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ORGANIZING
WIRE Telecommunications OrganizingIBEW International President Edwin D. Hill addressed nearly 100 attendees at a Telecommunications Organizing meeting earlier this year in Washington, D.C. His message was a simple one: organize now or continue suffering devastating losses until the IBEW no longer has a foothold in the industry. The two-day meeting set a blueprint for recapturing representation in an industry where job losses have hurt membership. Since that meeting, IBEW locals across the United States have launched several telecommunications organizing campaigns. Local 21 (Downers Grove, Illinois), the largest telecommunications local in the IBEW, has scored a victory at Ameritech and launched an organizing campaign in AT&T Broadbands greater Chicago market. |
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Some members of the Workers Inside Organizing Committee for the IBEW Local 21 Ameritech broadband campaign: From left, John Marella, Bob Royce, Dale Motlow, Kevin Damhauser. Not pictured is John Sawicki, who was also instrumental in the successful drive. |
Nearly 90 Ameritech broadband workers chose IBEW representation in a card check recognition of Local 21 in late February.
The victory brings the unit at Ameritech Advanced Data Systems (AADS) of Illinois into a local that already represents 13,000 workers at SBC Ameritech, a telecommunications company serving several Midwestern states.
This is an important victory in the crucial campaign to improve the standard of living for all working families in the telecom industry, said Local 21 organizer Tom Hopper.
Organizers had their eye on AADS since federal regulators mandated its split as a separate division during the recent merger of SBC and Ameritech, Hopper said. The campaign, which involved home and worksite visits and informational hand-billing, was prepared for a National Labor Relations Board election had the company not accepted a card check agreement. The company pledged neutrality in exchange for Local 21s support for legislation SBC Ameritech lobbied for more than a year ago, Hopper said. Although the state legislation failed, the company stuck to its end of the bargain.
They honored the agreement and thats a breath of fresh air compared to some other companies were dealing with, Hopper said.
The workers at AADS install high-speed DSL for residential customers. Preparations for upcoming contract negotiations are under way, and preliminary contract surveys have gone out to the new members.
Local 21 Targets Drive for AT&T Broadbands Chicago Area:
In an aggressive two-state organizing push, Local 21 also is targeting a drive for AT&T Broadbands greater Chicago markets.
More than 2,500 workers at AT&T Broadband in Illinois and northwestern Indiana are eligible for IBEW membership. The Chicago region is the companys third largest market in the United States.
Despite a neutrality agreement, AT&T Broadband (a division of AT&T) has hired union-busting consultants and is actively working against the IBEW in the Chicago region, Hopper said.
IBEW organizers are conducting community outreach and participating in public forums to raise the issue of AT&T Broadbands violations of workers right to organize.
The outcome of this organizing drive will have industry-wide implications, Hopper said. AT&T is leading the way to de-unionize the telecom industry. We plan to maintain our footing here. Were up for it.
Labor rallies in support of Reliant Energy Service
Center workers drive to join IBEW Local 66, Houston, Texas. From
left: Michael Mosteit, IBEW Local 66 business representative and
organizer; Marcy Kiger, IBEW Local 66 member; Art Ramos Jr., United
Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 211; Shawn Broadrick,
UA Local 669; Dale Wortham, Harris County Central Labor Council,
AFL-CIO; and Bill Kenyon, Sheet Metal Workers Local 54.
A labor-wide Street Heat rally to support Reliant Energy Inc. (REI) Service Center workers in their drive to win a voice on the job and gain representation by IBEW Local 66 in Houston, Texas, took place March 21, 2002.
Local 66 launched an organizing campaign late last year on behalf of approximately 114 Reliant field service representatives who work in 14 different locations in Houston and outlying areas, said Local 66 Business Manager Gregory Lucero. Employees started signing cards back in October and a petition for election was filed in January.
Reliant Energy Inc., formerly Houston Light & Power Company, brought in a notorious union busting company and launched an unrelenting fight to obstruct the organizing campaign. With these intimidating tactics, Reliant has accomplishedfor nowits goal of denying union representation for its employees. The National Labor Relations Board election took place March 21, the day of the rally, at Reliants Bellaire, Texas, Service Center. The vote was 71-42.
We know there were blatant violations of the Labor Relations Act, said Business Manager Lucero, and we are working with the Department of Labor on these union busters. The local is making preparations to file Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges.
REI hired the ubiquitous union-busting firm, The Burke Group, to derail the organizing campaign. This Burke Group specializes in training the supervisors and showing them how to kill a campaign, said Michael Mosteit, Local 66 organizer and business representative.
As one of many intimidating tactics, several Reliant supervisors from other locations were in and out of the Bellaire Service Center the day of the election, Mosteit said. The supervisors just happened to have business there that day. It seemed that most of their business positioned them around the coffee bar, which is along the direct route to the voting locationso the employees had to pass by them to vote. It was just one more blatant form of employee intimidation. Mosteit said that he and Business Manager Lucero went to the site for a pre-election briefing of the observers and as soon as the board agent gave the observers their instructions, Greg and I were asked to leave the property.
The anti-union barrage was fierce. Reliant has absolutely beat the heck out of these workers, said Kitty Prouse, an IBEW Local 2286 (Beaumont, Texas) organizer who assisted in the Local 66 organizing drive. The company held captive audience meetings, two and three a day, and lied to the employees. It has been just brutal. To thwart the drive for union representation, Reliant also prohibited workers from communicating among themselves with threats of disciplinary action, Prouse said. This is what these slithering snakes do.
Currently Local 66 represents approximately 3,700 lineman at Reliant Energy HL&P, a division of REI, Business Manager Lucero said. REI, headquartered in Houston, is an international electric and natural gas utility with power plants throughout the United States and abroad. Reliant Energy HL&P serves southeast Texas. Local 66 was established in 1894, and two of the original charter signers were Houston Light & Power Company employees, Lucero said. The first contract with HL&P was signed in 1915.
The Local 66 members supported this drive 100 percent, Business Manager Lucero said, and union stewards were actively involved in meeting with the Reliant field service reps.
At the Street Heat rally, the labor community turned out in force on election day to support the Service Center workers and IBEW Local 66, Lucero said.
Organized labor came out to show Reliant Energy that the union movement in Houston supports the freedom of workers to choose a union. This is an ongoing battle, Local 66 will continue the fight for workers right to union representation.
Eight workers employed by Fiber Optic Specialists, Inc. voted November 23, 2001, to be represented by IBEW Local 1393, Indianapolis, Indiana. The company, based in Crown Point, Indiana, installs fiber optic cable in many U.S. locations.
The company, believing the employees would not return to Indiana for the representation election, insisted the election be held the day after Thanksgiving. The company tasted its own medicine when these employees so wanted representation that they flew or drove from as far away as New Orleans and Connecticut to cast their ballots for the union.
Twenty-six employees working at the AEP/DC Cook Nuclear plant in Bridgman, Michigan, voted November 28, 2001, to become members of IBEW Local 1392, Fort Wayne, Indiana. These employees work in the Stores and Receipt Inspection Department.
