IBEW organizers, NTELOS employees and WCCF officers met at the IBEW Local 637, Roanoke, Virginia, union hall to discuss the NTELOS organizing campaign. From left, WCCF Chairman Gloyd May, Secretary Jan Tisdale and Vice Chairman Tony Brissel. IBEW organizer Larry McGlammery snapped the photo.

A Great Collaborative Effort: NTELOS Employees Vote For IBEW Affiliation

April 2002 IBEW Journal

Nearly 80 telecommunications workers employed by NTELOS, Inc. gained IBEW representation in a December 2001 vote.

The new IBEW members in southwest Virginia work in and around the communities of Waynesboro, Covington and Clifton Forge. They are land-line telephone employees and include service and repair technicians, cable splicers, linemen, telephone installers, customer service representatives, administrative assistants, engineering assistants and network technicians.

Once a small, rural telephone company, NTELOS (formerly CFW Communications) is now an expanding telecommunications services company and an up-and-coming player in a rapidly evolving industry. The company is headquartered in Waynesboro, Virginia.

"NTELOS is acquiring more and more small telephone companies in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee," said IBEW International Representative Thomas M. Curley, Fourth District Industrial Organizing Coordinator.

The new IBEW members at NTELOS formerly were represented by the non-affiliated WCCF (Waynesboro, Covington and Clifton Forge) Association of Independent Telephone Workers. After a series of meetings with IBEW representatives, a WCCF committee recommended IBEW affiliation. On December 4, 2001, the NTELOS employees met in Lexington, Virginia, and voted 42-31 to affiliate with the IBEW.

NTELOS hired a notorious union busting law firm, Labor Relations Institute (LRI), in an attempt to block IBEW representation but employees saw through the anti-union propaganda.

A newly chartered IBEW Local 1950 will be the home local for the new members at NTELOS. "We welcome these members into the IBEW," said International President Edwin D. Hill. "This has been a fine collaborative effort and a wonderful success story." The IBEW is conducting an ongoing organizing drive at NTELOS.

Joint Effort Yields Success

A formerly announced NTELOS acquisition of Conestoga Enterprises Inc, which serves southern and central Pennsylvania, was cancelled late last year. Notably, IBEW Local 1671 based in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, represents Conestoga Enterprises employees. Had the NTELOS-Conestoga merger gone through as planned, both the IBEW and the WCCF would have represented employees of NTELOS. Consequently, representatives from the IBEW and the WCCF met earlier in 2001, before the merger was cancelled, to discuss their memberships’ joint interests.

At a November meeting, the WCCF appointed a select committee to explore affiliation with the IBEW. After a series of additional meetings with the IBEW team, the WCCF committee ultimately recommended affiliation.

In a collaborative effort, the IBEW Third District and Fourth District offices became involved in the organizing campaign. International Representatives Thomas M. Curley (Fourth District) and John V. Amodeo (Third District) assisted in the process of affiliation. IBEW Local 1671 (Birdsboro, Pennsylvania) and Business Manager James Dapkiewicz also helped in the effort. Fourth District International Representative Tommy G. Maynard, who will be the service rep for new IBEW Local 1950, later joined the team. WCCF Chairman Gloyd May deserves much credit for the affirmative affiliation vote, Curley said.

A vote of the membership was set for December 4. "Gloyd May and his officers conducted a very well run meeting," Curley said. "Some very pointed questions were asked by all present, and the IBEW team was well prepared, thanks to the information obtained through the Special Projects and Telecommunications departments of the International. The WCCF members voted to join with the IBEW to enhance their bargaining opportunities."

Union Busting Law Firm

Meanwhile, when NTELOS management realized the IBEW was on the scene, the company hired the infamous union-busting law firm Labor Relations Institute (LRI), which boasts about its record of preventing workers from successfully organizing. LRI ran its usual hard-hitting blitz on employees of NTELOS.

In the anti-union attack, employees were subjected to captive audience meetings, and NTELOS supervisors held one-on-one meetings with employees on an almost daily basis. "Supervisors were trained in how to propagandize the facts to distort what the IBEW is really about," Curley said.

NTELOS management also brought in company executives to wine and dine WCCF members and officials, IBEW organizers said. The company pulled out all the stops, making innuendoes and threats. Management made promises and even acted on several issues the WCCF had long fought for. Suddenly, with the IBEW in the picture, the company found a way to grant some workers’ requests, all in the attempt to convince employees they didn’t need the IBEW to get what they wanted.

Ongoing Organizing Drive

"The WCCF served its members well when they were dealing with a small, rural phone company," said Curley. "NTELOS is another story, and a majority of the workers realized they needed the expertise of a major union like the IBEW to represent their interests in a rapidly changing telecommunications industry."

NTELOS now serves fast-growing markets for Internet access, digital PCS and CLEC (competitive local-exchange carrier) services. The company maintains a fiber-optic network spanning 1,700 miles. Its subsidiaries operate under the NTELOS name in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina.

A NLRB election in mid-February for a separate group of approximately 38 NTELOS employees at R&B Telephone Company (also known as NETLOS-South) in the Roanoke, Virginia, area resulted in a loss. The IBEW has filed an objection to the election citing numerous NTELOS violations of the National Labor Relations Act. This setback underscores how difficult a campaign can be when union busters are called out to thwart workers’ rights to strong union representation, but the IBEW remains determined in its ongoing organizing drive on behalf of NTELOS employees.

The IBEW has assigned a full-time organizer to work with various NTELOS groups. Temporary organizer Larry McGlammery, out of IBEW Local 637 in Roanoke, is lead organizer on the campaign.

A new IBEW telecommunications organizing Web site has been created http://www.ibew.org/eworkers.

EWorkers
Broadband, Wireless, Telecommunications workers organizing for the future.

NTELOS Web site