Organizing Update, Electrical Union News, IUE-CWA Local 201
Oct. 18, 2005
Could you be a union organizer?
By Rand Wilson, Local 201 Organizing Director
Steve Tucker, who is a long-time machinist with experience in both union and nonunion workplaces, recently joined the Local 201 organizing committee. Steve said that what motivated him to volunteer some of his spare time to organizing was concern about his future pension.
"If we don't get more GE people together in the union, we'll be a lot weaker when it comes to getting the retirement benefits we deserve," he told me one night after his shift.
Since then, he has already begun reaching out to several GE workers whom he knows that work in "not-yet-union" GE facilities.
Norm Hirschfeld, who has been on the organizing committee since 2003, took time off to accompany me on a trip to meet with the WAGE Committee in Somersworth. Having Norm at the meeting allowed GE workers' to get their questions answered quickly because Norm knows a lot about our union, the contract, and GE.
These are just two ways that members have contributed to helping to unite workers. But unless more members begin following their example and talking with other workers, family and friends about the benefits of being united in a union, the labor movement will get weaker.
Believe it or not, being a union organizer is something that everyone can do. It only requires acting on a commitment to build more power for working people. Got commitment?
WAGE
Speaking of WAGE, Somersworth WAGE members report that the company has rehired everyone on the recall list at Grade 2 and is even willing to take people who's eligibility has expired, but still want to work. Sometimes the most obvious thing to do is also the right thing to do. Way to go GE! Now about that mandatory overtime in Auburn...
JWJ meeting
The national Jobs with Justice coalition recently hosted a special conference of groups similar to WAGE that are uniting workers in innovative ways to gain power with their employers.
Representatives from a Wal-Mart workers' association in Florida, a Cummins Engine factory in North Carolina, a sporting goods warehouse near Pittsburgh, a "main street" standards campaign in Brooklyn, and several community-based "workers centers" attended the meeting. CWA organizing director Ed Sabol helped kick it off with a good overview of our union's experience and strategy.
Want to learn more about the Local 201 organizing committee, WAGE, or some of the innovative strategies that groups are using to build power for working people? Contact me at (781) 598-2760 ext. 25 or rwilson@local201iuecwa.org.
Could you be a union organizer?
By Rand Wilson, Local 201 Organizing Director
Steve Tucker, who is a long-time machinist with experience in both union and nonunion workplaces, recently joined the Local 201 organizing committee. Steve said that what motivated him to volunteer some of his spare time to organizing was concern about his future pension.
"If we don't get more GE people together in the union, we'll be a lot weaker when it comes to getting the retirement benefits we deserve," he told me one night after his shift.
Since then, he has already begun reaching out to several GE workers whom he knows that work in "not-yet-union" GE facilities.
Norm Hirschfeld, who has been on the organizing committee since 2003, took time off to accompany me on a trip to meet with the WAGE Committee in Somersworth. Having Norm at the meeting allowed GE workers' to get their questions answered quickly because Norm knows a lot about our union, the contract, and GE.
These are just two ways that members have contributed to helping to unite workers. But unless more members begin following their example and talking with other workers, family and friends about the benefits of being united in a union, the labor movement will get weaker.
Believe it or not, being a union organizer is something that everyone can do. It only requires acting on a commitment to build more power for working people. Got commitment?
WAGE
Speaking of WAGE, Somersworth WAGE members report that the company has rehired everyone on the recall list at Grade 2 and is even willing to take people who's eligibility has expired, but still want to work. Sometimes the most obvious thing to do is also the right thing to do. Way to go GE! Now about that mandatory overtime in Auburn...
JWJ meeting
The national Jobs with Justice coalition recently hosted a special conference of groups similar to WAGE that are uniting workers in innovative ways to gain power with their employers.
Representatives from a Wal-Mart workers' association in Florida, a Cummins Engine factory in North Carolina, a sporting goods warehouse near Pittsburgh, a "main street" standards campaign in Brooklyn, and several community-based "workers centers" attended the meeting. CWA organizing director Ed Sabol helped kick it off with a good overview of our union's experience and strategy.
Want to learn more about the Local 201 organizing committee, WAGE, or some of the innovative strategies that groups are using to build power for working people? Contact me at (781) 598-2760 ext. 25 or rwilson@local201iuecwa.org.
posted by Rand Wilson at 3:07 PM
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