March 2, 2010

Dear Colleague,

My name is Linda Harris; I am the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7777 Vice President for Avaya.  I have worked at Avaya for more than 14 years and have been involved in CWA since 1996.   I started as an ASR with AT&T, became an SSS with Lucent and SAS with Avaya now supporting Converged products.

Recently I have been approached by a number of Backbone Engineers regarding workplace concerns that include: consistency and transparency in policies and procedures, job security, and workloads.  Subsequent conversations have revealed that these concerns are widespread throughout the BBE group.

Unfortunately, without union representation, you are an employee “at will”.  This means that any of your conditions of employment, may be modified or terminated at any time for any reason, without your consent or input.  It’s only as part of a united group that you can gain the economic and legal leverage necessary to address your workplace issues.

Those of you who previously worked in the Tier 2 group know what it is like to work under the security and consistency of a collective bargaining agreement.  It would take me many pages to write out all of the advantages of working under a collective bargaining agreement, but here are a few specific examples:

• Employees who were unjustly terminated, were returned to work with full back pay and benefits
• Two employees who were unjustly terminated received paid settlements
• Employees denied overtime, were compensated with future o/t opportunities
• Alliance Training Benefits
• Paid Sick time
• Pension
• Performance award
• Job Security

Over the years CWA and Avaya, along with its predecessors, have recognized that it is in their mutual interest to operate in the spirit of partnership and common vision. Consequently, Avaya and CWA have adopted a Neutrality and Consent Election (NCE) process that allows workers to make the choice about unionization in a neutral and non-confrontational environment.

Under the NCE agreement, Avaya has agreed to remain neutral and neither hinder nor help the organizing effort.  When a majority of workers in the BBE group (50 percent +1) have signed “show of interest” cards, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) will conduct an election within 7-14 days of the submission of cards.  A majority of those who vote will determine the outcome.  

I hope that you will take the time to review the enclosed literature, and also visit our website: www.cwa7777.org (click on BBE) to learn more about the organizing campaign and issues.  Please also consider becoming a part of the Avaya BBE Inside Organizing Committee that will serve as a leadership team to ensure that Backbone Engineers gain a real voice at Avaya during the organizing campaign, and beyond into the bargaining process.

Avaya employees Matt Valdez, Laurie Baldwin and I, will frequently be available in the break rooms at both the Highlands Ranch and 120^th campuses to discuss the issues and answer questions. We will publicize our schedule on the website as soon as it is finalized. Please stop by and visit us there, or feel free to e-mail me at: lharris@cwa7777.org.

As dedicated and professional employees, you are an integral part of Avaya’s success, and stated goal of building a “world class high performance enterprise”.  Adding your voice to the thousands of CWA represented workers at Avaya is a critical component of achieving this goal.

In Solidarity,

Linda Harris

CWA Vice President

Local 7777

LB/ss

Enclosures

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