UE members and organizers are accustomed to bosses stubbornly resisting the efforts of their employees to form a union and negotiate a contract - even when it's clear that the overwhelming majority of workers want a union. That's why it's so surprising when, on rare occasions, an employer accepts the will of the workers and recognizes the union. But that's what happened in Stafford, Connecticut.
Employees of the Stafford Water and Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) knew that workers who do the same job in neighboring towns - East Windsor and Suffield - are members of UE Local 222 and benefit from having collective bargaining and representation as part of the union. So all of them signed union cards. When, on March 1, they informed the town administration that they'd joined UE and asked the town to recognize the union, the officials agreed, right on the spot.
"People reached out to us," says Local 222 President Marie Lausch, "and wherever there are workers that need protection and need to have their rights upheld, UE is there. And we'd like to expand in that part of the state." She gave credit to the Stafford town officials for accepting the decision of the workers. "In these days when towns are trying to save money, it makes sense for public officials to do what Stafford did, and if the employees clearly want a union, don't waste time and the taxpayers' money trying to fight it."