Hi
It is July 17, 2004 and things seem to be getting worse as the days go by. First of all, we have a former AT&T manager by the name of Dave Mueller, calling retirees as well as working techs, trying to hire them. He has told those that I have talked to, that he now works for Danella Construction and they will be handling the variable work force regarding Article 43. I cannot imagine how he knows about Article 43 or where he is getting the names and telephone numbers of those technicians since he no longer works for the company. From what I understand, he was dismissed for misconduct regarding some improprieties. From what the company and the National have been saying, the name of the company who will be handling the variable work force is Turner Construction. Turner is a union contractor and the C&T office is working on behalf of our members with the company to use Turner. The Union has never approved Danella to do any work. I myself and some of our outside construction techs have been complaining to the National and the company regarding Danella and Dave Mueller. Dave Mueller had the unmitigated gall to call our resource center to advertise the jobs he is offering.
Remember, of you get a call from Dave Mueller, he will not be handling the variable work force, nor will Danella as far as we are told.
The arbitrator still has not given his decision regarding management doing our jobs. We need any tickets you can pull proving management is doing our job. We have filed several grievances that will be going to third step. Charges have also been filed with the NLRB. It isn’t the first time we have filed these charges, but at least now we have a lot more proof. Not only do we have proof with many tickets, we also have management telling some of our members (as they do the work) if you don’t like it file a grievance. It is bad enough they are doing our work, they flaunt it as well.
With every grievance we file regarding the work issue, we ask that the comm. techs. that were laid off, be brought back. We have been told that this was a Company business decision and they cannot reverse it. I was always under the impression the decisions to surplus people was based on work coming into the office and work completed. When we were on the fifth floor as an engineering group, we told management not to falsify numbers and do occupational work because it would cause employees their jobs. Evidently, management still does not understand if you do our work, it looks like we can handle the work and we won’t need as many managers. Some of these managers are screwing themselves as well as our members out of jobs.
Management is trying to make your life as miserable as possible. First by doing your work, then by trying to disallow our reps from attending healthcare and Allianace meetings, and now by trying to implement a so called dress code. The dress code I was given was a dress code for the marketing department. I worked in the records bureau for a couple of years and was privy to the BSM&P’s (Bell System Methods and Procedures). The dress code presented was a dress code for management marketing teams. We are not nor never were considered a team. Only the company’s management teams had dress codes. The company allowed people to be as comfortable as they wanted as long as they weren’t dirty or too revealing. The reason for this was they found employees attendance improved 100% when they could come to work and be comfortable in their attire. After many years, seeing how the employees responded to no dress code, they decided to have a dress down Friday for management and also allowed their management to be a little more relaxed during the summer months by allowing them to dress casual unless they had to meet with a customer. Besides, we have not had a dress code since the late 60’s or early 70’s. If you check the contract language, it says all employees are expected to be neat and well groomed at all times. If the management wishes us to follow a specific dress code, then they would have to renegotiate the letter of intent regarding Appearance Guidelines. Besides, the only time management gives us a hard time is when they are new and do not know their job. Therefore, they harp on unimportant things like attendance and now apparel. I also believe the managers from the fifth floor are misleading the new manager. She too will have to find out the hard way that these people are nothing but trouble makers and will cause her a lot of grief. The NMC always worked like a well oiled machine until the managers from other floors came upstairs. Hopefully, we will go back to the way the department worked.
The National is still trying to work out the kinks in this Article 43. I don’t give it much hope, but we have no choice than to go with the flow.
It is most important that you vote. If you are not registered, please do. We must vote in the people who work with labor. Another term of an anti labor party will just about destroy the Unions altogether.
In unity,
Mary Lou
It has been brought to my attention that over the 4th of July weekend someone got into the Newark New Jersey central office (AT&T location). The amount of damage that was done is not quite known, however, this is what I have been told.
45 T’s were put out of service. This included OC48’s, OC12’s, ATM switches and Frame switches.
Over 200 customers and 4500 PVC’s (permanent virtual circuits) were put out of service.
Enough vandalism was done that the police and the FBI were called in. The only information that we received was that whoever it was used a contractors ID to get passed the guard and access to the building. Not until everyone was put back in service did AT&T allow the customers to know that it was vandalism.
From what I understand the FBI and police were all over the central office and prevented some of the LNS techs from doing their work to restore service to the customer.
AT&T really does not wish any one to know what occurred. However, someone was nice enough to inform “ME”.
News Flash to AT&T: You didn’t have these problems until you got contractors to do your work.
In Unity
Mary Lou
First of all, I would like to thank Henry Hanna for the Website. Henry built the website and has been updating it daily. Thanks to him we received a notice from Washington that the “Website of the week belongs to CWA Local 1153 of Valhalla, N.Y." When you see Henry, be sure to congratulate him and thank him, as he did the work without anyone assisting him.
We met with the Connecticut members Tuesday the 22nd of June and met some of the LNS techs. They were signed up and one has volunteered to become a steward. Lets hope this new article will not cause the demise of our on-site workforce.
We did win a grievance that would have brought one of our peers back to the job. Billie Bates worked very hard at getting him his back salary, his benefits and any bills incurred during the time of layoff to be paid. His service would have been bridged and would be starting back at the job June 1, 2004. However, the grievant was no longer interested in working for AT&T any longer. Thanks to Billie for all his hard work.
We are receiving many grievances regarding management doing your work. We have already filed charges with the NLRB. The more grievances we get, the stronger it will make our case. If you see a manager working on a ticket, please get a copy of that and fill out a grievance form. We are fighting an up hill war and need all the ammo we can get.
A grievance has recently been filed because of a so called dress code. It seems management would have other things to be concerned about with everything else caving in on us other than harassing members. We haven’t has a dress code since the 70’s. Why this should be a concern of management now boggles me. The reason management did away with a dress code is because they found people worked better and their and attendance improved. You may have to prove to them there is a reason why we should not attempt another dress code. Besides if they are going to tell you that shorts and hats are not allowed, then they should follow the rules themselves. For the manager who said he could wear shorts because he wasn’t on duty. News flash - management is on duty 24-7.
In Unity
Mary Lou
