Union members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) went on a grievance strike against Frontier Communications on Sept. 24 in solidarity with another union, due to an unfair labor practice that happened in Menifee, California.
The strike was in response to interference by management of members picketing for their negotiations while they were off the clock.
“We were picketing before working hours and a manager tried to set up a training exercise in the area that the teammates were picketing at, to try and disrupt what they were doing, even though we weren’t on the clock … It was more like a retaliation thing that the manager did,” Ramiro Pimentel, a CWA member, said.
CWA Local 9586 members held signs outside of the Verizon building, next to Long Beach City College.
Frontier worker Ramiro Pimentel on strike outside of the Frontier building near LBCC with a sign asking Frontier to stop the grievance strike on Sep. 24. The union went on a grievance strike against Frontier Communications in solidarity with another union, due to an unfair labor practice. (Liam Hollon)
The strike had union board representative Vince Torres and union steward Jose Manjarrez participating in the strike.
“Right now as we are in between contracts, we’re allowed to do certain types of strikes. This is an unfair labor practice grievance strike because they’re not doing what they’re supposed to. With that, we’re showing them that we are all together, so you got to treat us all the same, give everyone the same rights,” Majarrez said.
Union members and Frontier Communications are currently in contract negotiations for labor increase, no contract workers, no layoffs, better insurance and higher pay.
The strike was approved on Sept. 16 through a strike vote, but members of the union had been working without contract since Sept. 7.
Although some of the members did not know the specifics of what the incident in Menifee was, they continued to show up and strike without pay until Frontier proposed a resolution.
Frontier worker’s Lucia Ciuffetelli and Adriana Torres strike outside near LBCC on Sep. 24. The union went on a grievance strike against Frontier Communications in solidarity with another union, due to an unfair labor practice. (Liam Hollon)
“Whenever one area declares an unfair practice labor strike, then we all participate in solidarity,” Torres said.
A resolution was given on Sept. 24, but CWA continued picketing during negotiations as they had done for previous strikes.
“The company wasn’t willing to negotiate with our medical expenses,” Pimento said, regarding the last strike against Frontier in 2023.
“We’re not under a contract because they’re negotiating the contract, so we’re still going by the rules, but there’s certain things we can do. This is protected activity that we can do, a grievance strike,” Manjarrez said.
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