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9th
July 2001, NUTE, Malaysia
26th
May 2001, CWA, USA
11th
May 2001: OTE, Greece
9th
July 2001, NUTE, Malaysia
Recruits 200 members
in TM Cellular Pty Ltd
NUTE – The National Union of Telecom Employees Malaysia joined the
UNI mobile campaign starting to organise in TM Cellular Pty Ltd, one of
the mobile companies operating in the country. In result of its efforts
the Union was able to launch the Union Protem Committee with about 200
signatures of potential members wishing to join the proposed Union. Once
the recognition is obtained from the management the Union will be
officially registered. UNI-Malaysia Liaison Council will assist them in
organising the unorganised and the process of Collective Agreement
negotiations.
NUTE has already start contacts with
workers from TM-Touch, Mobikom and ATUR. Meetings between Union officials
and employees in these companies have already been preview.
As part of its plan to organise the
mobile sector in Malaysia, NUTE put in place a plan of activities which
covers other mobile operators such as MAXIS Communications, CELCOM Pty Ltd
and DIGI Cellular Pty Ltd. Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal, President of NUTE and
also Vice President of UNI-Telecom Sector Asia & Pacific reported that
the Union is expecting to have members and recognition in all the above
companies, before the end of 2001.
26th
May 2001, CWA, USA
700 Cingular workers in Michigan,
Ohio and Wisconsin win CWA in card check elections
Cingular is now all CWA in District 4 after card check elections were
certified in late February for campaigns involving nearly 700 wireless
workers in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin (More than 1,200 Cingular workers
in Illinois won a card check last October). A driving force behind the
workers’ desire for representation was the uncertainty created by the
Ameritech’s merger with SBC and the subsequent creation of Cingular. The
success of the three-state campaign spoke to tremendous coordination by
CWA Locals 4100 (Detroit), 4300 (Columbus) and 4603 (Milwaukee) , which
conducted campaigns in their states. Supporting the inside committees were
Local 4100 organizers Shannon Kirkland and Greg Wynn, Local 4603 organizer
Joy Roberts, Local 4320 organizer Cathy Mason, and Local 4340 organizer
Guy Phillips. From the date that CWA won a card check agreement with the
Ameritech region (July 28, 2000), it took seven months to organize all
1,900 Cingular workers in District 4. They are also now covered under a
new CWA contract. This speaks to not only the tremendous work done by CWA
organizers, but also to the value of having a card check agreement that
provides non-interference by management and the time to build a union one
worker at a time. Seth Rosen, Dist. 4, 440-333-6363.
Largest wireless group organized:
1,154 Cingular workers go CWA through card check
Concerned about fair treatment, a voice in the workplace, and the future
of their jobs following the joint venture between their employer, SBC
Communications, and BellSouth, now called Cingular, 1,154 wireless workers
in Illinois chose CWA representation through a card check election. The
employees comprised SBC's entire wireless group in Illinois and are the
largest single wireless group organized by CWA. Currently, 8,000 of
Cingular's 22,000 workforce are union. This newest bargaining unit at
Cingular includes retail sales employees, customer service reps and
technicians. CWA is now working to organize additional wireless workers in
Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The workers' victory was certified on Oct. 26 by the American Arbitration
Association. The inside committee was assisted by CWA Local 4202, and the
workers are now completing bargaining surveys with the support of the
local. "We want to move fast, and move quickly to bargaining,"
said CWA District 4 Vice President Jeffrey Rechenbach. He said the workers
are building a mobilization program to prepare for negotiations and would
soon elect a bargaining team. The inside committee was assisted by CWA
Local 4202 president Maureen Ehlart and CWA staff rep Celia Cody. Cingular,
the nation's second-largest wireless carrier, was formed in October,
after the wireless divisions of SBC and BellSouth joined forces. SBC
owns 60 percent of the company and BellSouth owns 40 percent. Seth Rosen,
District 4, 440-333-6363.
11th
May 2001: OTE, Greece
It took only four
months for a small determined group of trade union leaders to organise 80%
of the total workforce of COSMOTE
COSMOTE, the mobile
arm of OTE, the Greek incumbent telecom operator, was the third and last
mobile company to enter in the Greek mobile market. The company start
their operations at the beginning of 1999.
At the beginning of
2000 a very dynamic group of employees, created what it is today the Union
of COSMOTE Employees
The union was
established:
- To promote and solve the problems
of the employees
- To eliminate arbitrariness
- To impose transparent evaluation
and payment systems
- To create rules that will clearly
determine the employer – employee relation
- To defend the employees interests
and rights
- To create healthy working
relations so that the employees would not only have obligations but
rights as well.
Against this
background and with constant provision of information and efficient
interventions, the trade union leaders managed to register more than 80%
of the total workforce of COSMOTE 4 months. As a result the Management of
COSMOTE started taking the employees’ opinion in serious consideration
before making important decisions.
It is worth
mentioning that OME-OTE, the Federation of Workers in Greek
Telecommunications, supported this young group of workers from the very
beginning. The Union of COSMOTE employees is a member of OME-OTE and is
represented on their Board of Directors.
PROBLEMS FACED TO
CREATE THE UNION
- had initially to cope with a
negative reaction, which surprisingly came from the senior employees
and supervisors, some of whom tried to prevent the employees from
becoming members of the Union, intimidating them with the threat of
dismissal. The result of their behaviour was to increase insecurity
the employees felt about their jobs.
- They also had to cope with a
contemporary phenomenon which is the lack of interest of young people
in politics and consequently in collective expression. This was a
particular issue as the average of COSMOTE employees was only 30.
- The lack of interest in the
collective movement was due to the fact that employees were more
concentrated on individual than on collective values and cultivated in
the intensely competitive climate which exists in modern
telecommunication companies.
COSMOTE workers have
been pushing the company forward and made it one of the most quickly
developing Mobile phone Companies in Europe. They have managed at the same
time to bring into existence a significant new agreement in the European
Monile telecommunications field at a very difficult time for the Union
Movement.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- The right to participate on
favourable terms in the initial share offering.
- Extra Private Insurance with no
extra cost for the employees.
- The observance of the labour
legislation in any case.
- Respect at work.
- Terms for transparent hiring,
dismissal, promotion, evaluation and payment procedures.
- Proper Health and Safety
conditions, including improvements in the working day for call centre
workers with special arrangements for sage return home after 11h00 o’clock
in the evening.
- Reduction of overtime.
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