More than 5,800 United Airline mechanics became Teamsters yesterday. When word of the nationwide election results reached the Teamsters Organizing Department moments after the votes were tallied, cheers and screams literally rang out.
The celebration capped a three-month frenzy of organizing activity. From January through March nearly 19,000 workers have chosen to be represented by the Teamsters. That figure nearly eclipses all of 2007’s organizing gains. In all of last year, roughly 21,000 men and women became Teamsters.
The bulk of the first quarter successes can be attributed to a few national campaigns -- the UAL mechanics, UPS Freight and our ongoing School Bus/Transit Workers campaign. But our first quarter totals wouldn’t be where they are were it not for hundreds of local organizing victories and the hard work and dedication of thousands of staff and member-volunteer organizers.
I will gladly accept your tips and recommendations, but the recognition truly belongs to these dedicated men and women, and the workers themselves who are brave enough to take a stand in their workplace. Because joining a union doesn’t start with us. It starts with them. The workers.
It is the workers who begin to talk among themselves and realize that they don’t have to be treated like drones or machines. It is the workers who decide to contact a union. It is the workers who risk everything when they talk to others on the shop floor, terminal or warehouse about their right to form a union.
See, despite what the anti-union forces would have the public believe, a union is not some large monolithic creature that storms into a workplace and demands everyone sign up. The process of organizing involves three key players -- the workers, the union and the employer. As I said, the workers initiate the process, the union facilitates the process and the employer can choose to either honor the employees’ decision to form a union, or fight it by either utilizing every loophole and delaying tactic allowed under the NLRA -- or by breaking the law altogether.
The three major campaigns mentioned above show how successful workers can be when they are allowed to (for the most part) freely organize, without the burden of NLRA appeals and elections.
UPS Freight agreed to remain neutral in the organizing campaign and accept the results of union-card signing. Basically, this means that workers sign pledge cards saying they want to be Teamsters. When a majority of workers sign cards, they are submitted to the National Labor Relations Board and the union is certified.
At First Group, the parent company of First Student and Laidlaw, the company has a freedom of association policy. However this does not mean they are neutral. We still have to hold First Group's feet to the fire, and that means running NLRB elections and filing complaints about any anti-union activity. Some managers at various locations still harass union sympathizers and try to pressure workers before elections. But we are keeping the pressure on, and as a result the workers are winning.
Since the campaign started last year, we have organized more than 5,700 bus drivers, mechanics and aides.
The UPS Freight campaign also started last year. UPS purchased Overnite Transportation in 2006. For more than 50 years Overnite's management fought the Teamsters at every turn. But once UPS took the company over, the Teamsters won a neutrality and card-check agreement. The fact that we currently represent about 238,000 UPS parcel drivers likely played a major role in that decision. Nevertheless, it was a historic one. And when it was announced at the 2006 Teamsters convention, cheers from 7,000 Teamsters shook the walls. The chorus of applause and whistles lasted for what seemed like an eternity.
There are approximately 12,000 drivers and dockworkers at UPS Freight. So far, more than 9,700 have become Teamsters.
The UAL campaign was a bit different than our ongoing efforts at UPS Freight and on the School Bus/Transit campaign. Because United is an airline, its workers fall under the Railway Labor Act.
Organizing under the RLA is no easy task. For example, in order to win an election a union has to win a majority of all eligible voters – not a majority of everyone who votes, but a majority of everyone who is eligible to vote. In the UAL mechanics' election, that included more than 3,000 furloughed workers. The final vote was 4,113-2,631.
If ever there doubts about how effective a law like the Employee Free Choice Act could be to improve workers' lives and strengthen the labor movement, these numbers put them to rest.
Congratulations to all my new brothers and sisters, you are now part of America’s most powerful union.