Insights Gained at CWA
Marketing Conference

By Beverly Gniewecki and Tina Destro
Executive Committee Members

In August we attended the 1997 CWA National Marketing Conference in Williamsburg, Va. Apart from the CWA convention in June, the Marketing Conference was the first CWA event attended by representatives of The Newspaper Guild since our merger with CWA earlier this summer.

Over 200 marketing professionals from across the country, represented by CWA, made up the delegation at the August conference. These were customer service representatives from companies like Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Pacific Bell, AT&T, GTE and NYNEX. The goal of this conference was to discuss the issues that we all face in the ever-changing telecommunications and media industries and to develop bargaining strategies to address the problems created in one of the fastest growing industries of our age - the customer service industry.

We were able to network and communicate with individuals whose jobs and specific concerns represent those of almost half of the members of our local in circulation, both customer service representatives and district managers, advertising customer service representatives, classified advertising sales people as well as editorial clerical and accounting employees.

Conference presenters discussed the various external forces that reshape the market in which we work -technology, the advancing information age, competition from smaller, non-union companies, outsourcing, and sub-contracting.

We broke into smaller groups to discuss in detail the problems we have dealt with in our own jobs - increasing job stress, ergonomic issues, workplace safety, air quality, monitoring and scheduling problems, "flexible" staffing requirements, work structure, titles, the increased use of performance incentives and bonuses and of course, wages.

The most impressive aspect of this conference was the unity displayed by the members of CWA. Their experience and ability in mobilization are beyond compare. The theme of mobilization, education and empowerment of union members was evident throughout the conference. It was inspiring and uplifting to realize we are now a part of this incredible group.