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| Autumn Martinez, chief steward of UE Local 255, leads the chants as UE convention delegates march through Downtown Pittsburgh. |
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| UE Young Activists march through Pittsburgh's Market Square. |
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| UE convention delegates rally for jobs and workers' rights. |
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| Bob Kingsley, UE Director of Organization, leads union rally in front of AT&T's Pittsburgh headquarters. |
At the conclusion of the UE Convention's Monday morning session on Sept. 26, delegates and guests gathered outside the hotel, where they were joined by members of SEIU, CWA, the Letter Carriers and community activists. Carrying UE banners, signs, and other union banners, the crowd of some 250 then marched through Downtown Pittsburgh, "For Jobs and Workers' Rights."
Solidarity with
Verizon and AT&T Workers
The first stop was a Verizon Wireless store where Carol Coultas, vice president of CWA Local 13500 spoke on her union's ongoing contract battle with Verizon to save good jobs.
The march then visited AT&T, where CWA members are fighting layoffs by a profitable corporation, at a time when our country desperately needs to be retaining and adding jobs for economic recovery, and heard from CWA Local 13550 Department Representative Joe Mell.
Solidarity with
Cawley Security workers - USPS Letter Carriers
A delegation went inside to deliver a letter to AT&T managers, and similar delegations went to two other nearby focal points of labor struggles: the Koppers Building where SEIU members are in a battle with Cawley Security, whose anti-union policies are keeping down wages and benefits for building security officers; and the U.S. Post Office, where the Postal Service is planning to end Saturday mail delivery and lay off 120,000 workers nationwide. Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) are resisting these cuts. Gary Bluestone of NALC, Mike Herd of SEIU Local 32BJ, and Pittsburgh labor priest and community activist Father Jack O'Malley addressed the rally, which was emceed by UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley.
AT&T - Take Two
After the rally speakers and concluded and the delegates were about to go to lunch and then back to the convention, some of the Young Activists learned that the small delegation sent to deliver a letter to AT&T management had been unsuccessful; no one from AT&T management nor building security had been willing to even accept the letter, and security was keeping them out of the building. But someone inside the AT&T lobby opened the door, and UE delegates and other unionists streamed inside, filling the lobby and loudly chanting for justice from AT&T.
The size of the crowd apparently convinced those in charge that they needed to talk to the union, and after speaking with Bob Kingsley, the building manager agreed to accept the letter and deliver it to AT&T higher ups. Brother Kingsley then announced that the mission had been accomplished, and having given AT&T a dose of UE militancy, in solidarity with CWA union members, UE members left the building, took their lunch break, and then resumed the work of the convention.
The volunteer marshals who kept the march and rally moving smoothly were UE Young Activists.