Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has contested an election among its customer service employees on Staten Island, N.Y., who voted 144-126 for representation by Communications Workers of America Local 1102, the National Labor Relations Board regional director of the Brooklyn office Region 29 told BNA July 15.
Claiming objections to “questionable procedures” and conduct affecting the election, ACS has initiated an NLRB review of the May 28 representation election, a process that could take up to several months. ACS, a Fortune 500 company based in Dallas, Texas, provides business process outsourcing services for New York State's E-Z Pass electronic toll collection system.
CWA local officials are expressing confidence in the election, however. “We have no reason to believe there was anything wrong with the election. It was a perfectly conducted election,” Ed Luster, president of CWA Local 1102, told BNA July 15.
The union has selected members of its negotiating committee to bargain a first contract with ACS and has begun to survey the 292-worker bargaining unit for employee priorities, Luster said. One of the issues during bargaining is likely to be the company's plan to change wages to activity-based compensation, he added. “We look forward to bargaining with the company for a fair contract,” he said.
Speaking at the CWA legislative convention June 24, Barbara Elliot, an eight-year employee in the ACS customer service unit, said the workers earn about $13 per hour but health care benefits are out of reach for most of the employees. A concern for the workers is the company plan to change to “activity-based compensation,” the company's name for piecework, which she said “could mean a drop in pay as low as minimum wage.”
Elliot told delegates that the customer service workers began to organize in October 2008 when a 30-member committee signed a mission statement. Within a few days, 70 percent of the workforce had signed cards indicating their interest in forming a union. Joining CWA would give workers “a shot at joining the middle class,” Elliot told CWA convention delegates.
On Dec. 22, CWA asked for an election, but it was delayed for several months when ACS asked for a hearing claiming that all ACS workers in the state of New York also should vote in the election, according to Elliot.
Before the election was held May 28, Elliot said the company conducted an anti-union campaign among the customer service employees. After the election, ACS requested that the ballots be impounded. NLRB denied ACS's request for a review of employees' voting eligibility.
On June 26, NLRB tallied the election results that 144 workers had voted for CWA and 126 had voted against, with two challenged ballots that were not determinative, Alvin Blyer, NLRB regional director of the Brooklyn office of Region 29, said.
On July 1, ACS filed for a restraining order and temporary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Affiliated Computer Servs., Inc. v. Blyer, E.D.N.Y., No. 1:09-cv-02793, filed 7/1/09) and filed objections to the election with the NLRB in the first week of July.
Since ACS filed an appeal to the election, NLRB has begun an administrative investigation to review the employer claims, a process that could take from two weeks to many months, according to Blyer. The timing depends on the number and nature of the objections, whether a hearing is needed to reach a resolution, and if the decision is appealed, he said.
Copyright 2009, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.