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Victory at Cingular Wireless Adds 1,200 New Members
An organizing campaign among workers at Cingular Wireless in Illinois has resulted in a major wireless win, bringing 1,200 new members to CWA.
Cingular is a new company, created by the merger between SBC and BellSouth wireless companies.
“This is a significant victory in our on-going fight to represent workers in the rapidly growing wireless industry,” CWA District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said.
The campaign was conducted by Local 4202 under the card-check recognition and neutrality agreement that CWA had negotiated with SBC. Under card check, companies agree to recognize a bargaining unit when a majority of workers sign cards indicating they want union representation. The Illinois unit was certified Oct. 26 by the American Arbitration Association.
SBC owns 60 percent of the Cingular venture and BellSouth, 40 percent. Illinois is SBC’s largest wireless market.
The new members include 700 workers at three major call centers, 400 employees at 40 retail locations across the state and 100 technicians and field engineers, who were especially supportive of the organizing drive.
“They were generally most aware of the difference between working union and working nonunion,” said Celia Cody, a CWA representative in District 4 who helped lead the campaign, along with Local 4202 President Maureen Ehlert.
Ehlert said the campaign got underway after she got a call from some wireless workers interested in CWA. “Our local and District 4 started strategizing and then it just kept growing,” she said.
Cody said each call center had inside organizing committees and many CWA members traveled the state to encourage SBC’s retail employees to join the union.
The next step is bargaining. “We want to move fast,” Rechenbach said. “With the support of CWA Local 4202, the workers are completing bargaining surveys and building a mobilization program to prepare for negotiations, and will soon elect a bargaining team.”
Cingular is a new company, created by the merger between SBC and BellSouth wireless companies.
“This is a significant victory in our on-going fight to represent workers in the rapidly growing wireless industry,” CWA District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach said.
The campaign was conducted by Local 4202 under the card-check recognition and neutrality agreement that CWA had negotiated with SBC. Under card check, companies agree to recognize a bargaining unit when a majority of workers sign cards indicating they want union representation. The Illinois unit was certified Oct. 26 by the American Arbitration Association.
SBC owns 60 percent of the Cingular venture and BellSouth, 40 percent. Illinois is SBC’s largest wireless market.
The new members include 700 workers at three major call centers, 400 employees at 40 retail locations across the state and 100 technicians and field engineers, who were especially supportive of the organizing drive.
“They were generally most aware of the difference between working union and working nonunion,” said Celia Cody, a CWA representative in District 4 who helped lead the campaign, along with Local 4202 President Maureen Ehlert.
Ehlert said the campaign got underway after she got a call from some wireless workers interested in CWA. “Our local and District 4 started strategizing and then it just kept growing,” she said.
Cody said each call center had inside organizing committees and many CWA members traveled the state to encourage SBC’s retail employees to join the union.
The next step is bargaining. “We want to move fast,” Rechenbach said. “With the support of CWA Local 4202, the workers are completing bargaining surveys and building a mobilization program to prepare for negotiations, and will soon elect a bargaining team.”