Organizing Update

Verizon Wireless

Workers at Verizon Express stores in Portland, Ore., have formed a union with CWA and are seeking voluntary recognition from the company. The workers have also filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board, should the company fail to recognize the union. The workers stand firm in their commitment to form a union and collectively work to implement their stated values, including fair compensation, adequate staffing levels, health benefits, work-life balance, and a safe work environment that is built on respect and positivity.

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Eastern Airlines

Flight Attendants at Eastern Airlines have overwhelmingly voted to join AFA-CWA in an election certified by the National Mediation Board. Eastern Airlines, formerly Dynamic International Airways, operates as a scheduled carrier employing 65 U.S.-based and 35 internationally-based Flight Attendants in Miami, New York, Ecuador, Guyana, and Venezuela. “Eastern Flight Attendants have spoken loudly and clearly,” said AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson. “Our entire union is thrilled to welcome them, and ready to work shoulder-to-shoulder to negotiate a contract that gives them real voice on the job, safe conditions at work, time to rest, clarity with pay protections, and benefits that reflect their contribution to the airline.” Read more here.

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Maximus

Last Friday, Christina Jimenez, a Maximus worker, participated in a roundtable discussion on workers’ rights with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh in Jackson, Miss. The discussion was organized as part of a national effort for labor officials to better understand rural workforces and how to address issues workers are facing in their workplaces and beyond. Jimenez, who is organizing with her colleagues at Maximus to form a union with CWA, spoke about the challenges of being denied a living wage. "I am here because I am a mother of three and fifteen dollars an hour is not enough. Me and 40 of my coworkers recently went to the headquarters of Maximus in Washington, D.C., to voice our concerns and we won’t stop until we are heard," said Jimenez. Speaking about the barriers she and her colleagues are facing to form a union and fight for their rights, Jimenez added, “They say unions are evil. They don’t give specifics. They just say unions are evil. You are led to believe you are stuck and can’t do anything about the working conditions you are in.”

Secretary Walsh, who headlined the roundtable discussion and heard from Jimenez and the other worker organizers on the panel, said, “I think most people understand that $15 an hour minimum wage is where we need to go. That’s the floor, that’s not the ceiling. I think the fact that in every state that has incorporated a $15 minimum wage, the conversation in the very beginning was that it was going to put businesses out of business, and every state that’s instituted it, including my own state [Massachusetts], business has gotten better.”

Christina Jimenez (second from right), a Maximus worker organizing with her colleagues to join CWA, participated in a roundtable discussion on workers’ rights with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh (center) in Jackson, Miss.