Umpire Backs CWA In AT&T Wireless Case

In the first arbitrated dispute over the neutrality and consent election agreement with AT&T, Third Party Neutral George Nicolau ordered that CWA be granted access to organize workers at an AT&T Wireless facility in Pittsburgh, rejecting the company's contention that CWA failed to give timely notice of the beginning of its organizing drive.

AT&T had refused to meet with CWA over union access and other issues, claiming that since workers at the Pittsburgh Customer Care Center had been discussing unionization prior to formal notification to AT&T on Aug. 2, CWA had violated the agreement.

Nicolau disputed AT&T's interpretation of the agreement, noting in his ruling: "It is apparent to me that formal organizing drives are always preceded by informal probings or testing of the waters in which a union seeks to determine whether there is interest sufficient for it to devote its limited resources to a formal organizing effort."

At CWA News press time, CWA leaders were meeting with AT&T officials to try to resolve several disputes surrounding the neutrality and consent election agreement. AT&T so far has failed to bargain with CWA following previous election wins at AT&T Local Service in Mesa, Ariz., and at Wireless locations in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Kansas City.

AT&T management also has continued to use captive audience meetings and other coercive tactics in these drives in violation of the neutrality and consent election language, reported Vice President Jim Irvine. In response to what he termed "continued attacks on workers rights and job security," Irvine last month called for a suspension of union participation in the Workplace of the Future program until Nov. 1. "Management's behavior has been counter to what this program is supposed to be about," he stated.