjoy better pay and benefits and consistent treatment under uniform work rules. Airline agents, on the other hand, are subject to intimidation at local management's whim. "You can get fired in one city for an 'infraction' that isn't even written up in another," McCartney said.
American Airlines, last year, ran an aggressive, anti-union campaign, orchestrated by one of the nation's leading union-busting law firms. CWA filed charges that the airline committed numerous illegal actions during the campaign and is awaiting a ruling by the National Mediation Board. If their election had been governed by the National Labor Relations Act, the agents would have won handily with a simple majority of the ballots cast.
High-Tech Rights Battle
Microsoft "permatemps" also brought their cause before the Seattle board with testimony by Barbara Judd, one of 16 tax analysts who in May signed a petition for union recognition. The analysts want the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a CWA affiliate, to represent their 18-member unit. They number among 6,000 long-term contractors who work for Microsoft through various employment agencies. On May 11 a federal appeals court ruled that Microsoft workers hired through temporary agencies are "common law" employees of Microsoft, entitled to the same stock options offered regular Microsoft employees.
The analysts have written to Microsoft and the four separate payroll agencies they work through, seeking to bargain over "job classification, pay, benefits and all other working conditions." They hope the Workers' Rights Board can move their cause forward.
"Some of our workers have begun receiving notification of reclassifications and pay adjustments," Judd said, "but the agencies and Microsoft continue to refuse to recognize us as a legitimate bargaining unit. Our employers continue to deny us the right that the majority of Americans have, to discuss our issues as equals."
Focus on Success
The Cleveland Workers' Rights Board, at its annual meeting on June 24, highlighted six successful organizing campaigns by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, United Food and Commercial Workers, Utility Workers and other unions it supported over the past year.
Among those who testified, Bill Sebastian, a Security Link worker, thanked the board for standing behind 19 employees of the Ameritech security alarm subsidiary, organized with help from CWA Local 4340. Their small unit bounced back from a failed National Labor Relations Board election at the end of 1996 to win a second election in April 1998. Their victory inspired a larger Security Link unit in Milwaukee to vote for CWA representation last July 15.
"Jobs with Justice organized numerous actions, including taking 500 people into the lobby of Ameritech's Ohio headquarters and challenging the CEO at the City Club," Sebastian explained. "This helped keep us together and committed, and helped CWA win organizing rights language at Ameritech. With additional pressure brought to bear by the Workers' Rights Board, we ultimately got recognition and won a first contact."
Since 1993, Workers' Rights Boards consisting of prominent public officials, academics, religious, community and union leaders have been established in 11 cities. They have been strong advocates for workers who currently do not enjoy union representation, and they have been successful in drawing significant political and media attention to inequities in labor law permitting unfair treatment, discrimination or suppression of basic worker' rights.
Cleveland's, one of the earliest Workers' Rights Boards, has provided a model for the nation, counting among its membership former U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, a half-dozen members of the state House of Representatives, leaders of the Roman Catholic and Episcopal dioceses, the Interchurch Council, National Organization of Women, American Civil Liberties Union and professors from several colleges and universities. It has enjoyed tremendous support from CWA locals, District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach and Cleveland Central Labor Council Executive Secretary John Ryan, a former CWA local officer who helped establish Cleveland Jobs with Justice.
Forging Ahead
"Jobs with Justice was founded 12 years ago, inspired by the need to restore the right to organize. The Workers' Rights Boards around the country have taken that fight to a new level, building broader coalitions and expanding the content of issues," said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen.
"In Cleveland, more than 1,000 workers have won organizing rights thanks to Jobs with Justice, the Workers' Rights Board and their community base," Cohen noted.
"Because of you, workers don't have to live their lives in fear. Your work is making a difference."
Elected officials, union members and the media climbed aboard a "Freedom Bus" in Seattle, June 23, to tour several job sites where workers are demanding the right to join a union. Their rented Gray Line bus was escorted to its first stop by several Shuttle Express drivers, who had experienced a simultaneous "malfunction" of their radios.
The Shuttle Express bargaining unit of 200 drivers, formed with help from CWA organizer Andrea de Majewski, nearly a year ago participated in a consent election arranged by the Seattle Workers' Rights Board and overseen by the Rev. John Boonstra, head of the Washington Association of Churches.
"We won recognition from the company with a 70 percent vote," said de Majewski, "but after nine months of bargaining, the company has yet to give us even a counter proposal on wages."
The King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the Workers' Rights Board and Seattle Jobs with Justice - a coalition of union, religious and community activists - are stepping up the pressure to help them win a first contract.
On June 24, the action in Seattle shifted to a hearing at St. Mark's Cathedral, where both an American Airlines operations agent and a Microsoft "permatemp" testified before the Workers' Rights Board, an outgrowth of that city's Jobs with Justice coalition.
American Dream
Addressing the Seattle board, American airport operations agent Pam McCartney spoke out strongly against the "super majority" provision of the Railway Labor Act, which thwarted passenger service agents' union election drive last fall. Nearly 5,800 agents - 41 percent of the workers - returned "yes" votes in mail balloting. But the Act requires that more than a majority of the unit cast votes in order for the election to be valid; anyone not returning a ballot is counted as a "no" vote. The number of agents eligible to vote was 14,177.
"The Workers' Rights Board could bring a little more awareness to Congress," said McCartney. "Stop penalizing us under this outdated act that just isn't fair. We need to be regulated under the National Labor Relations Act, and we need all the unions on board to make this fly."
McCartney pointed out that American's pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, fuelers and ramp agents across the country are all represented by unions and enjoy better pay and benefits and consistent treatment under uniform work rules. Airline agents, on the other hand, are subject to intimidation at local management's whim. "You can get fired in one city for an 'infraction' that isn't even written up in another," McCartney said.
American Airlines, last year, ran an aggressive, anti-union campaign, orchestrated by one of the nation's leading union-busting law firms. CWA filed charges that the airline committed numerous illegal actions during the campaign and is awaiting a ruling by the National Mediation Board. If their election had been governed by the National Labor Relations Act, the agents would have won handily with a simple majority of the ballots cast.
High-Tech Rights Battle
Microsoft "permatemps" also brought their cause before the Seattle board with testimony by Barbara Judd, one of 16 tax analysts who in May signed a petition for union recognition. The analysts want the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a CWA affiliate, to represent their 18-member unit. They number among 6,000 long-term contractors who work for Microsoft through various employment agencies. On May 11 a federal appeals court ruled that Microsoft workers hired through temporary agencies are "common law" employees of Microsoft, entitled to the same stock options offered regular Microsoft employees.
The analysts have written to Microsoft and the four separate payroll agencies they work through, seeking to bargain over "job classification, pay, benefits and all other working conditions." They hope the Workers' Rights Board can move their cause forward.
"Some of our workers have begun receiving notification of reclassifications and pay adjustments," Judd said, "but the agencies and Microsoft continue to refuse to recognize us as a legitimate bargaining unit. Our employers continue to deny us the right that the majority of Americans have, to discuss our issues as equals."
Focus on Success
The Cleveland Workers' Rights Board, at its annual meeting on June 24, highlighted six successful organizing campaigns by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, United Food and Commercial Workers, Utility Workers and other unions it supported over the past year.
Among those who testified, Bill Sebastian, a Security Link worker, thanked the board for standing behind 19 employees of the Ameritech security alarm subsidiary, organized with help from CWA Local 4340. Their small unit bounced back from a failed National Labor Relations Board election at the end of 1996 to win a second election in April 1998. Their victory inspired a larger Security Link unit in Milwaukee to vote for CWA representation last July 15.
"Jobs with Justice organized numerous actions, including taking 500 people into the lobby of Ameritech's Ohio headquarters and challenging the CEO at the City Club," Sebastian explained. "This helped keep us together and committed, and helped CWA win organizing rights language at Ameritech. With additional pressure brought to bear by the Workers' Rights Board, we ultimately got recognition and won a first contact."
Since 1993, Workers' Rights Boards consisting of prominent public officials, academics, religious, community and union leaders have been established in 11 cities. They have been strong advocates for workers who currently do not enjoy union representation, and they have been successful in drawing significant political and media attention to inequities in labor law permitting unfair treatment, discrimination or suppression of basic worker' rights.
Cleveland's, one of the earliest Workers' Rights Boards, has provided a model for the nation, counting among its membership former U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, a half-dozen members of the state House of Representatives, leaders of the Roman Catholic and Episcopal dioceses, the Interchurch Council, National Organization of Women, American Civil Liberties Union and professors from several colleges and universities. It has enjoyed tremendous support from CWA locals, District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach and Cleveland Central Labor Council Executive Secretary John Ryan, a former CWA local officer who helped establish Cleveland Jobs with Justice.
Forging Ahead
"Jobs with Justice was founded 12 years ago, inspired by the need to restore the right to organize. The Workers' Rights Boards around the country have taken that fight to a new level, building broader coalitions and expanding the content of issues," said CWA Executive Vice President Larry Cohen.
"In Cleveland, more than 1,000 workers have won organizing rights thanks to Jobs with Justice, the Workers' Rights Board and their community base," Cohen noted.
"Because of you, workers don't have to live their lives in fear. Your work is making a difference."