Boston phone workers rally 'largest in memory'

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40,000 unionists, organized by Local 1100 and the CWA, marched in New York on Aug. 15 to demand an end to erosion of health care benefits. 4 SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1989 and RICK TUDOR BOSTON-Between 10,000 and 15,000 NYNEX telephone company workers and their supporters marched through downtown Boston on Aug. 15 in the second week of a nationwide strike against four regional "Baby Bells."

The NYNEX Group, Bell Atlantic, Pacific Telesis Group, and Ameritech —all created as part of the breakup of AT&T in 1984—are demanding that workers pay a larger share of medical costs. The response from phone operators, installers, technicians, and other workers, has been determined resistance.

Nearly 200,000 phone workers—organized in the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)—have been on Since the 1981 PATCO strike, there has been a constant decline in the power of the trade unions in the United States. The current leadership of the trade-union movement has worked hand in hand with the employers to introduce workplace concessions. They join the bosses in declaring that the corporations must become more profitable and competitive in a declining share of the world market.

These policies-known as "business unionism"-became clear during the 1985-86 Hormel strike by Local P-9 of the International Union of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). With the support of the entire executive board of the AFL-CIO, William Wynn (UFCW president) collaborated with Hormel, the Minnesota National Guard, and the courts and police to defeat Local P-9.

Virtually all of the AFL-CIO international unions have followed this same class-collaborationist policy at the expense of the rank and file.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has been stumbling over itself in retreat ever since its historic concession agreement with Chrysler in 1979. The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) has allowed the establishment of the 12-hour day. And the International Association of Machinists (IAM) has made enormous concessionary offers during the Eastern strike.

"Corporate campaigns"

The unions have all adopted the strategy of "corporate campaigns." These public-relation activities, aimed primarily at embarrassing the bosses and their financial partners, are no substitute for effective methods of struggle (such as well-organized picketlines) that can force the bosses to make the concessions.

The "corporate campaigns" demoralize workers when they see they have lost their rights without a fight. Many times, the result is a membership that has lost confidence in their union and even the concept of being in a strike since Aug. 6. In what has become an all-too-frequent occurrence during labor disputes, one picketing worker, Jerry Horgan, was killed by a scab-driven car in New York City.

Over 18,000 workers are on strike in the New England area, and the union has organized mass picketlines. Eighty strikers were arrested by police during the first 10 days of the strike.

Militant labor gathering

Before the march to the local NYNEX company headquarters, striking phone workers and thousands of supporters jammed City Hall Plaza amphitheater for a spirited rally.

The rally was the largest in anyone's memory. The atmosphere was electric. The plaza' had begun to fill hours before the noon speeches as busloads of workers from LOCAL19S Each concession, instead of appeasing the employers, only whets their appetite for more concessions. (Frank Lorenzo of Eastern Airlines is a prime example of this.) But the employers have demanded more than the rank and file can give. And, as the Eastern strike shows, when this happens the workers are forced to go on strike.

Unfortunately, the IAM's strike strategy at Eastern has been based on the leadership's wish to avoid any danger to the union treasury. So instead of carrying out an effective strike-based on a policy of solidarity which could pose the question of closing the airports despite the risk of fines—the IAM has been looking for a "good" capitalist to buy the airline and sign another concessionary agreement. Boston. This city is only 10 years removed from a time when openly racist demagogues could hold rallies at City Hall.

The enthusiastic welcome extended to Jackson showed the change of consciousness among the mostly white workers at the rally.

The telephone operators, largely female, have a large African-American membership. Black workers were highly visible at the rally, especially in the marshalling team.

Super-exploited phone operators The IBEW's Adelle Stacey told the rally how phone operators start at $5 per hour: "Women are now 60 percent of the workforce at NYNEX and we want equal pay for equal work. We are still at the bottom of the pay scale."

Jan Pierce, a CWA vice president from New York, traced the history of contract negotiations over the last 10 years.

"We tried cooperation in 1980, 1983, and 1986, saving NYNEX billions of dollars. Now, when they are highly profitable, they 'want to take back our benefits. But there is a nely wave of solidarity sweeping the nation," Pierce stated, "Wall Street and NYNEX-you ain't seen nothing yet!"

The workers gave a particularly warm reThe recent defeat of the UAW organizing campaign at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., is another result of concessionary bargaining. The UAW no longer appears to many autoworkers as a champion of their rights, but rather as another institution taking a bite out of their take-home pay.

The Nissan workers were paid relatively the same as UAW members but did not suffer from the same speed-up and miserable working conditions tolerated by the union leadership at the nearby Ford plant.

As a result, the UAW lost the union recognition election, and Nissan declared that it would immediately double the capacity of the plant. If the UAW reverses its policies and again defends its membership against speed-up schemes at Ford, Chrysler, and GM, The rally also heard from Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Arthur Osborne. Mayor Ray Plynn and City Council member Bruce Bolling also spoke. The City Council unanimously passed a resolution backing the strikers.

Greetings from NOW

NOW President Molly Yard sent a message of support to the rally. "The fight for decent working conditions, health benefits, parental concerns for childcare, pension benefits, etc.,"

she said, "is the fight for justice and dignity for all working women and men in the U.S. The National Organization for Women stands with you. On to victory."

Boston-area NOW leaders and members have joined the CWA/IBEW picketlines. At an Aug. 17 planning meeting for NOW's Nov. 12 march on Washington, D.C., to defend abortion rights, IBEW leaders stressed the union's commitment to women's rights.

Adelle Stacey recounted the abuse faced by women workers on the job, company sabotage of the grievance procedure, low pay, and lack of childcare. National NOW Vice President Patricia Ireland stressed the interrelationship of women's demands with those of labor. "Labor issues," she said, "are NOW issues."

it will have a better chance in the future to organize the now speeded-up Nissan workers.

United Mine Workers

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has been the one exception to this overall policy of concessions and takebacks. Because of the victory of the Miners for Democracy in the late 1960s, the UMWA bureaucracy is unable to housebreak and police its membership like the AFL-CIO misleaders. At its last convention it took the position, contrary to all other unions, of "not one step backwards."

At the Pittston mines in Virginia, the UMWA is carrying out a militant strike and it has risked its treasury to defend the strike and thwart the attack upon the union as a whole. But the recently inaugurated selective strike policy has led the mineworkers union into a dilemma.

Pittston is a large multinational corporation supported by the rest of the coal operators and it can hold out for a long time. After a nearly one-month-long "wildcat" strike throughout the union coal mines—an action which demonstrated the fighting capacity of the rank-and-file miners-the strike has now settled down to a militant local strike coupled with a national "corporate campaign" designed to embarrass the owners of Pittston.

This strategy will not be enough to win the strike. What is required is the same level of solidarity among coal miners that the coal bosses give to Pittston. For the same reasons that the "wildcat" strikes forced Pittston to the bargaining table, a national walkout will prove necessary to win this strike.

UMWA President Richard Trumka alluded to this when he spoke at the recent Virginia State AFL-CIO convention. He implied that a strike of these proportions might happen and that the APL-CIO should strike in support of the UMWA. If, indeed, this does occur, it will represent a turning point in the one-sided battle that labor has been losing since the defeat of PATCO.

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SEIU Local 925 members demonstrate at the University of Cincinnati.

SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1989 By MARGARET O'KAIN Mary Cervantes is a library associate in the reference department at Langsam Library on the University of Cincinnati (UC) campus and is currently on the negotiating committee for the UC Chapter of District 925 ("9 to 5") of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). In between negotiations and family responsibilities she graciously agreed to talk to me about her union activities.

Last October, 1200 office workers at the University of Cincinnati overwhelmingly voted to join District 925 of SEIU in order to improve their wages and working conditions. This was the biggest union organizing victory in the Greater Cincinnati area in recent years. The UC administration had cut starting pay by 10 percent, reduced benefits, forced a less desirable health plan through, and threatened hundreds of layoffs.

In the District 925 brochure written shortly after contract negotations began, new members of the bargaining unit were advised to first join the union and then join the contract campaign. I asked Mary about this and she replied: "It is extremely important that management never, never, believes that for one moment the ten employees that they see across the table are the only people in the bargaining unit."

Members have attended a whole number of union meetings, "power luncheons," and press conferences proudly wearing buttons and stickers as well as posting union materials in visible areas on the UC campus. "All of these things send a message to management," Mary said, "that there is a heck of a lot of support out there and they are indeed not facing just a few of us across the table.

The National Organization for Women (NOW), nationally and locally has also given continual support to the union's efforts. During its recent July 21-23 national conference in Cincinnati, NOW sponsored a press conference on the UC campus so NOW President Molly Yard could emphatically express her wholehearted support to the current negotiation efforts as well as future District 925 endeavors.

Importance of solidarity

Mary stressed the importance of this kind of solidarity. "When an organization [with] the stature of NOW supports the organizing and campaign efforts of District 925 or any other union that is primarily made up of women, it helps establish credibility, authority, and visibility—which can do nothing but add invaluable support to the workers here at UC."

Because the bargaining unit is 93 percent women, a number of issues such as decent health benefits, adequate paid sick leave, child care, and parental leave take on an added importance in the negotiations. "We have children to raise," Mary stated, "we have ailments ourselves and we are faced with the problems facing all of America; the care of our elderly parents."

Currently the economic issues are being taken up in earnest and "the waters are very rough." The administration's initial wage offer was an insulting 2 percent for each of the three years of the contract, which does not even begin to keep up with inflation.

Health benefits, Mary explained, are right up there in importance with wages in these negotiations.

"Everyone agrees that health-care costs are skyrocketing. But we do not agree that we should have to absorb all the increases in these costs. Initially UC wanted us to sign a contract that can be compared to an open-ended mortgage, where there would be a cap on their contribution to heath care but no cap on what the employee contributions would be."

The negotiating team is also pushing hard for equitable paid sick leave.

"In my own experience there have been two women who have had hysterectomies in the past 12 months in the segment of the bargaining unit that I represent. The fact that a woman needs to have an hysterectomy should not impact on whether or not she can earn a living. The fact that a person has a sick child should not impact on whether or not she gets paid."

Joe Ryan/Socialist Action Mary Cervantes In its contract negotiations, the union is addressing the serious problems of age, race, and sex discrimination. These women office workers have been historically treated, at best, as 2nd-class citizens.

Mary states the problem: "Originally, when contract negotiations began we wanted precise contract language that addressed what we called 'Dignity and Respect.' We ran into a lot of trouble [but] finally we got management to agree that there would be no verbal abuse, no humiliating postures taken toward employees; especially in front of other staff.

"After we gave them example after example, they finally acknowledged that this does happen and we now have contract language enabling us to file grievances against any such actions on the part of the supervisors. As far as sexual harassment Iran/Soc goes, we have been able to obtain excellent language in the contract dealing with this which we are very proud of."

Mary also explained: "UC has an excelle affirmative action policy in place which the have agreed to incorporate into the contrar We are very pleased with this because we ner safeguards, in light of the Reaganiz Supreme Court, which will insure th affirmative action will always be a policy at the University of Cincinnati, regardless of budget constraints."

Community support is decisive Shirley Rosser, Cincinnati NOW preside and the first African-American uni‹ pipefitter in the Cincinnati area, was inviti to speak at a recent bargaining session al addressed this important issue. According to Mary, "Shirley's presentation was extreme impressive ... we were all running ov ourselves to shake this woman's hand. The is no doubt that she helped us win ti language we needed."

District 925 sees soliciting communi support as a critical element in the process of effective negotiations with the universit Many community leaders have been given t opportunity to lend their support.

"We had a guest at every bargaining sessil for the entire month of June," Mary told n "so we have quite a bit of support in t community and of course we are getting a l of assistance and support from Dan Radfor head of the AFL-CIO Labor Council here in Greater Cincinnati."

A series of ads have also been printi listing a broad array of union supporters, i cluding labor leaders, prominent religio figures, political activists, and employees al students on the UC campus.

Mary continued: "These kinds of e pressions of solidarity are extremely ir portant because UC is the second large employer in the greater Cincinnati area al they wish to be recognized as the center for excellence in academic achievement and rightly so.

"They have a meaningful presence in the Greater Cincinnati community, both professionally and economically. If they are allowed to run rampant with their medieval attitudes toward women workers in their employ, it behooves us to garner as much community support as we can."

Mary further emphasized that in addition to winning community support, the need to gain greater student support is seen as an important goal.

"Essentially I have seen two schools of thought expressed by the students in the campus newspaper. One being, if the office workers get pay raises it will increase our tuition; and the second being a much more enlightened response, coming especially from the female students, that these office workers are the backbone of this university and these women are underpaid and their work is undervalued.

"On the first point of view, students need to be aware that all personnel costs of members in our bargaining unit are legitimate budget items at the University of Cincinnati. Salaries of office workers should not be singled out as a particularly high budget item or one that causes any raise in tuition.

"Salaries of the management and top level administrators at UC is another issue. You could pay five or six office workers on the salary of one administrator alone. The office workers salaries, I repeat, should not be singled out as a budget item that will relate to the cost of tuition. Tuition will go up whether or not office workers are adequately paid.

"I am confident that at a large statesupported university like this one, a large segment of the student population is not that removed from working backgrounds. Many of the students here have mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers who have been working all their lives, perhaps in office jobs, and will be able to relate to how committed their mothers and sisters have been in jobs such as these, but also how tired and underpaid they are."

Victories on other campuses Mary relates the successful organizing drive at UC to union victories on other college campuses.

"Harvard workers recently negotiated a 32 percent wage increase over the life of their contract, which I believe is three years. They had a long and difficult session. It took them 10 years to get to the elections. Once they had the elections and won, Harvard contested it and appealed the election in court and lost.

"By that time the union had successfully garnered a lot of community support; again we must emphasize community support. A 32 percent wage increase is an inspiring example. This certainly gives us heart and something to work towards. They ought to be commended."

When asked if she saw her efforts at UC affecting future organizing drives among service workers, Mary replied:

"These kinds of victories will definitely lead to more successful organizing drives. It was said at our victory party last October that we are in the vanguard of a new labor movement, and it is very exciting. The office workers, who are mostly women, are traditionally the last bastion of a management-controlled employee population.

"Office workers at the universities are just a smidgen more organized than their sisters in the private sector. The office workers and staff at any university are the silent unrecognized partners and they are taken for granted. The women in our union are the hardest working people I have ever met.

"These are not the women who are the grumblers who hate their jobs. We have the creme de la creme here at UC and we recognize them as such. These are women who have unequaled commitment to the UC community. We have people on the negotiating team who have been here 19 years and more!"

Mary also stated that the SEIU organizing drive is ongoing:

"SEIU is currently organizing what we call the non-supervisory professional positions here at UC. SEIU is organizing them even as we speak. This includes research assistants and many technical classifications at the Medical Center, in particular. And SEIU is going out to other universities as well. This makes these current negotiations even more exciting."

Postcards or letters in support of 925's negotiating efforts can be sent to Joseph Steger, President; and Stanley Chesley, Chairman of the Board at University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221.

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