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Union Drive Unstoppable At AT&T Broadband
More than 500 AT&T Broadband workers in California, Massachusetts and Utah have won CWA representation recently through expedited elections.
In the Los Angeles area, two units totaling 404 workers voted 233-132 for CWA. In Sacramento, with 103 eligible, the vote was 63-29 for the union. Broadband workers clear across the nation, in Needham, Mass., voted 11-6 for CWA. The results were similar in Salt Lake City: 12-5 for the union.
CWA Representative Libby Sayre represented the union in about a half-dozen joint meetings the company set up to reach all of the technicians and warehouse workers at the West Los Angeles and Bellflower locations, but local organizers had done a thorough job beforehand.
Local 9000 President Stu Tropp made first contact with the Culver City, West L.A., workers about a year ago. Their formerly Media One facility had been purchased by AT&T, and they were unhappy about favoritism and about changes in work rules.
Technicians at Bellflower were kept on the street past the end of their workday until the entire facility’s installations and repairs were completed, said Local 9400 Vice President Alvin Beck.
Tropp brought in three Local 9000 members who work at Adelphia, formerly Century Cable, AT&T’s principal competitor in the area that has been organized for about 26 years. “It’s a fight to organize, but it’s worth it,” Kevin Bishop, Mike Maze and Steve Boyd pointed out. “Right now they can stick it to you, but the only difference between us is that we have a contract.”
The West L.A. Broadband workers built a committee, with Brandon Upper, a high speed data/video technician, becoming both a leader and an observer at the election.
Pat Swift, a Local 9000 member who works for Pacific Bell subsidiary ASI, was formerly with Century Cable. “He was familiar with what it was like to work for a cable company,” Tropp said. “He went with me several times to talk to workers and handed out fliers early in the morning.”
About seven months ago, CWA Representative Mark Bixler said, the campaign was expanded to include Bellflower.
“At first we were chasing trucks and finding no one willing to give us names or phone numbers,” Beck said. Finally, he approached technician Ray Sanchez and asked him, “What would happen to you if the company were to cut your wages by 50 percent?”
Sanchez was quickly sold on the fact that a union contract would prevent that from ever happening. He supplied names and phone numbers and became a leader in the campaign, along with technicians David Gonzales and Joe Garner.
Local 9400 Executive Vice President Marge Terflinger, who Beck said lives in Bellflower, invited technician Jerry Lozano in for a chat. Lozano said he could help.
Local 9400 Vice President Charley Anderson and Steward Crystal Harper, and Local 9505 organizer Sharma Watkins helped get “show of interest” cards signed three weeks prior to the Nov. 28 election.
Though one unit for collective bargaining purposes, the Culver City workers will be representated by Local 9000 and the Bellflower group by Local 9400, District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler said.
Stepping Up in Sacramento
On Oct. 31, 103 installers, dispatchers and warehouse employees in the Sacramento area gained CWA representation, voting 63-29 for the union, despite a visit from AT&T Broadband’s human resources chief.
Local 9421 Vice President John Adams Jr. guided the workers in their campaign, along with local organizer Chris Gordon. Adams said management tried to convince the workers that under a union contract they would only see raises of about 3 percent a year with much of that eaten up by union dues.
But the workers, who had chosen to organize because of arbitrary promotions, a spiraling workload and low pay, found CWA’s argument more effective: the big raises would come in the step increases a union contract would provide.
Adams cited the hard work of an inside committee that included Mike Campbell, Greg Cherry, Arthur Lindsey, Michael Gonzalez and Carlo Ebrado.
These workers had come close to organizing the unit on two earlier occasions, when it was owned by Sacramento Cable in the mid-1980s, then more recently by Comcast. Both those campaigns were conducted in the face of strong anti-union opposition under the rules for NLRB elections. It made all the difference that this was a neutrality and consent election, Sayre said.
Small But Mighty Units
In Needham, Mass., Broadband workers voted 11-6 for CWA on Oct. 30. Ed Sabol, administrative assistant to District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, said Local 1051 Organizer Jane Nilson and Local 1298 Organizer Pete Hoyt assisted the plant operations and headend technicians. They filed for the unit on Oct. 17, but Sabol said management delayed the election.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, workers chose CWA 12-5 in voting Oct. 30, saying that their compensation was less than counterparts earned at competing companies. District 7 Organizing Coordinator Kevin Mulligan said Local 7704 organizers Kelly Gattis and J.C. Corn assisted the workers. Internal organizing committee members Bart Hubbard and Shawn Hansen led the effort among co-workers.
In the Los Angeles area, two units totaling 404 workers voted 233-132 for CWA. In Sacramento, with 103 eligible, the vote was 63-29 for the union. Broadband workers clear across the nation, in Needham, Mass., voted 11-6 for CWA. The results were similar in Salt Lake City: 12-5 for the union.
CWA Representative Libby Sayre represented the union in about a half-dozen joint meetings the company set up to reach all of the technicians and warehouse workers at the West Los Angeles and Bellflower locations, but local organizers had done a thorough job beforehand.
Local 9000 President Stu Tropp made first contact with the Culver City, West L.A., workers about a year ago. Their formerly Media One facility had been purchased by AT&T, and they were unhappy about favoritism and about changes in work rules.
Technicians at Bellflower were kept on the street past the end of their workday until the entire facility’s installations and repairs were completed, said Local 9400 Vice President Alvin Beck.
Tropp brought in three Local 9000 members who work at Adelphia, formerly Century Cable, AT&T’s principal competitor in the area that has been organized for about 26 years. “It’s a fight to organize, but it’s worth it,” Kevin Bishop, Mike Maze and Steve Boyd pointed out. “Right now they can stick it to you, but the only difference between us is that we have a contract.”
The West L.A. Broadband workers built a committee, with Brandon Upper, a high speed data/video technician, becoming both a leader and an observer at the election.
Pat Swift, a Local 9000 member who works for Pacific Bell subsidiary ASI, was formerly with Century Cable. “He was familiar with what it was like to work for a cable company,” Tropp said. “He went with me several times to talk to workers and handed out fliers early in the morning.”
About seven months ago, CWA Representative Mark Bixler said, the campaign was expanded to include Bellflower.
“At first we were chasing trucks and finding no one willing to give us names or phone numbers,” Beck said. Finally, he approached technician Ray Sanchez and asked him, “What would happen to you if the company were to cut your wages by 50 percent?”
Sanchez was quickly sold on the fact that a union contract would prevent that from ever happening. He supplied names and phone numbers and became a leader in the campaign, along with technicians David Gonzales and Joe Garner.
Local 9400 Executive Vice President Marge Terflinger, who Beck said lives in Bellflower, invited technician Jerry Lozano in for a chat. Lozano said he could help.
Local 9400 Vice President Charley Anderson and Steward Crystal Harper, and Local 9505 organizer Sharma Watkins helped get “show of interest” cards signed three weeks prior to the Nov. 28 election.
Though one unit for collective bargaining purposes, the Culver City workers will be representated by Local 9000 and the Bellflower group by Local 9400, District 9 Vice President Tony Bixler said.
Stepping Up in Sacramento
On Oct. 31, 103 installers, dispatchers and warehouse employees in the Sacramento area gained CWA representation, voting 63-29 for the union, despite a visit from AT&T Broadband’s human resources chief.
Local 9421 Vice President John Adams Jr. guided the workers in their campaign, along with local organizer Chris Gordon. Adams said management tried to convince the workers that under a union contract they would only see raises of about 3 percent a year with much of that eaten up by union dues.
But the workers, who had chosen to organize because of arbitrary promotions, a spiraling workload and low pay, found CWA’s argument more effective: the big raises would come in the step increases a union contract would provide.
Adams cited the hard work of an inside committee that included Mike Campbell, Greg Cherry, Arthur Lindsey, Michael Gonzalez and Carlo Ebrado.
These workers had come close to organizing the unit on two earlier occasions, when it was owned by Sacramento Cable in the mid-1980s, then more recently by Comcast. Both those campaigns were conducted in the face of strong anti-union opposition under the rules for NLRB elections. It made all the difference that this was a neutrality and consent election, Sayre said.
Small But Mighty Units
In Needham, Mass., Broadband workers voted 11-6 for CWA on Oct. 30. Ed Sabol, administrative assistant to District 1 Vice President Larry Mancino, said Local 1051 Organizer Jane Nilson and Local 1298 Organizer Pete Hoyt assisted the plant operations and headend technicians. They filed for the unit on Oct. 17, but Sabol said management delayed the election.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, workers chose CWA 12-5 in voting Oct. 30, saying that their compensation was less than counterparts earned at competing companies. District 7 Organizing Coordinator Kevin Mulligan said Local 7704 organizers Kelly Gattis and J.C. Corn assisted the workers. Internal organizing committee members Bart Hubbard and Shawn Hansen led the effort among co-workers.