Workers at a U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Center in Chicago have chosen to join UE in an National Labor Relations Board election on October 18, by a margin of 36 to 1. These workers have the same employer - Fed Consulting Incorporated - as the members of UE Local 208 in St. Albans, Vermont and Local 1008 in Laguna Niguel, California, and perform similar work processing forms for the federal government.
The organizing effort began in August when a worker contacted the UE national office. When UE organizers called a meeting in early September, expecting a small turnout, 20 workers showed up. In two days they got the signatures of 36 out of 37 workers on a petition saying they wanted to join and be represented by UE.
Management resisted, circulating rumors intended to scare workers, and called all employees to a mandatory after-hours meeting on October 3 with the company's CEO. The company described this captive-audience session as "an informational meeting," but when the CEO saw that nearly all of the workers were wearing black T-shirts, and all wore fluorescent green stickers that said "UE for respect", she announced that she would take no questions. This angered the employees and further strengthened the union.
The failure of the company's efforts are evident in the vote total -- the same number of workers who initially signed the union petition also voted for UE. The workers are now looking forward to negotiating their first UE contract, with the bargaining successes of UE Locals 208 and 1008 as a model. They were assisted in their organining campaign by UE Field Organizer Leticia Prado Marquez.