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Some 600 Newly Unionized AT&T Employees Want New Contracts |
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
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Almost 180 years after female workers at the Dover Cotton Factory in the Cocheco Mills made history with the first women's strike in the United States, 600 AT&T workers in the same building have marked their own place in union history.
After months of information gathering and negotiating, the large group of call center representatives joined the Communications Workers of America, marking the largest group of private sector workers in New Hampshire to unionize at one time since 1966. Senior Call Center Representative Helen Cook, who helped organize the unionization process, said she and other employees began considering joining the organization's Local 1298 when they realized other unionized AT&T employees in other locations received higher pay, better job security and more expansive health care. "Now, the health insurance plan covers one physical each year, but if you are sick after that you have to pay out of pocket," Cook said. "I have a coworker who had an accident, and cut her hand and had to pay $900 out-of-pocket to the emergency room." AT&T Spokesman Walt Sharp said he could not comment on the employees' specific health care plan, but said the company will be open to negotiating with the CWA on all aspects of the new union contracts, including a health-care plan. "AT&T has a long tradition of union representation," Sharp said. "We have 300,000 employees and about 60 percent are union represented." CWA Organizing Coordinator Tim Dubnau credited AT&T with remaining a neutral party throughout the process, and even providing space for employees to consult with CWA representatives. "Usually employers fight tooth and nail," Dubnau said. "To their credit, they did not take that position. They decided it was better to respect people's rights on the job." Dubnau said the CWA currently represents about 180,000 AT&T workers nationwide, and the union has helped those employees secure higher wages, better job security and health care packages. At a unionized call center in Connecticut, employees start at about $15 per hour and receive raises throughout a five-year period that increase the starting wage to $27 per hour, according to Dubnau. Call center representatives in Dover currently start at $12 per hour. "When you work under a union contract, you are part of the middle class," he said. "With these guys, it's not middle class." Dubnau said union representation will also give employees an avenue to dispute disciplinary actions, as well as provide more time off, sick days and holiday and overtime pay. Wage and benefit changes will not necessarily mirror those in Connecticut or elsewhere, but will be negotiated through a collective bargaining process that Dubnau said will begin "as soon as possible." "The good news is we have a mature relationship with AT&T," Dubnau said. "We've been in touch with the company all along." AT&T employees first solicited information from the CWA in September and began working to complete the "card check" process of organizing as a union. The card check process is an American Arbitration Association authorized process in which employees who wish to form a union sign a small card and present it to the AAA. The employer then provides the AAA with an official list of all employees and the AAA determines if the majority of employees wish to be represented. The Dover workers became one of the first workplaces to fall under the purview of a new rule by the National Labor Relations Board, commonly called the "Dana decision." The Dana decision mandates both the union and employer recognize a 45-day period in which at least 30 percent of the workers have an opportunity to ask for another election that could overturn the previous card check decision. That period ended Dec. 28 without 30 percent of the workers contesting the decision. The CWA Local 1298 is located in Hamden, Conn., and represents nearly 6,000 other AT&T workers in New England. |
