My Story...
I am a member of CWA and have
been since November 5, 1967 when our union was certified by the National Labor
Relations Board as the collective bargaining agent for employees of General
Telephone. The election was the result of General Telephone purchasing the
California Water & Telephone Co. (aka Drip and Tinkle) and refusing to
bargain with two unions on the property. I was employed by Cal. Water &
Tel. in August of 1966 and we were represented by the IBEW.
During the
years of my membership in CWA I have been a shop steward, committee member,
committee chairperson and have held every elected office in Local 9510. In
addition to responsibilities within the Local, I was an elected member of the
CWA bargaining committee in 1977. I also worked as an organizer for the United
Farmworkers of America in the Coachella and San Joaquin Valleys. During the
strikes and grape boycotts in the early seventies I helped coordinate much of
the UFW activity in Fresno County.
After two farmworkers were killed
near Delano, the strike was called off. The UFW fanned out across the country
to coordinate its' boycott efforts. Cesar Chavez asked me to be part of the
journey to New York on the United Farmworker's bus. I stayed with the
farmworkers in various cities during this period. In the latter part of 1973 I
returned to California from Cleveland, OH. If you have ever been to Cleveland
you will know why I returned. Just kidding! Actually, I had to return to the
job I really needed at the phone company.
I was recently elected
[September '97] as the Vice-President (GT Unit) in our Local. I try my best to
represent members the way I would want to be represented. Every effort made to
do things I was elected to do have been met with roadblock after roadblock. I
have no 'hidden agenda' or ambition to higher office. I do not have the key to
the Local's postage machine. I cannot use the Local' s treasury to pay people
to be off the job to encourage meeting attendance for support of a motion or an
issue.
I hold the belief that most members care about how our union is
operated. When members know there is something amiss, they will usually do
something about it. Unfortunately, most members do not know what really goes on
behind the scenes. If they did, they would throw up their hands in disgust.
Many already have!
That is the problem! Most Executive Board members do
not represent the members at an Executive Board meeting...they represent their
own interests! Most Stewards try to represent the members on the job. However,
at membership meetings most Stewards do not represent the members...they
represent an administration whose leadership hold the keys to time off the job
or trips out of town! There is a "state of siege" mentality with the leadership
of our union from the top down. The tragic consequence of that mindset is the
impact it has on members who labor under the misconception the union is
representing their interests. In reality, the union is representing the
interests of those who are running it!
My intent with this site
is to let people know.
That sums up what I am trying to do with this site on
the www. My plan is to bring members the things the Local does not. With the
resources of this so called 'Information Age' technology we should know what
the companies are doing when they do it and not just when the Local decides to
tell us. Maintaining this site is very time consuming to say the least. The
goal is to publish memos of agreements (MOA's) on the site (ones I can get my
hands on). There is a forum section for members (or anyone else for that
matter) to post their
'point of view' (whatever it may be) on a given
subject or topic (whatever it/they might
be).
In the
mean time, consider the letter below. I check the mail box every day and to
date
there has been no response! Did she get it? You can bet on it. It was sent
certified and she signed for it! Will she answer? I don't think so! She has
however, reacted in typical
fashion.
August 2, 1997
Nita
Moreno, President
CWA Local 9510
3602 W. Fifth Street
Santa Ana, CA
92703
Dear Nita,
I wish to go on record via this letter to you
about the concerns I tried to express at the July Executive Board meeting when
I attempted to give my report. A point of order was raised by Weston that an
expression of my concern was not a report. You ruled that his point was well
taken. The point of order and your decision exemplify the very concern I was
trying to raise. I believe that a hostile work environment has been created in
the local. It is a manifestation of the politics embedded in the elected
leadership of our Local. It begins with you and finds active support from
several members of the Executive Board and tacit support from a few others who
know better but are reluctant to speak up for fear of
retaliation.
Subsequent to the election but prior to taking office I
approached you regarding my expectations on how CWA members from the GT Unit
should be represented. I shared my concerns with you. I asked to handle the
Membership Mobilization (MMEC) activities and the United Way Drive. To cut to
the chase on the MMEC subject, I told you what I thought the role of the MMEC
entailed. I believe the MMEC ought to be doing more than 'posting' bulletin
boards, cranking out a flyer and/or arranging for muffins and soft drinks at a
work location. The subject of the United Way is a whole different issue. I
explained to you in no uncertain terms that the United Way Drive was
mishandled. I had evidence of whole work groups that had not been solicited.
The fact that the two coordinators were off the job for 6-8 weeks is not the
issue. The fact that so many people were not covered is!
You rejected
both of my requests on the proposals above. After taking office you ordered me
to use people in the GT Grievance Center who, in my estimation, were not the
proper people to serve in this important area. We discussed the role of the
Unit Vice-President and what we respectively felt it should be. We had a
disagreement or two. I proposed a compromise on the coverage of the GCC with
one of the people you insisted upon and you agreed. He resigned from office
shortly thereafter.
Your first inclination was to fill the vacancy by
appointing the person who was my opponent in the election for GT unit
Vice-President. You had already disclosed your intentions to many and had
mentioned it in officers meeting. I felt you were trying to thwart the will of
the members by forcing my opponent down the throat of the members who rejected
her. I later had a meeting with you (Stan Millican & Rich Burke were
present) and made the pitch to have an election instead of appointing your
candidate to the vacancy. The majority of the Executive Board would have voted
with your recommendation. However, it would have not been pretty at the
membership meeting when actions of the board must be approved. It was after the
meeting with you, Stan Millican and Rich Burke that you called for an
election.
While the election was running its course open hostility
developed! You and the other 2 primary officers endorsed your candidate. The
Pac Bell Chief Steward (Rich Burke) accused me of helping to write literature
(if it could be called that) for the eventual winner. The Elaine DeVille
(incumbent Executive Board member) was falsely accused (by Burke) of entering
the CWA Local offices on a Sunday afternoon and using the Local facilities
(Xerox machine and paper) to produce campaign material for the eventual winner.
Burke claimed to have proof (the Xerox machine log showing the number of copies
made on the day in question). I asked him to show me and/or file charges. I am
still waiting!
After the election was over I requested a training need
for the newly elected Executive Board member along with Judy Rapue a shop
steward. My purpose was coverage of the GCC in the absence of myself and/or
Elaine. Your response to my request for the training requirements of Letty and
Judy was denied. You said there were three others trained whom you rarely saw.
Nita, there were about 16-18 trained for coverage in the Pac Bell GCC and it
did not stop you from adding more! Your denial of my request to train back-ups
for the GT GCC is another one in a long list of examples of an atmosphere
created by yourself.
I again made the request at an Executive Board
meeting (May) and it was denied. I explained at that meeting that I was not
prepared to make motions to achieve what I felt was needed to better represent
the members because of what had transpired during the Montoya administration. I
sincerely hoped reason would prevail. I thought it had when you approached me
before the beginning of the June membership meeting and told me you had changed
your mind and I would be allowed to train Letty and Judy Rapue. That was before
the meeting began!
A few days after the June meeting I received a memo
notifying me officers meetings were cancelled due to your efforts to curtail
officer's lost time wages. A couple of weeks after the meeting I received a
memo from you that canceled your approval of my request to train Letty
Gutierrez and Judy Rapue. You again cited budgetary concerns. Was this before
or after the Local spent $900+ to buy monogrammed shirts for Executive Board
members? I have taken it upon myself to train Letty on my own time. Judy Rapue
is out on a disability.
I requested some improvements on the
hand-me-down computer (from the upgrade given the secretaries) placed in the
office used by the Unit Vice-Presidents. I explained (in the same memo) why I
believed the need was justified. Your memo denying my request still puzzles me.
Your reasoning regarding the time spent at the local and/or the work I did was
not in itself enough to warrant granting my requests. Word Perfect might be on
the server but the computer in the Unit VP's office does not work well enough
(lack of RAM, monitor and printer) to access it. I brought my old printer from
home to use and it (the computer) is still not functional. If I had the proper
tools to do the job I would more than likely spend more time at the local. As
it is now, I am forced to perform some of my duties at home because you are
unwilling to provide the tools I need at the local.
I have spoken to you
several times on the matter of receiving information from the National Union
indigenous to representing members from the GT unit. The first time I came to
you was in January. A grievance reply was somehow placed with material directed
to the Pac Bell GCC and at the last minute was passed to the GT GCC. I
suggested that you direct the office staff to continue passing the information
to you but at least copy the GT GCC in on material so grievances would not time
out. For some reason, not all of the information was not given to the GT
GCC.
I proposed an alternative that you agreed to. I wrote the National
Union a letter (early June) requesting I be copied at home with any information
indigenous to the GT unit. At the last Executive Board meeting (July '97) I
asked you about the letter you received from the National Union that requested
you confirm my request. The letter you received from the National was date
stamped 7/11/97. The letter requested you let them know right away because they
had GT info going out on a continuing basis. At the meeting you said you had
changed your mind, period end finish. In your response to Cherie Brokaw (7/
23/97) you claim you changed your mind for several reasons. The first was
because I was building a 'home web page' and its first installment placed the
local's reputation (the Local has no reputation at this point to damage!) in
jeopardy because of its allegations and innuendoes. You closed your letter to
her by saying you would distribute GTE related material based on a need to
know.
The web page was a project from the short-lived administration
preceding yours. When your administration took office it (www.cwalocal9510.org)
became the focal point of a few members on the board to wage war. Month after
month the material on the web site, the price of the service (less than $200
per month) and or anything else they could think was brought to question
(implying an impropriety). I offered to teach others how to do it and or watch.
I finally realized that my involvement in what I had hoped to accomplish with
this project was the real issue. As far as I was concerned, it had reached the
'point of diminishing return'. I made the motion to have an outside vendor do
the web page at a cost not to exceed $2,500 per month. The motion passed and it
was sanctified by the membership at the next meeting. The result is no web
page. The fiercest critic of www.cwalocal9510.org (the Local's web site and now
unaccessible) promised to have one if elected when he ran against Sue, Andrea
and Greg. If nothing else Nita, you have failed to implement the motion to have
an outside vendor produce the web page. As the President of Local 9510 you have
the responsibility to see that motions made by the Executive Board and upheld
by the membership are obeyed.
The web page you refer to:
www.mindspring.com~drakester is mine. I pay for it.
I edit it. I plan to do all of the things I had hoped to accomplish with the
page I helped design for Local 9510. There is one major difference---I have
editorial license. I plan to point out the good as well as the bad in Local
9510. According to Natoli you established a policy and polled the Executive
Board for its passage. The motion you asked the board to pass states, "Local
9510 is establishing a policy concerning the records of the Local. Effective
6-14-97 information obtained from records including but not limited to
vouchers, release requests and H-166 reconciliation lists shall not be
reproduced in any form up to and including web pages". I believed then and I
believe now the motion is out of the order. Whatever the final resolve of the
motion may be (the US Constitution says it is out of order), I can only say
that, if there is something in our records that people do not want others to
see, then they shouldn't incur the expense!
As recently as last week
there was another incident of information not distributed. You told me on the
day before a pre-arbitration meeting was to be held when you knew (at least
when asked you said you knew) the week before. The company requested the
arbitration be postponed from the scheduled date (August 5th) but had they not
we were left with less than one day to round up the witnesses and get them
released from work to prepare and testify.
Another example of the
hostile work environment you have continued to promulgate is this years United
Way Drive. The members spoke loudly and clearly on their wishes regarding the
United Way. After they made their feelings known, I attended a United Way
steering committee meeting. A few days after I attended I received a curt memo
from you. Your memo informed me I had invited myself to the steering committee
meeting (at which you were not in attendance). You advised me I was made the
coordinator by membership action and that you had appointed yourself and Vivian
Thunell as members of the committee. Your memo said I would be kept informed of
United Way issues. To date there has been one other steering committee meeting
that I know of and I am still waiting to be kept informed.
In March, you
asked me to attend a CWA Council Membership Mobilization meeting in Camarillo.
The issue was the dress code that was enacted by General Telephone. I provided
you with the information and plans on mobilizing the members at the officers
meeting. I rolled out the plan and provided copies to you and each Executive
Board member at a meeting. I provided each steward with a copy of the plan for
mobilization in May. The effective date of the implementation was July 1. In
mid June I advised you the time for the implementation of the dress code was
rapidly approaching and I provided you with further information and sample
letters to go to the members. You informed me (via memo) you could not find any
of the information I had given you. In the same memo you suggested
that..."perhaps we should develop some mobilization ideas with the Mobilization
Committee". That is precisely what I did when you sent me to the CWA Council
Mobilization Committee meeting in Camarillo. Instead of using any of the
material I provided, you sent a letter to members that advised them if they had
any questions regarding the dress code to ask their supervisors. You ignored
the requirement to place it before the Local Executive Board for review before
mailing.
The hostile work environment I continue to refer to was again
exemplified on the day after the June '97 membership meeting. A poster was
found on the desk I share with Elaine DeVille. The poster was the quote from
Samuel Gompers, "Reward your friends and punish your enemies". The section of
the quote, "punish your enemies" was highlighted. A reasonable person would
assume that the message implied was Elaine and I were enemies and would be
punished. I approached you, Burke and Milliman in Natoli's office since you
were the only people in the building when I left the night before. Burke
reacted in the usual fashion however, I just cannot believe that it was done by
the janitors who are the only ones with master keys other than you, Fitton,
Natoli, the secretaries and Burke.
Most recently, a briefcase owned by
Elaine DeVille was stolen from the office she shares with the unit
Vice-Presidents. Fortunately, there were no important papers or members
grievances in it. This again is another example of the environment created in
the local that a reasonable person would find offensive. I am enclosing an
example of what transpired when the Pac Bell Chief Steward accused Elaine of
using the Local facilities illegally. It is my version of what happened when
Burke took off on me after an Executive Board meeting a few months
back.
Based upon the foregoing I can only say you are making the job of
representing members from the GTE unit much more difficult than it has to be.
What is of immediate concern to me is the action you have taken in the BSOC
with respect to activity by a shop steward in that group and another who has
been assisting her. With all due respect, I believe the activities have been,
if not encouraged, at least condoned by you. The two Executive Board members
and myself have come to you with a litany of complaints regarding Winona
Johnson. She has injected herself into grievances that members have no
knowledge of and/or have not requested her assistance. You have been presented
with a couple of dozen complaints by members from that work group relative to
her activities. You have to this date refused to do anything about these
complaints.
From my perspective your action toward myself and the
members of General Telephone is representative of the very same behavior
demonstrated by the Montoya administration. She refused to allow the Unit
Vice-Presidents to be in charge of their respective GCC's. She interfered with
the United Way drive by continuing to meddle after the members had expressed
their wishes. I would hope that there is some way you would consider modifying
the course of action you have been taking. Please consider your own words that
were part of a deposition (affidavit) you gave to the National Labor Relations
Board when you filed a complaint against Andrea Montoya. Your words were sworn
to under penalty of perjury. If for some reason you do not remember them I will
include them here:
On defining the duties of the unit Vice-Presidents.
..."As Vice-President I oversee all activities involving employees of Pac Bell.
The activities consist of downsizing, consolidation, overtime, grievances,
stewards training and anything else that would involve the employees of Pac
Bell. These are my duties as outlined in the Local's Bylaws and
responsibilities".
On complaints to the President about another steward.
..."A number of members and stewards have complained about the way he has
handled these matters and she has refused to take any action against him or
make any changes".
On the refusal to put the unit Vice-President to
oversee the grievance procedure. ..."She has refused to allow me to oversee the
grievance procedure even though the membership has directed her to do so and is
part of the Union's By Laws".
Can't we just get along for the sake of
the members we have been privileged to
represent?
Sincerely,
Michael Drake
Vice-President (GT
Unit)
1122 W. Alton Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92707-3870
To contact me ride the pencil!
