GVP Gary Allen (ctr) presenting top organizer award to Felix Osuna (l),
and joined by DBR Richard Sanchez of DL 947 - the top organizing district
Felix Osuna, organizer from District 947 in Long Beach, CA, was awarded the award for Organizer of the Year. Brother Osuna was given the award for his outstanding work in organizing the satellite installation technicians and dispatchers at DirecTV Company, located in Rancho Dominguez, Ca.
The effort started when a former member from American Racing approached Brother Osuna about talking with a few workers from DirecTV. Felix began meeting with the small group of workers on weekly basis. He sat patiently week after week listening to their concerns and their issues, until he finally decided, either they were ready to roll or they weren’t.
In late December, he challenged those attending the meetings to bring at least 5 co-workers each to the meetings to sign petitions or we would have to move on and wait until the workers were ready.
They insisted they were ready and began bringing others to the meetings to sign petitions. They also started a campaign of signing those workers in the field and on their way to installation jobs, wherever they could catch them. Finally after almost 8 weeks of gathering signatures, he had enough to file a petition for election - and in early March the petition was filed.
In April of this year, those workers delivered a victory and the the IAM is addressing the concerns of the new members, and are preparing to deliver a quality first contract. Brother Osuna worked hard and diligent on insuring a successful outcome to this campaign. This outstanding effort has earned Felix the Western Territory Organizer of the Year G.R.O.W. jacket, presented on behalf of the Western Territory.
District Lodge 947, under the Direction of P/DBR Richard Sanchez is the top Organizing District of the Year. The District accomplished the goal of organizing minimum 250 new workers for the last fiscal year. This was the second time that District 947 has won the award, and in accepting the award, DBR Sanchez challenged all other Districts to see if they have what it takes to wrest it away from 947 at next years awards.
The two major wins that let to the award for DL 947 were a win at DirecTV for 205 workers, and a win at Americanor / Greyhound, where 52 workers voted IAM YES.
Grand Lodge Representative Bud michel was also honored for his organizing efforts. Bud was instrumental in organizing the 150 AFSS employees in Prescott, AZ which created new Local Lodge 2009, and provided key assistance to Local 519 in the First Student campaign that yielded 100 new IAM members. In addition, Bud worked with GLR Don Gresham to develop a lead on 35 workers from M1 Support Services at Nellis AFB into a larger group of 254, and an additional 6 CSC support workers for a total organizing victory for 260 new members.
