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Workers Rights Board Urges Intellicoat to Bargain
Three IUE-CWA members who work for Intellicoat testified before a Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board in South Hadley, Mass., on Oct. 13, leading the panel of prominent religious and community leaders to write the president of the company, urging him to "reach a fair and just agreement with the workers as soon as possible."
A unit of 228 Intellicoat manufacturing workers voted 186-38 to join IUE-CWA Local 81228 in September 2003. Shortly thereafter, another unit of 55 in Matthews, N.C., voted to join CWA Local 3603.
Both units have struggled to bargain first contracts. The South Hadley group has met with management only sporadically. The Matthews unit has met to bargain only once.
Officers and staff of IUE-CWA Region 3 and CWA Districts 1 and 3, this summer, orchestrated a mobilization campaign involving the two bargaining units.
Intellicoat workers in South Hadley have worn black armbands and union buttons to work and plan to wear t-shirts emblazoned "Intellicoat Workers United." They have recruited strong support among community leaders and student groups.
The group held a Labor Day/Solidarity rally Sept. 11 in Massachusetts and is building solidarity with both the Matthews unit and two Intellicoat units represented by PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union. PACE has had similar difficulty in bargaining with Intellicoat and sent representatives to the rally.
Alice Bergeron, treasurer of the IUE-CWA unit in South Hadley, told the Western Massachusetts Workers' Rights Board she has worked at Intellicoat for 20 years. She and other senior workers took a $4.04 pay cut shortly before they organized last summer. "That's my whole mortgage payment," she said.
"We just want a voice," said Jim Williford, another Intellicoat worker. "If we were a union back then, we would have been able to bargain."
Debbie Geaughan, president of the South Hadley unit, noted that Sept. 11 was the one-year anniversary of their organizing victory.
"A year is too long to wait for a contract," Geaughan said.
A unit of 228 Intellicoat manufacturing workers voted 186-38 to join IUE-CWA Local 81228 in September 2003. Shortly thereafter, another unit of 55 in Matthews, N.C., voted to join CWA Local 3603.
Both units have struggled to bargain first contracts. The South Hadley group has met with management only sporadically. The Matthews unit has met to bargain only once.
Officers and staff of IUE-CWA Region 3 and CWA Districts 1 and 3, this summer, orchestrated a mobilization campaign involving the two bargaining units.
Intellicoat workers in South Hadley have worn black armbands and union buttons to work and plan to wear t-shirts emblazoned "Intellicoat Workers United." They have recruited strong support among community leaders and student groups.
The group held a Labor Day/Solidarity rally Sept. 11 in Massachusetts and is building solidarity with both the Matthews unit and two Intellicoat units represented by PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union. PACE has had similar difficulty in bargaining with Intellicoat and sent representatives to the rally.
Alice Bergeron, treasurer of the IUE-CWA unit in South Hadley, told the Western Massachusetts Workers' Rights Board she has worked at Intellicoat for 20 years. She and other senior workers took a $4.04 pay cut shortly before they organized last summer. "That's my whole mortgage payment," she said.
"We just want a voice," said Jim Williford, another Intellicoat worker. "If we were a union back then, we would have been able to bargain."
Debbie Geaughan, president of the South Hadley unit, noted that Sept. 11 was the one-year anniversary of their organizing victory.
"A year is too long to wait for a contract," Geaughan said.