CWA 1180 - Worksite Organizing

Organizing
1180 push to represent additional titles, old and new
January 2003

Local 1180 has been working on winning representation of five additional titles. The formal process is a slow and largely invisible one, involving months and months of hearings at the Office of Collective Bargaining (OCB) for each separate title. Local 1180 representation of these titles not only makes organizational and administrative sense, given the nature of the work and civil service promotional lines, but will also make us a bigger, stronger union, which will benefit all members of 1180 regardless of what title they're in. Here is a quick overview of the various titles the union is seeking to organize.

Coordinating Manager

The Coordinating Manager (CM) position in the Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a title that Local 1180 members in the Assistant Coordinating Manger (ACM) title promote to, but it is currently a non-represented title. That means 1180 ACMs who are promoted to CMs lose their union protection. Local 1180 believes that the work CMs do is not managerial in nature and the title should thus be union-represented. Because of the close link between the work that ACMs do and the work that CMs do (as well as the promotional line), 1180 is the logical choice for representing CMs. The union filed a petition seeking representation of the title in 1994, but backlogs kept the case from moving until late last year.

For more information on these organizing efforts and what they mean for 1180 members, see Linda Jenkins' column by clicking here

Administrative Manager

The Administrative Manager title is the nextstep in the promotional line from Principal Administrative Associate (PAA). Like CMs at HHC, Administrative Managers throughout city agencies do not have union protection; perform work that is essentially non-managerial in nature; and have a close relationship to PAAs. The union filed a petition seeking represetative of the title back in 1994, and like the CM case, it is just now starting to move.

Call Center Representative

Call Center Representative is a new title that is being created for a new city agency, the 311 Call Center. The idea of the call center is to consolidate the various call center operations of different city agencies, so that the public can get assistance and information about a wide range of services all in one place. The new agency is being housed at 59 Maiden Lane and is scheduled to begin service to the public January 1, 2003. City workers in a range of titles, represented by at least four different unions, from eight different agencies are being transferred to the 311 Call Center. These functional transfers include a relatively small number of 1180 members. In the new agency, workers will be working in the new civil service title, Call Center Representative, which has three levels. Workers will retain their current union affiliation, representation and benefits until the process of assigning jurisdiction for the new title is complete. Local 1180 will petition to represent the new title because we have members who are going into the title and the work is the same as for those PAAs we currently represent.

Associate Job Opportunity Specialist

Local 1180 members already know that the union is seeking to represent workers in the Associate Job Opportunity Specialist (AJOS) title because the Communique and the website have reported regularly on the two-year battle to defeat this title (for the latest update on that battle, click here). We still think the title was an ill-conceived idea and a raw deal for 1180 members, who are stuck in an agency-specific dead-end title once they take it. Should the title remain, however, it should become an 1180 title because it is essentially PAA work. The union filed a petition to represent AJOS workers when the title was first created; hearings on that petition started last year and are continuing.

Administrative Job Opportunity Specialist

The Administrative Job Opportunity Specialist (Administrative JOS) title is replacing the Administrative Manager title in the Job Centers. Thus for the same reason that 1180 believes it should represent the Administrative Manager title, we believe that we should represent the Administrative JOS title. Again, the union's first choice would be to undo the whole JOS title series, but in case it survives, a petition to represent Administrative JOS workers was filed at the same time the AJOS petition was filed. Hearings were begun last year and are ongoing.

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