Nevada unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy

A woman had worked in an AT&T call center in Nevada for 14 years.
She had perfect attendance, was efficient and helpful to customers. About six months ago, she showed up late and was unfocused and inattentive. She got suspended for two days.
Two weeks later, the same thing happened. She didn’t listen to what customers were saying. She was suspended for two weeks. And then a week after that, she got suspended for 30 days.

As her union’s chapter president Jim Burrell tells the story, he sat down with her and management to figure out what was going on. Did she have a gambling problem? Alcohol or drug problem? What changed?
She insisted she didn’t have any problems. Burrell said he asked management to leave the room, and the two of them chatted. In casual conversation, it came out that her husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer.