Broadband Workers Meet in Pittsburgh
On January 19th, more than 40 AT&T broadband workers from 12 states met in Pittsburgh to discuss organizing, collective bargaining and our future in the communications industry. This is more than twice the number of workers who came together last year in Denver. We celebrated the 16 elections that Broadband workers won in 2001 and the gains that have been made at the bargaining table.
The best part of the meeting was when the guys from the Pittsburgh explained how they have organized more than 800 workers in 8 different locations. It started with about 30 guys with a CWA contract in a Comcast system that had been swapped with AT&T, and now the entire market is union. It was very exciting to see the solidarity among the different systems in Pennsylvania and their commitment to improving their work situation. Improved safety training, job advancement and proper scheduling were issues that are important to the Pittsburgh guys and are now being addressed in bargaining.
AT&T Broadband workers have the right to have quick representation elections and the right to have them conducted in a neutral setting. These rights are establish in the contract CWA negotiated with AT&T in 1998. Under this agreement elections can be held as quickly as 7 days after a majority of the workers ask for it. This election process has resulted in workers in 30 Broadband sites voting in the CWA. Workers from many of these systems attended the meeting in Pittsburgh.
