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Thousands of Workers Gain a Voice at Work with AFL-CIO Unions |
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School workers in West Virginia, airline dispatchers in Texas, call center workers in Oklahoma and transportation security officers (TSOs) in California are among the latest groups of workers to win a voice at work with AFL-CIO unions.
The better than 7,800-member-strong West Virginia School Service Personnel Association (WVSSP) voted to affiliate with AFT and AFT-West Virginia. WVSSP and AFT-West Virginia represent more than 15,000 school support workers in the Mountain State.
The two groups have a long history of working together to win wage and workplace improvements, especially in the state legislature. Because there is no formal collective bargaining for West Virginia state employees, the two unions have worked together to win significant legislative gains for school workers—including wages, seniority rights, benefits and job descriptions.
Says WVSSP President Jacqueline Long:
The affiliation vote is the culmination of a long and fruitful informal partnership with AFT-West Virginia.
AFT President Randi Weingarten says the affiliation will help both unions to
achieve our collective goals of justice, respect, and dignity in our workplace and our communities for our members and those we serve.
In Texas, some 180 Southwest Airlines dispatchers have voted to join the Transport Workers Union (TWU). Mike Connor, president of the newly chartered TWU Local 550, says:
TWU offered the right combination of resources and support. We joined because the Transport Workers represent the majority of dispatchers in the industry and a majority of employees at Southwest Airlines, both who have offered solid support in our quest to give our members the best contract and representation they deserve as leaders in the industry.
Dispatchers perform a critical job, says TWU President Jim Little.
These are difficult and complex jobs. The burden on each dispatcher has grown in recent years as air traffic control issues, FAA oversight, fuel, weight and scheduling have increasingly become the critical factors between an airline’s profit and loss.
The airline’s 9,500 fight attendants and 7,850 ground workers also are TWU members.
Meanwhile in Oklahoma City, 106 call center workers at the AT&T Mobility Center joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA) through majority sign-up. The workers formed their union under an agreement between AT&T and CWA in which the company agreed to remain neutral and recognize the union once a majority of employees sign up.
Majority sign-up is the cornerstone of the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed federal legislation that would level the playing field for workers seeking to join unions.
In the Mile High State, 46 workers at an Avis rental car center at Denver International Airport voted to join CWA. The mostly immigrant workforce from Africa, Indonesia and the Middle East was most concerned about the lack of respect, dignity and decent working conditions.
CWA organizer Al Kogler says management spread misinformation about unions and tried to take advantage of the workers lack of familiarity with U.S. labor laws, but the workers stayed united and voted by a 2-to-1 margin for a voice at work.
Meanwhile at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), nearly 100 TSOs joined AFGE in the first few days after the union opened a new office at the airport. The LAX workers, employed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), join some 6,500 other TSO’s who have signed up with AFGE.
In 2003, President Bush took bargaining rights away from TSA workers in one of the first shots in his war on federal workers. But although TSOs remain deprived of the freedom to bargain collectively, AFGE regularly represents these employees before the TSA Disciplinary Review Board, Equal Opportunity Commission, Congress and in the courts.
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