Look out for the Communications Workers of America, District 1 newsletter every other week to see what CWA members have been up to.
Read on the web:
- 24,000 Retirees See Pensions Restored Through Biden’s American Rescue Plan
- Organizing Victory – GoNetSpeed Workers Join CWA
- NJ Locals Support CWA Members in Florida in the Midst of Intense Anti-Union Attacks
- Political Action Updates
- Advocating for Federal Pro-Worker Legislation and Prepping for Big Elections Ahead at the CWA Legislative and Political Conference
- Healthcare Workers to Arnot Ogden Medical Center: DO BETTER!
- At NYC Pride, The Trevor Project Workers March for a Union Contract
24,000 Retirees See Pensions Restored Through Biden’s American Rescue Plan
Huge victory for 24,000 CWAers through the American Rescue Plan! On June 11th CWA Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam and District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor joined the White House to announce that 24,000 CWA Retirees will see their pensions restored through President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) approved the CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension Plan’s application for special financial assistance, ensuring that more than 24,000 workers and retirees will receive the full pension benefits that they earned through a lifetime of work. PBGC will award over $545 million to the CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension plan, which has nearly 24,300 participants nationwide. Without this grant, the plan was projected to become insolvent by 2029, which would have destroyed the retirement security of hard-working union members represented by CWA.
“No one should ever have to worry about cuts to their hard-earned retirement, especially through no fault of our own,” said VP Trainor. “But unfortunately, this is happening again and again in corporate America. Ensuring that workers and our families enjoy the retirement security they earned through a lifetime of work is a central part of President Biden’s economic plan – and I’m proud to have been part of this announcement alongside some of our biggest champions in Congress, Representatives Andy Kim and Donald Norcross of New Jersey.”
The “Butch Lewis Act,” named after a heroic Ohio union leader and pension advocate, is a crucial part of the American Rescue Act; so far, the Biden Administration has announced over $36 billion in funding for the Central States Pension Fund, preventing drastic cuts to the hard-earned pensions of over 350,000 union workers and retirees. This is the largest-ever award of federal financial support for worker and retiree pension security.
Victories like this can only happen when we work together and stand together – and when we have a pro-worker administration willing to fight for workers.
Watch clips from the press conference here.
ganizing Victory – GoNetSpeed Workers Join CWA
On June 12th, workers GoNetspeed (ISP) in Depew, New York voted to join CWA Local 1122.
The organizing drive included work by CWA’s NYS Broadband Organizing Brigade, which has been working over the past year to speak with non-unionized telecom workers throughout New York about the benefits of unionizing. The GoNetSpeed workers voted yes for many of the same reasons that all of us are proud to be union: dignity, respect, and a voice on the job.
Welcome to our newest Local 1122 members and congrats to 1122 and the Broadband Organizing Brigade helping expand telecom industry organizing!
NJ Locals Support CWA Members in Florida in the Midst of Intense Anti-Union Attacks
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Seven shop stewards from Locals 1033 and 1040 traveled to Florida last month to offer support to fellow public sector workers who have come under intense attack by anti-union groups and legislators.
Throughout the country, public sector workers have the highest union density – as such, anti-union groups most often target public sector unions. In Florida last year, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill designed to devastate public sector unions, including our own. The law in Florida now requires all unions to maintain 60% membership or be immediately de-certified. That, combined with constant underhanded attacks by anti-union groups like the so-called “Freedom Foundation” that pressure workers to drop their union membership, has created the perfect conditions to decimate Florida’s unions and roll back workers’ rights and protections.
But CWA is fighting back, and District 1 is standing with District 3! Local 1033 and 1040 members – who know how intense attacks from the “Freedom Foundation” can get – spent several days in Florida speaking with members of CWA Local 3181, doing internal organizing work, discussing the importance of union membership, and showing that from New Jersey to Florida, we’re CWA Strong!
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Political Action Updates – Big Wins in New York and New Jersey Legislative Sessions; Victory for CWA Local President Running for NYS Senate!
New Jersey
After several months of negotiation, during which CWA members made several trips to Trenton to speak with legislators and a major lobby day with eighty members in March, the New Jersey legislature finalized the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget over the weekend. The budget includes several key items for New Jersey workers:
- For the fourth year in a row, CWA’s pension has been fully funded. After decades of previous legislators failing to fully fund our pension, securing a full payment for a fourth year is huge for every single CWA member, whether one year away from retirement or twenty.
- The Corporate Transit Fee (CTF) creates a 2.5% tax on the wealthiest businesses – those making over $10 million in profits annually. This fund will be specifically dedicated to NJTransit to strengthen New Jersey’s mass transit – a huge win for working people.
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Although the budget is finalized, the NJ legislative calendar runs continuously throughout the year, so the work isn’t over yet!
New York
Huge Win on Prevailing Wage for CWA Local 1101 Members
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For years, CWA has known that the important work done by our Gas Service Technicians, represented by CWA Local 1101, have been left behind by New York City’s prevailing wage law. We have also known that there is already a title that should cover them: “Utility Locators,” as over 50% of their work is locating and marking utilities.
After months and months of advocating with NYC officials to fix this and get these 80 workers covered by the prevailing wage schedule, we won – in early June, New York City Comptroller’s preliminary Prevailing Wage was modified to clarify that CWA 1101’s Gas Service Technicians are covered.
This is a massive, life-changing victory for our members who will see a required pay bump from a starting wage of $16 to over $20 and a scale that caps out at $36.19.
NY CWAers Help Protect Call Center Workers, Local Journalism, and More
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CWA members from locals up and down New York State put in an incredible effort this year to fight for – and win – legislation that will protect workers and improve our communities, including:
- 4 major Lobby Days in Albany
- 177 meetings held with legislators to advocate for pro-worker bills
- Nearly 600 emails sent to legislators urging them to pass the Call Center Worker Retention bill
Several Major Victories:
- Protecting Call Center Workers – we passed a bill requiring that workforces of Government-contracted call centers be retained if the contract is re-bid and awarded to a new contractor.
- Protecting Local Journalism – we got provisions included In the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget that create a payroll tax credit allowing news organizations to receive a 50% job creation tax credit on the first $50,000 of a local journalist’s salary.
- Ending Mandatory Fees for SUNY Grad Workers – the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget included the next installment of $3 million for phasing out SUNY grad worker fees over four years, which brings us to a total of $6 million.
New York State Primaries – CWA Leader Wins!
We had several wins in last month’s New York State Primary Elections for CWA-backed candidates, including John Mannion running for Congress in Syracuse, UAW member Claire Valdez for State Senate winning in one of the more exciting races of the night! Micah Lasher won in a five-way race one of the most-watched Assembly races, 1199 member Demond Meeks won for Assembly in West Rochester.
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But the biggest win of the night was CWA Local 1123 President Chris Ryan, who secured the Democratic nomination for New York State Senate in Senate District 50! Ryan will face a tough race come November, so we’ll need all hands on deck to help send one of our own to Albany to represent us. Click here to learn more about Chris’s campaign and ways to help!
Advocating for Federal Pro-Worker Legislation and Prepping for Big Elections Ahead at the CWA Legislative and Political Conference
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Last week CWA members and retirees from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to discuss the business of the union, hear from a number of elected leaders, and flood the Capitol with red, speaking with legislators about several vital pieces of pro-worker legislation.
After CWA President Claude Cummings preceded over the Presidents Meeting, CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor and Assistant to the Vice President Billy Gallagher kicked off the Legislative and Political Action portion of the conference by speaking to the D1 delegation about the importance of this moment to come together and do the work that must be done over the next several months to win in November for working families.
“This is not only about the future of the labor movement,” said VP Trainor. “This election is about the future of our country, the future of our democracy. Are we going to be a country with democracy where the rule of law counts – or are we slowly turning into a dictatorship?”
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The next day, President Cummings opened the two-day Legislative and Political Conference with a similar encouragement for CWAers to be prepared to fight for pro-worker candidates from now until November—especially President Joe Biden, the most pro-union President in recent history.
“We, as a union and as a nation, need to be looking forward to a brighter future our children will inherit. That future doesn’t arrive packaged neatly with a bow on top. It’s the result of the struggles and victories we create today. I’m not interested in going back. There’s no time in the past I can think of that is better than the promise of what we have in our future,” President Cummings said, before showing a new video featuring CWA members discussing how they are working side-by-side with President Biden and his pro-union, pro-worker Administration to create good union jobs.
Guest speakers at the conference included several members of the Biden Administration and legislators from CWA District 1 states who spoke about the need to organize and stand together to make the country stronger for working people.
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CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton moderated a panel discussion with several CWA members including Local 1298 President Dave Weidlich on Building Worker Power at the State Level. The discussion touched on strategies to help identify and promote worker-friendly candidates who would both defend and support legislation designed to create and maintain good-paying union jobs. CWA Local 1104’s Nick Hoh, a leader in CWA’s national Broadband Brigade work, spoke as part of a panel on “Building Broadband for All” about the work they’ve done to ensure national broadband projects create high-road, union jobs with adequate safety and pay.
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CWAers then got to work, making trips to the Capitol to meet with dozens of members of Congress, discussing several key pieces of pro-worker legislation including tax fairness for workers, ending tax breaks for union-busting and for outsourcing – all three of which are bills that are needed to fix pieces of the tax code that President Trump created in providing huge tax breaks for corporations.
You can check out videos from the conference here.
Healthcare Workers to Arnot Ogden Medical Center: DO BETTER!
On June 12th frontline healthcare workers, members of CWA Local 1111, rallied outside of Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, NY to send a clear (and loud) message to hospital management: Arnot Ogden must do better!
In the midst of bargaining their new contract, 1111 members have faced tough conditions in the workplace, both from lack of adequate staffing and from management pushback when voicing concerns. The hospital has not only refused to prioritize staffing at the bargaining table but has also made it harder for workers to enforce the 2021 New York State Clinical Staffing Committees law, designed to improve staffing conditions, and unilaterally taken control of the hospital’s Clinical Staffing Committee – a committee that, by state law, is required to be jointly run by labor and management.
But CWAers are not backing down and let the hospital know that they’re ready to fight until they get the safe and healthy workplace that they, and their patients, deserve.
“Today I stand before you with both a heavy heart and a burning determination to address the extremely difficult working conditions of the frontline health care workers due to severe understaffing,” said Local 1111 member Tasha Lamb, an ICU Unit Clerk. “It puts an unbearable strain on us as workers. It pushes us to our limits and makes it harder and harder for us to deliver the quality care our patients deserve.”
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Watch video of the rally here, and read more here.
At NYC Pride, The Trevor Project Workers March for a Union Contract
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Workers at non-profit LGBTQ advocacy organization The Trevor Project were proud to march alongside their fellow members of CWA Local 1180 and other District 1 members at this weekend’s NYC Pride March to demand a fair first union contract, and an end to Trevor Project management attempting to silence workers.
Union workers with CWA Local 1180 provide life-sustaining care to members of the LGBTQ+ community in crisis. The workers organized their union in 2023 to advance the Trevor Project’s mission of protecting LGBTQ+ youth and build a stronger, more equitable workplace.
Since joining CWA, the workers have faced anti-union tactics from management. Last summer, The Trevor Project leadership suddenly announced layoffs of nearly 12% of bargaining unit employees, many of whom were prominent union organizers and supporters. After nearly a year of bargaining over their first union contract, on top of the crisis care work that makes up their regular jobs, workers report experiencing increasing burnout and fatigue resulting from current working conditions at The Trevor Project.
“I am burnt out and I am operating largely as a shell of the person I once was. The understaffing and high shift demands of the position have taken a severe toll on my physical and mental health,” said Hel Klavin, a Crisis Services Digital Supervisor. “What we are fighting for in this contract is for respect, care, and accountability from management. We deserve the support to be able to continue to show up for everyone reaching out in crisis.”
“Union-busting burns out the workers who save LGBTQ+ lives,” said Gloria Middleton, President of CWA Local 1180. “This anti-worker behavior stands in direct opposition to what The Trevor Project stands for, and it needs to stop now. That’s why we’re working to secure a fair contract that all workers deserve, and which, in turn, will improve the quality of care that our members provide to the LGBTQ+ community.”
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