October's Organizing Roundtable Focuses on IAM's Ongoing Delta Campaign, IBEW Contract Victory at DirecTV

October's Organizing Roundtable Focuses on IAM's Ongoing Delta Campaign, IBEW Contract Victory at DirecTV

October's Organizing Roundtable, held on Tuesday, October 13th at IBEW Local 103, featured presentations from Tom Raiche of IAM Local 1726, currently organizing Delta workers at Logan Airport, and Organizing Roundtable Chair Bill Corley, an organizer for IBEW Local 103 who recently reached a first contract agreement for installation technicians at DirecTV/Multiband.

IAM Organizing Campaign at Delta
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is organizing Delta workers at airports nationwide. One of the least unionized major airline carriers, Delta workers have long sought union representation, but organizing has been difficult due to the company's use of fear and intimidation to bust organizing drives and the high threshold for winning union elections under the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Unlike workers covered under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) who are allowed to organize by winning a simple majority in an election (50 percent of votes cast, plus one), workers in the airline and railway industries must win a majority of all eligible voters -- meaning that a worker who chooses not to or is unable to vote is counted as a NO. Flight attendants at Delta attempting to join the AFA-CWA lost an election last year despite winning a majority of YES votes because the company simply told workers not to vote at all. 

Now, due to last year's merger of highly unionized Northwest Airlines and mostly non-union Delta, a representation vote has been forced to determine whether the existing unions at Northwest will continue to represent their current members and gain thousands of new members from Delta. Separate votes will be held in the near future to determine whether ramp service workers will be represented by the IAM and whether flight attendants will be represented by the AFA-CWA. The vote will take place nationwide.  

The merger therefore presents an incredible opportunity for the two unions to substantially increase their membership and for thousands of Delta workers to gain the right to collectively bargain. However, the opportunity also comes with a great risk: the unionized workforce at Northwest could potentially lose their right to work under a collective bargaining agreement when their current contract expires in 2010 if the unions do not carry the election. And Delta management is doing everything in their power to ensure not only that their current employees don't gain that right, but that Northwest workers lose it in the process.   

Tom Raiche, a 20 year employee of Northwest Airlines and an organizer with IAM Local 1726, the local representing ramp service workers at Logan Airport, reports that Delta workers at Logan Airport in Boston are overwhelmingly supportive of joining the IAM , but that Delta management is making it extremely difficult for him and other organizers to even speak with Delta employees.

Tom recounted his experience handing out literature about the IAM's pension plan in a Delta break room with a fellow Northwest employee. At first, the Delta workers were interested in the information, firing off questions to the organizers. Then, when a Delta supervisor entered the break room, the workers fell silent. The supervisor proceeded to confiscate the pension materials directly out of the workers' hands and threatened to call the state police if Tom and his colleague did not leave. Despite the fact that everything these organizers were doing was perfectly legal, Delta's message to workers was clear: "Don't be seen with the IAM."

Tom described unfair disciplinary action handed down from management to known union supporters at Delta. In order to avoid unfair treatment by the company, most Delta workers will only express union support in private settings where they know supervisors or anti-union co-workers won't be watching. A small group of company shills are known to inform their supervisors of union supporters.  

In this climate of fear created by Delta, organizing is extremely difficult. However, the IAM's biggest advantage are the current Northwest employees who know the benefits of working under a union contract and who will be voting in the election to save the quality wages and benefits they currently enjoy.  

IBEW 103 Contract Victory at DirecTV
After more than a year of negotiations, installation technicians at DirecTV finally have reached a first contract agreement with DirecTV/MultiBand. Organizing Roundtable Chair Bill Corley described the new agreement which establishes a forty hour / five day work week which, amazingly, was a sticking point in negotiations, as well as an hourly rate of pay instead of the piece-work system that previously paid the technicians a fixed rate per installation, regardless of the hours worked. Often, a technician would drive to a home and spend 3-4 hours on an install, only to find out that an obstacle, such as a tree, was blocking the satellite signal. Prior to the contract agreement, the worker would be forced to go without compensation for those hours worked because the installation was not complete. Now, workers will be compensated at a fair hourly rate of $22 - $25 per hour.

IBEW Local 103 is only the third union nationwide to have won a contract for installation technicians for DirecTV and is the only so far to establish an hourly rate of pay, rather than a piece-work system. There are currently six class-action lawsuits filed by workers against DirecTV installation contractors.

Local 103 and organizer Bill Corley deserve great credit for winning a fair contract at a company still determined to run satellite sweatshops elsewhere in the country.

Please join us at next month's Organizing Roundtable on Tuesday, November 10th, 9:30 AM at IBEW Local 103, 256 Freeport St. in Dorchester. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Elaine Bernard, Director of the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program. For more information, please contact John Drinkwater at (781) 324-8230 / jdrinkwater@massaflcio.org or Bill Corley at (617) 436-3710.