Member Spotlight: Donielle Prophete (CWA)

Member Spotlight is a recurring blog post series intended to highlight and connect the dots between the programs and priorities of the NC State AFL-CIO and the leaders and activist members of our affiliates who make it all possible.

I'm Donielle Prophete, and I have proudly been President of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 3645 for five years, representing workers at Piedmont Airlines in Charlotte. When I came into the airline industry, it was just a part time job for me, and we didn’t have a union. So when we got a union, I was voicing my concerns, and the local president at the time said, “Well, then why don't you join?” So I did! 

I'm proud of the fact that I'm the first female Local President of this union. I'm proud of the collective bargaining agreement that I helped negotiate even as Vice President. When I was first elected, I said that I wanted to be an education president, and I've spent a good majority of my time teaching people what it means to be in this union, especially because our union is different from others because we're covered under the Railway Labor Act. I’ve spent a lot of time educating and empowering people to step up and be leaders, which has really been hard because the turnover rate in the airline industry is so heavy. Finally, I'm proud of the victories that we've won going through our grievance process. It felt for years like our process wasn't working for us, but now people believe that our process works, and I'm proud of that.

I want people to know more than anything that unions are needed, especially in this climate that we are in. We're in the South, where we have a lot of “right-to-work” and “at-will” employment states. It's concerning that somebody can come in and take your whole livelihood, and they don't have to have just cause! I wish that people would realize that the union is so important and especially in the airline industry, for our frontline workers, having the collective power to be able to sit at these tables where we can exercise some control over our work environment. I want more people to learn about unions, and understand that we collectively strengthen the company. When you get better wages, you get better employees, and you get better wages, perks, and benefits by having a union.