D6 Organizing Initiative Update #8

As you know, we rolled out our District 6 Organizing Initiative in January during the District 6 Conference in El Paso. Since that time, many Locals have been working to make face-to-face contacts with non-members. Some Locals have engaged in external organizing efforts as well. I have periodically provided updates on some of the successes that Locals have achieved. Below are a few of the highlights and notable efforts from the past five weeks. Please note that, while the number of new members for some Locals listed below may not appear to be large, they are included here because they represent a significant percentage of the Local’s non-members. Additionally, this is not a complete and comprehensive list of all organizing activities throughout the District.

Week of July 11

• Local 6128 President Darlene Kirchgessner personally made face-to-face contacts with eleven non-members, getting 2 of them to sign membership cards. While the results may not appear to be noteworthy, the effort is to be applauded.

• Local 6132 signed up 12 new members working at three different AT&T Mobility locations.

• Local 6171 brought 5 new members into the CWA.

Week of July 18

• Local 6016 reported having signed up 15 new members, four of whom also became COPE contributors.

• Local 6132 makes the list again with 14 newly signed members during the week, three of whom also became COPE contributors.

• Local 6503 signed up 10 new members during the report period, four of whom also signed COPE cards.

Week of July 25

• Local 6012 identified a new organizer, Shelley Mims, who got off to a good start by signing up 5 new members.

• Local 6132 organizers made contacts with several current non-members, signing up 4 of them.

• Local 6171 signed up 6 new members working in four different bargaining units.

• Local 6300 provided names of 27 new members signed up in the previous couple weeks. This Local also continued their outstanding efforts to grow our Union through external organizing.

Week of August 1

• Local 6012 added 12 new members to their membership rolls with three of them also becoming COPE contributors.

• Local 6143 enjoyed a very good week during which they signed up 19 new members, twelve of whom will now be contributing to COPE as well.

• Local 6150 signed up 12 new members, some of whom were new hires and others who have been non-members for extended periods.

• Local 6313 reported having converted 22 AFP’s to CWA members, eight of whom signed up to become COPE contributors as well.

• Local 6507 signed up 9 new members during a new hire orientation session.

Week of August 8

• Local 6016 successfully got signatures on membership cards from 10 new members.

• Local 6139 made face-to-face contacts with eleven non-members during the week, successfully signing 4 of them into the Union.

• Local 6300 organizer Tony Ford signed up 9 new members during the report period, all of whom also signed up to become COPE contributors.

• Local 6313 reports having converted their 4 remaining AFP’s to CWA members, two of whom also became COPE contributors.

• Local 6503 continued working to reduce the number of non-members in the Local. Despite having only a small number of non-members, the Local reduced it further by signing up 2 of them on both membership and COPE cards.

• Local 6507 signed up a total of 13 new members, eleven during a new hire orientation session and two long-time non-members who were brought into the fold by new organizer Melissa Kincaid on her first day back to work after attending an OI-Internal Organizing over the weekend.

• Local 6733 signed up 10 new members.

Again, these are but a few of the success stories that Locals have experienced in the past several weeks. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of organizing activities and successes across the District.

Your ongoing organizing efforts are appreciated as we all continue to work to build our Union.