D6 Organizing Initiative Update #9

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 past twelve 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. A more complete representation of all organizing activities across the District can be found in the Weekly Organizing Reports that are being compiled and disseminated to all Locals each week.

Week of August 15

• Local 6128 President Darlene Kirchgessner met with six non-members working in a Mobility retail store and successfully signed all 6 of them up as new members.

• Local 6132 added 10 new members during the report period.

• Local 6139 organizers made face-to-face contacts with eight non-members from three different bargaining units and successfully signed 4 of them up on membership cards.

• Local 6143 signed up 13 new members, eight of whom also became COPE contributors.

• Local 6300 organizers had a busy and successful week as they brought 33 new members into our Union, twenty-five of whom also signed up to become participants in CWA’s COPE program. Organizers also engaged in three different external campaigns during the week.

• Local 6312 signed up 2 new members, further whittling away at their number of non-members.

• Local 6360 signed up 30 new members, sixteen of whom the also became COPE contributors.

• Local 6507 added 18 new members, seven of whom also became COPE contributors.

Week of August 22

• Local 6012 signed up 9 new members. Included among them was one new COPE contributor.

• Local 6139 organizers made contact with fifteen non-members from two bargaining units and were successful in converting 4 of these non-members to members.

• Local 6215 signed up 16 new members working in three different bargaining units.

• Local 6222 signed up 11 new members.

• Local 6300 organizers signed up 53 new members working in four different bargaining units. The organizers also signed up twenty-six of these new members as new COPE contributors.

• Local 6401 signed up 3 new members.

• Local 6402 organizers visited several Mobility retail stores, successfully signing up 6 non-members.

Week of August 29

• Local 6012 brought 19 new members into the CWA.

• Local 6016 organizers signed up 13 new members, four of whom also signed COPE cards.

• Local 6202 organizers Charlie Jenkins and Buck Carter visited Mobility retail stores in San Angelo and successfully converted 8 non-members to CWA members.

• Local 6222 signed up 9 new members employed by AT&T.

• Local 6316 officers Jeanne Long and Kara Hutchison signed up 30 new members, twenty-four of who they were also successful in getting to become participants in CWA’s COPE program.

• Local 6360 reported signing up 24 new members and, among them, nine new COPE contributors.

Week of September 5

• Local 6229 organizers signed up 6 long-time non-members working in Mobility retail stores.

• Local 6300 signed up 14 new members from two different bargaining units, eleven of whom also became COPE contributors. Local organizers also engaged in multiple external campaigns including Piedmont Airlines which is a national priority campaign.

• Local 6360 signed up 9 new members, among whom seven also became COPE contributors.

• Local 6312 President Jim Billedo signed up 7 new members, five of whom also became COPE contributors.

Week of September 12

• Local 6139 converted 3 non-members working at Helena Labs to members.

• Local 6200 signed up 4 new members. President Angela Guillory also gave an assist with CWA’s national campaign with T-Mobile.

• Local 6215 signed up 20 new members from different bargaining units.

• Local 6327 organizers conducted a Union orientation during a Mobility training session and signed up 14 new members who will work in the jurisdiction of seven different Locals. Adding to this success, the organizers successfully signed up each of them up as COPE contributors.

Week of September 19

• Local 6012 signed up 11 new members.

• Local 6127 signed up 16 new members, including one who was a former member that dropped out of the Union during the last escape period.

• Local 6132 submitted information on 12 newly signed up members.

• Local 6200 organizers conducted a Union orientation during a Mobility training session and signed up 27 of these new hires as CWA members and ten of them as COPE participants.

• Local 6201 organizers signed up a total of 18 new members into the CWA. Seven of these will be members of Local 6201 while eleven will be members of Local 6215.

• Local 6215 signed up 25 new members themselves in addition to getting the assist from Local 6201 mentioned above.

• Local 6229 converted 2 more long-time non-members.

• Local 6507 organizers signed up 14 new members.

Week of September 26

• Local 6202 President Alice Andrade visited Mobility retail stores and successfully converted 3 non-members to members, all of whom she also signed up as COPE contributors.

• Local 6355 signed up 11 new members from various agencies across the state of Missouri.

• Local 6508 signed up 4 new members. Most notable about this is that all four were former members who had dropped out during the past year.

Week of October 3

• Local 6132 organizers signed up a total of 35 new members.

• Local 6150 added 3 new members to their membership rolls.

• Local 6372 submitted names of 4 newly signed up members.

• Local 6502 officers and organizers signed up 11 new members.

• Local 6733 has had three organizers attend an OI-IO and each of them made face-to-face contacts with several non-members. Although none of them signed up at this time, the effort was noteworthy.

Week of October 10

• Local 6143 signed up 11 new members and reported a total of forty-eight new or increased COPE contributors.

• Local 6203 organizer Cora Ward reported 12 new member sign-ups.

• Local 6507 organizers conducted a Union orientation during a Mobility new-hire training session and successfully signed up all 17 trainees as CWA members.

Week of October 17

• Local 6016 had a successful week as organizers signed up 14 new members, twelve of whom also signed up to become participants in CWA’s COPE program.

• Local 6127 grew the Union by signing up 14 new members.

• Local 6200 signed up 27 new members and, among them, four new COPE contributors.

• Local 6215 organizer’s efforts resulted in a total addition of 21 new members to the Local.

• Local 6300 organizers found success by signing up 25 new members among which sixteen also became COPE contributors.

Week of October 24

• Local 6016 organizers conducted a Union orientation during a Mobility training session for newly hired retail store employees and were successful in signing up a total of 15 new members into our Union. Eight of them will be members of Local 6016 while seven will be members of three other Locals.

• Local 6127 signed up 6 new members.

• Local 6203 organizers brought 14 new members into the CWA family.

• Local 6215 organizers converted 11 non-members to members.

• Local 6300 deployed several organizers whose combined efforts resulted in the 28 new member sign-ups, eight of whom also became COPE contributors.

Week of October 31

• Local 6012 organizers signed up 19 new members into our Union.

• Local 6016 got signatures on membership cards from 12 new members.

• Local 6127 signed up 6 new members.

• Local 6132 organizers saw their efforts rewarded with 26 new member and eight new COPE sign-ups.

• Local 6201 reported signing up 9 new members.

• Local 6215 added 11 new members to the Local.

• Local 6300 organizers added 18 new members, sixteen of whom also signed COPE cards.

• Local 6360 reported 11 new members being signed up.

• Local 6502 successfully signed up 5 new members.

• Local 6507 organizers conducted a Union orientation during a Mobility training session and signed up 18 of the new workers as CWA members.

• Local 6508 organizers found success while conducted a Union orientation session with an AT&T training class of twenty newly hired Premises Technicians. The organizers signed up 19 of them, including eight who also became COPE contributors.

Again, these are but a few of the success stories that Locals have experienced in the past couple months. 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.