UE Local 1008 was organized in early 2008, over fierce employer opposition, and it took a tough six-month struggle (including a short strike) to win their first contract. Since then the young local has undergone a change of employers and second negotiations. The local's 400 members are now employed by FedConsulting Inc., the federal contractor that operates the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service Centers in Laguna Niguel; St. Albans, Vermont; and Chicago, all of which are now represented by UE.
Despite being one of UE's newest locals, Local 1008 has been enjoying a remarkable string of wins on grievances. The UE NEWS recently spoke to four activists and leaders in the local to ask them why. We spoke with President Joel Faypon, Vice President Julia Nguyen, Sergeant-at-Arms Jed Klang, and Steward Michael Cottrell.
"In the past couple of months I think we've won all the grievances that we filed," said Faypon. One reason for those successes, he said, is staying focused on the contract. "We use the contract as the core of all our arguments, and we have to always be conscious of that, otherwise, you'll be thrown off track.
"Second, we've had a lot of assistance from the field representatives, including the regional officers such as Carl (Rosen). We've also had help from Kim Lawson", UE International Representative in Vermont who has played a key role in organizing USCIS workers in Vermont and California since 2007 and in bargaining contracts for the Laguna Niguel and St. Albans units, as well as the recently organized group in Chicago. The field organizer working with the California group currently is Fernando Ramirez.
"One more factor that contributes to our success, said Faypon, "is the fact that we discuss everything with each other. We discuss the details and the root causes of the grievances, and we discuss the arguments that we can use." By "we", he referred to the local executive board and stewards.
The UE NEWS asked if they sometimes have members who want to file a grievance that's not really a legitimate grievance. "Lots of them," replied Julia Nguyen and Joel Faypon in unison.
"What we do is we regulate the filing of grievances," explained Faypon. "The executive board talks about it and sometimes we tell people, it's not a grievance. Because you feel hurt or feel bad about it doesn't necessarily mean it has any merit" as a contract violation. "So we regulate them, talk about them, we make a decision whether to file it or not. So most of our grievances, we try to weigh our arguments first before we present them."
He explained that if you file a grievance over every complaint, even those that have no merit, "…we lose first off, our credibility and the effectiveness of the grievance procedure."
Recruiting and training of stewards is also a big emphasis for the local. "When we select some stewards, Fernando has us train them," said Nguyen. "We go over step-by-step what a steward can do, so that's why they have an idea what the job of a steward would be." Classes for all the stewards in the local have been conducted by Field Organizer Fernando Ramirez and by John Thompson, UE's education director.
Michael Cottrel, who is one of the newest stewards, described how training, as well as support from the local officers, helped him develop confidence as a shop floor leader. "Jed came up to me and said, I think you'd be a good steward. So he nominated me. They've taken me by the hand and said, this is how this all works, and it's been great because I'm not wondering how things are doing. I know right from the get-go. I was given everything to do the job right.
Building up an adequate corps of stewards is a continuing task. "It's very hard to ask people to be a steward, " said Nguyen. "Some people worry that they've going to lose their job. They still have that feeling, so that's why we have to work very hard on that. We have to explain everything. Ten stewards is not enough; we need double that."
Faypon added, "Part of our challenge is our workplace is very diverse. We have many different cultures, although 80 percent of our workforce is Asian. Some come from cultures where respect for authority is very high. We have membership meetings when we have the chance to educate members about what's going on and try to convince them not to be afraid."
"I actually present myself as an example," Faypon continued. "During the organizing campaign I went straight to management and showed them that I support unionization. The mere fact that I did that actually protected me." So he tells members, "…assert your membership, be active. They would already have fired me if they're thinking of firing us for being active in the union."
The fact that workers overcame fear and threats by the employer to organize the union in 2008 is also a lesson the local leaders convey to newer employees. Joel, Julia and Jed were all employees at the site during the original organizing campaign. "We were in the streets picketing," recalls Julia. "This contract, we had it a little bit easier than with Stanley", the company that was the lead contractor in 2008. The new company is less hostile and seems to have learned from the union. "Now sometimes the supervisors come to Joel and ask him what they can do," said Nguyen.
In early 2008, UE won six out of eight NLRB elections among workers at the USCIS centers in Laguna Niguel and St. Albans, VT, who were employed at the time by Stanley Associates and several subcontractors. The workers established two UE locals, 208 in Vermont and 1008 in California. In 2008, after Stanley was replaced by FCi at both locations, the union won an NLRB election to organize the remaining 250 workers in Vermont, and won voluntary recognition to represent the remaining 50 non-union workers in California, who had signed up to join the union. In October 2012 workers at a third USCIS location, Chicago, also employed by FCi, voted nearly unanimously to join UE, and on February 5 the members of new Local 1118 ratified their first contract.