“SO, WHEN IS THE VOTE”?
One
of the most common questions asked of us at meetings or by e-mail is
“when
is the vote”?
Many employees have the misconception that all the Alliance has to do is call
someone up and ask for a union vote to be held. Unfortunately it isn't that
easy and the process of getting to the vote is difficult.
Here is the reality of getting to the vote:
First the Alliance must show the National Labor Relations Board that at least
30% of the workers in a given bargaining unit have signed union authorization
cards. But no union goes into an election with 30%. With that low a percentage
the union is doomed to lose. Unions go into elections with a strong majority
signed up or not at all. In order to win the election there must be a vote of
50% plus 1 of the people that actually vote.
The makeup of the bargaining unit also has to be defined and IBM plays a role
in this as well. For example is it Burlington only or the whole Microelectronics
division? Is it one IGS location or all of the division?
So what do we do?
We keep organizing for the long haul, site by site; office by office; worker
by worker. When roadblocks are thrown in our way, we take them down or we choose
a different path.
Ever since IBM started taking away the benefits that were promised to people
when they were hired, the Alliance@IBM has strived to undo the injustices that
IBM perpetrated in the name of short term financial gain.
Members of the Alliance@IBM have taken and continue to take actions such as
writing letters to Senators, Congressmen and newspapers, launching email campaigns,
organizing and attending large rallies and smaller meetings, introducing stockholder
resolutions at the Annual Stockholders Meeting, circulating newsletters at the
workplace and in the community, and much more.
In December of 2001, The Alliance@IBM was accepted as Local 1701 of the Communications
Workers of America, AFL/CIO. Despite a solid history of activism
and advocacy, there is still a lack of understanding of who and what we are.
The Alliance@IBM is a nationwide membership organization of IBM employees and
retirees as well as outsourced/sold off IBM employees and contractors. We are
a democratic organization, governed by Officers and a Council of delegates,
all elected by our dues-paying members.
Our basic principle is that only by standing together with your fellow employees
can you hope to keep the benefits you still have, restore the benefits that
you lost, and address key concerns such as job security. IBM has clearly shown
what can be expected when workers don’t stand together. While the ultimate
goal must always be a contract, there is much that can be done right now.
The CWA is in the forefront of efforts to revive and rebuild the American labor
movement, and the Alliance@IBM is part of that. Over the past 50 years, the
Wagner Act, or National Labor Relations Act, has been increasingly interpreted
as applying to majority-based collective bargaining only. Prior to passage of
this act, the American system of collective bargaining also included minority-based
union bargaining.
Employers recognized and negotiated with members only minority-based unions.
The truth is that a union’s right to bargain need not depend on a majority
vote process. Workers’ “right to form, join, or assist labor organizations
[and] bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing,”
can be exercised in minority or majority unions.
Simply put; Alliance@IBM can take action now. There is no need to be discouraged
that we have not sought or won a vote. While the numbers needed to win a union
vote at IBM are enormous (there are approximately 130,000 IBM employees in the
U.S.), a much smaller number of people willing to stand together can be very
effective. Not only can we challenge IBM directly, we can also reach out to
other labor organizations and community-based non-labor groups, forming partnerships
to address our mutual concerns. While keeping our eye on the long-term goal
of a contract, we can be part of the larger effort to build a new model for
organizing. The Alliance@IBM can serve as an example for other workers, contributing
to the resurgence of the labor movement and the restoration of collective bargaining
and organizing rights to millions of American workers.
However, effectiveness is directly
related to membership. Not only does the Alliance@IBM need to add members, we
need these members to actively participate in this history-making struggle.
Neither the CWA nor the Alliance@IBM is going to win collective bargaining rights
for IBM employees; the employees must fight to win these rights for themselves.
To get involved or to ask a question, please contact the Alliance at
ibmunionalliance@gmail.com
