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From the September-October 2008 issue of Union Democracy Review #175
Irony in the CWA
By Judith Schneider
When the Communications Workers of America (CWA) wanted to promote member contributions to its COPE fund, it focused on one of the union's prime legislative goals, enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act. Passage of that Act will require that a union be recognized so long as a majority of workers at a bargaining unit sign cards. This, the union argued "… will eliminate the employer threats and intimidation, the harassment and firings and other employer tactics that too often are a part of every union election today ." The CWA was talking about freedom from fear in representation elections. But what's going on in its internal union elections?
On the cover of its glossy COPE brochure, prominent among a group of enthusiastic members vigorously supporting the union's program, is Kevin Condy, a former CWA organizer and instructor in its Steward's Army and a member of Local 1101. That local represents some 8000 phone company workers in New York and New Jersey. Condy, now a candidate for L. 1101 Vice-President of Southern Manhattan and Al Russo, candidate for Southern Business Agent are running against a slate of 13 incumbents in the local's November election. They say that potential slate members were discouraged from running with them by threats of reprisals. And they say that union officials and employer representatives interfered with efforts to get Condy on the ballot. For the Southern Manhattan VP slot, he needed 100 nominating petition signatures from each of the four areas in that division. According to Condy and Russo, union officials invoking the help of the employer tried to block their access to worksites to prevent their getting signatures and members were told that they were not allowed to sign and that "things would happen" if they did. They say that company representatives trailed them from worksite to worksite.
Although a couple of hundred signatures were excluded, Condy made it on the ballot. Not so Victor Rosado when in 2005 he sought to run for VP in L. 1104, which covers telephone company workers and state university teaching and graduate assistants in New York. Rosado also was required to obtain 100 signatures from each division; in his case there were three. In one of them, Rosado claimed, worksites were scattered over a large geographic area, their locations were not disclosed to him and members were warned by union officials not to sign his petitions. Rosado's complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor that the nominating process violated the LMRDA resulted in the DOL's filing suit to overturn the election. The case was settled and the DOL supervised a new election after L. 1104 changed its nomination procedure.
How about union members having the benefits of an Employee Free Choice Act?
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