From: New Liberation News Service <nlns@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Friends of Sprint Workers
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 20:36:42 GMT

/* Written 11:07 am  Jan 24, 1993 by mstein@igc.apc.org in
igc:labor.announce */
/* ---------- "Friends of Sprint Workers" ---------- */
===================================================
FRIENDS OF SPRINT WORKERS BROCHURE
===================================================

FRIENDS OF SPRINT WORKERS
Communications Workers of America
501 Third Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001-2797
Tel: (202) 434-1182
Fax: (202) 434-1201

WE'RE SPRINT EMPLOYEES AND WE'RE FORMING A UNION. 
WE'RE ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT. HERE'S WHY...

"I'm a single mother with a two-year-old daughter. My shift 
changes every week so I can't keep her in a day care center. 
Sometimes my sister watches her, sometimes I take her to 
various neighbors. I know she needs more consistent care- but 
what can I do?"
	Operator (Customer Agent), Kansas City, Mo.


WHO WE ARE

     We work for SPRINT Long Distance. We're men and women 
living in communities all across America. We have diverse 
backgrounds, lives, and dreams for the futureQbut we share 
one thing in common: We want to make SPRINT a better place 
to work.
     And we also want to make SPRINT a better service 
provider for customers and a more successful corporation for 
all of us who are stakeholders in SPRINT.
     We have many ideas for how to make SPRINT truly "world 
class" in every respect. To do this, we need a collective voice. 
That's why, with help from the Communications Workers of 
America, we've formed the Sprint Employee Network.

THE TWO FACES OF SPRINT

     SPRINT spends hundreds of millions projecting an image of 
a clean, progressive company. So clean, you can hear a pin 
drop. So progressive even "Murphy Brown" wants you to use 
SPRINT.

But the truth is a far cry from this image:

% Supervisors eavesdrop on us without our knowledge.
% They impose unrealistic work standards and constant work 
speed-ups, causing continual employee burnout and high 
turnover.
% They pay us many thousands of dollars less than the 
industry standard for those jobs that are mostly held
by women.
% And they try to intimidate us and crush our unionization 
efforts, trampling on our legal rights of free speech and 
collective organization.

WORKER ABUSE HURTS CUSTOMERS... 
AND THE CORPORATION, TOO

BIG BROTHER IS LISTENING IN...

     ...On customers as well as workers. Our supervisors secretly 
monitor and tape our conversations with the public in what is 
clearly a violation of the customers' right to privacy.
     Management claims this eavesdropping is to "ensure 
service quality." But somehow SPRINT's giant competitor AT&T 
as well as many of the regional Bell phone companies (all 
unionized companies) are able to provide quality service 
without secretly recording their workers and customers. These 
companies have found that respect and fair pay, not secret 
monitoring, are what motivate employee performance.

"One day I shared a personal story with a co-worker between 
calls, and later I learned that my supervisor was secretly 
listening in and heard everything."
	Operator (Customer Agent),

MANAGEMENT BY STRESS AND SPEED-UP.

     Remember the "I Love Lucy" episode in the chocolate 
factory, as Lucy and Ethel race hysterically to deal with a 
conveyor belt that keeps going faster and faster and faster?
Not so funny is the "electronic assembly line" that controls 
SPRINT operators and customer service representatives every 
moment of the workday. The job pressures are not only 
stressful, they prevent us from providing the kind of customer 
service we would like to offer. As soon as we achieve sales 
quotas, management promptly raises them. The worker just 
can't ever seem to get ahead.
     For the customer, it means short shrift when you need help 
from the operator, and high-pressure sales tactics--per 
management's instructions--from service representatives.
It also means the highest employee burn-out rate in the 
industry. In fact, the turnover rate among SPRINT operators is 
25 percent every year. Is this any way to run a service 
company?

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK ON 'FAMILY VALUES.'

     The trend throughout society and American industry in 
recent years has been to recognize the special needs of today's 
families, which are often headed by two wage earners or by 
single working mothers. Everywhere but at SPRINT, that is. 
The chiefly female operator work force at SPRINT is subject to 
a complete change of work schedule every week. Imagine 
trying to balance work and child care when your hours get 
shifted around weekly.
     And there's no flexibility in hoursQ even for emergencies 
or child care problems. Arrive a few minutes late or leave 
early six times in a year and you're out the door.

INEQUALITY FOR WOMEN.

     As for wages, SPRINT has seriously eroded progress that 
women in telecommunications have made in winning parity 
with male workers' pay. In fact, wages for operators and 
service representatives at SPRINT are $6,000 to $7,000 a year 
lower than at other companies throughout this mainly 
unionized telephone industry. And the wage gap between 
mainly male and female jobs at SPRINT is 25 percent wider 
than at AT&T and the Bell companies.

MANAGEMENT INTIMIDATION.

     SPRINT management has institutionalized a policy of union-
busting and has all but stamped out free speech in the work 
place.
     Supervisors are issued a "Union-Free Management Guide," 
and they practice such tactics as holding meetings where 
attendance is mandatory and where only anti-union workers 
can speak. In several locations, SPRINT has blocked the posting 
and distribution of union leaflets, even in public areas outside
buildings.
     And the electronic monitoring supposedly measure "service 
quality" helps identify union activists some of whom have 
been fired without just cause.

LIFE OF A SPRINT TELEMARKETER

You must stay on the phone 6.7 hours per day. Each 
conversation must be 150 to 210 seconds You have 10 seconds 
between calls. You must make a sale every 3-1/2 minutes.

A REAL EMPLOYEE VOICE WILL HELP SPRINT

There's more than fairness and dignity at stake here. Winning 
democracy on the job for workers will benefit SPRINT 
customers and the company's line as well:
-- Our struggle for fair working conditions and decent pay will 
reduce wasteful turnover and provide the stability of a trained 
work force committed to SPRINT's growth and success.
-- Our struggle to end secret electronic monitoring will protect 
customers' privacy rights.
-- Our struggle for reasonable work quotas will allow us to 
provide the high level of quality service we all want.
-- Our struggle for equity for women at SPRINT will be a 
victory for all working womenQand a positive step toward 
enhancing SPRINT's reputation as a good corporate citizen.

PLEASE JOIN FRIEND OF SPRINT WORKERS

     You can help us in this struggle by joining the FRIEND OF 
SPRINT WORKERS and lending your name along with the 
thousands of other citizens and concerned organizations that 
are declaring support for our right to organize and improve 
our working lives.
     Simple complete and mail the post-paid card below. We'll 
send you a brief report on the progress of our organizing drive 
as well as information on the company's performance and 
activities.
     Thank you for your help.

-- Yes, I want to join the campaign for dignity, decent working 
conditions and quality of customer service at SPRINT. Count 
me as a member of FRIENDS OF SPRINT WORKERS.
-- I'm also a SPRINT customer.
-- The organization I work for is a SPRINT customer.
-- I'm also a SPRINT shareholder.

NAME:
ORGANIZATION:
TITLE:
ADDRESS:
CITY/STATE/ZIP:
TELEPHONE:

Please indicate if this is an organizational endorsement.

-- Yes, this is an organizational endorsement.
-- Please list my organizational affiliation for identification 
only.
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive