These Bus lines stop near Iranian Yellow Pages: 41, 44. Which Bus lines stop near Iranian Yellow Pages?.Indian School Rd & 44th St is 433 yards away, 6 min walk.44th St & Indian School Rd is 343 yards away, 5 min walk.The closest stations to Iranian Yellow Pages are: What are the closest stations to Iranian Yellow Pages?.Ortega and a close-knit band of union stewards, they say, have used the union's powers to protect their own hefty paychecks and perks, with little regard for everyone else who pays monthly dues. But, they say, Ortega and the union have a history of investigating members and then demanding that management discipline or fire them. Several current and former employees say the union would not file grievances for them when they asked. They contend that Ortega-who likes to remind co-workers that she is the daughter of former Phoenix police chief Ruben Ortega-has used her years in the union hierarchy to sell out members like Webb and assure her own ascent. Webb was not the only IBEW member in the office to be shafted by his own union, according to more than a dozen current and former employees interviewed by New Times. He believed in the union."īut the brazen, petty treatment that Ortega and the union gave Reed Webb has not been forgotten by many union members, and their memories of the incident are coming back to haunt Ortega. "He couldn't believe people would be out to get him in such a cutthroat way. "He was a very sensitive person," Claudia Webb recalls. They let him die still believing that if he got well, he was going to make the Hawaii trip. She would be going to Hawaii herself.įamily and friends did not want to tell Webb that he had lost the fight, his widow says. By that time, Ortega had succeeded in having Webb's name withdrawn from Circle. He was 37 years old, and the father of one daughter. Claudia Webb does not believe that the troubles with the union caused his death, but they certainly added to his misery. On March 5, 1992, Reed Webb died of pneumonia. "Reed was never in a position to defend himself." Some of Reed Webb's accounts were taken away from him and given to others. "While Reed was dying in the hospital, Karen was able to investigate his accounts," says Kathy Smith, another Yellow Pages salesperson at the time. "It was sick," says one of Webb's co-workers. While Webb was in the hospital, Ortega and other union stewards rifled through his accounts, looking for errors or mistakes that would convince management to disqualify him. Reed Webb's health took a turn for the worse-she says the stress of defending his integrity contributed to his ailments-and he had to be hospitalized. Initially, the company refused to change the rankings, Claudia Webb says, but Ortega would not give up. "He was devastated that these people he thought were his friends would call him in and try to take away what he had worked so hard for." "He was just amazed because he was always 100 percent honest and did everything aboveboard," Claudia Webb says. When her husband came home that night, he was shattered, Claudia Webb says. "If a couple of the top people were gone, then they could go." "Karen Ortega and some of her buddies wanted to go to Hawaii very badly, and they wanted to move up ," Claudia Webb says. Not coincidentally, Claudia Webb says, her husband's disqualification would mean that Ortega, also a salesperson, would move into the top four and qualify for Circle herself. Instead, she was leading the attack, insisting to management that some of Webb's accounts be adjusted and his performance ranking lowered so that he would not qualify for Circle. Also present was Karen Ortega, the highest-ranking union officer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in the Phoenix office.Ĭlaudia Webb says that according to her husband's account of the meeting, which he related to his wife and co-workers, Ortega wasn't there to act as Webb's advocate, as would be expected of a union representative. "Making Circle," as many salespeople call it, meant joining the year's heaviest hitters from U S West Yellow Pages operations in 14 states for a four-day romp in Hawaii.Īll he had to do was place in the top four in his office, and Reed Webb was going to join the Yellow Pages big leagues, pampered and feted for making the company a lot of money.īut in November, Claudia Webb recalls, her husband was abruptly called into a meeting with U S West Direct management. He felt sure he was going to win the Yellow Pages equivalent of an Oscar-a trip to the President's Circle of Excellence. In 1991, his second year, Webb's sales were near the top of the highly competitive 30-member staff that sold the big display ads for the book. Reed Webb was a new salesman for the U S West Direct Yellow Pages in Phoenix. Claudia Webb can't forget the day her late husband was betrayed by his union.
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