| From the Desk of the Assistant to the Vice President of CWA District 1 |
| Across District 1, our members are feeling the strain. In New Jersey, state and local government workers are facing double-digit increases in healthcare premiums year after year in a broken State Health Benefits System. In New York, many of our members and retirees are being hit with costs that are simply unaffordable. And across the Northeast, we see how increasing cost of care is threatening our members and their families. At the same time, healthcare workers continue to feel the strain of understaffing and lack of resources as hospital systems cut costs — even while the costs to patients and our families just keeps going up. |
| This crisis is touching every sector, every state, and every job title. This didn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of a healthcare system that treats working people like piggy banks. We’re stuck in a system that for too long has operated in the dark. When hospital CEOs and health insurance executives get to make all the decisions, and then elect officials who back them up, the result is higher and higher and higher costs for insurance plans to cover individuals and families, less bargaining power, and healthcare workers pushed further to the brink. For years, our union has fought hard at the bargaining table to secure high-quality, affordable healthcare. But we’re at a tipping point, and this is no longer a challenge that can be solved through bargaining alone. This is a crisis — and CWA is not standing by. We’re fighting at the bargaining table and in the halls of Trenton, Albany, Hartford, Boston, and Washington, D.C. We need to fix this broken system. We need accountability from the corporate and legislative leaders who have the power to change it. And we will keep fighting until every member of our union has access to affordable, high-quality healthcare.–Billy Gallagher, Assistant to the Vice President, CWA District 1 |
| Verizon Contract Extension Ratified by Majority of District 1 Members |
| After coming to a tentative agreement with the company in early March during a third round of early bargaining, the majority of members in CWA District 1 voted over the past several weeks to ratify contract extensions at Verizon, Verizon Wireless Retail, and Verizon Wireless Tech. Members represented by CWA District 2-13 in Mid-Atlantic, IBEW New England, IBEW New York and IBEW New Jersey, who bargain alongside District 1, also overwhelmingly ratified their agreements. The agreements, covering roughly 9,000 members across fifteen locals in New York and New England, will extend the contracts through August 3, 2030. Highlights of the agreements can be found here. Also finalized and ratified was the agreement between CWA and Verizon to move CWA members currently employed by Frontier Communications in New York into our Verizon bargaining units following the sale of Frontier to Verizon. |
| CWAers Throughout District 1 Dig Into What’s Behind the Rising Costs of Healthcare |
| The fight to strengthen our healthcare system spans across every single industry and every part of CWA — what we see every day at the bedside with services being cut or threatened with closure and workers pushed to the brink, other CWA members in telecommunications, public service, higher education, and more are seeing their costs for care skyrocket year after year. On March 26, CWA hosted an online info session led by Michael Kinnucan, Health Policy Director for the Fiscal Policy Institute, to discuss why costs on healthcare consumers have gone up even while workers like us are continuing to be stretched thin and services closed. |
.png)
| Some big picture items touched on in the info session:The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive in the world — but many Americans still go without coverage, and our health outcomes are worse than comparable countries. An increasingly corporatized healthcare system — not utilization — is driving up prices and administrative costs [1]Hospital prices are the single largest driver of cost increases, but, as many of us know, are not being invested in patient care [2]“We’ve been running a fifty-year experiment in whether we need government regulation or if markets can solve this themselves, and the results are really clear,” Michael said during the discussion. “Markets cannot solve this. We’re not going to get healthcare prices and costs that make sense by letting [insurance companies] bargain with a big hospital company every year in secret and letting that be the force that decides who gets paid how much for delivering healthcare. We need government intervention.” |
| Organizing Victory! Research Assistants Join CWA Local 1104 |
 |
| Last week, Research Assistants across all departments and disciplines at the State University of New York at Buffalo voted overwhelmingly YES to join the CWA Local 1104 by 99%. The organizing victory came as a result of several months of hard work by the Organizing Committee to talk with colleagues and build solidarity, and follows after Research Assistants at SUNY Albany and SUNY Binghamton voted to join CWA over the past year. The nearly 600 RAs join the roughly 1,400 Research Assistants and 4,700 Teaching and Graduate Assistants who have unionized with CWA Local 1104 across the SUNY system. |
| Healthcare Workers Fight Back Against Service Closures and Land Huge Victory |
| In the wake of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that will slash federal funding for healthcare services, many healthcare facilities throughout the country are cutting services and staff, and even closing facilities — deepening the staffing crisis that we’ve already been facing for years. Earlier this year, Kaleida Health in Buffalo, NY announced the planned closure or drastic reduction of several vital services throughout the region, including the Medical Rehab Unit (MRU). Kaleida’s MRU currently serves an average of 26 to 29 patients per day, and the planned closure had called for reducing beds to 16, likely eliminating more than 20 jobs and leaving many patients without access to rehab services. |
 |
| “There’s just not enough medical rehab beds at Erie County Medical Center, and Catholic Health, and now here,” said CWA 1168 President Cori Gambini at a public meeting in February. “Everybody’s cutting those beds, right? The focus has lately been on acute care. So, we can save a life, and we’ll take care of you, and they do a great job, we do a great job here doing that, but when it comes down to rehab, you’re going to be on your own.” CWAers have also shared powerful personal testimony about the vital importance of the MRU, and written dozens of letters to the New York State Department of Health about the dangers of closing the unit. |
| On March 24, CWA Local 1168 announced a major victory: the DOH has halted the Kaleida MRU bed reductions, and ordered Kaleida to keep the unit open for at least six months while an independent company conducts a community needs assessment on the issue. This is not the end of our fight to keep services open and adequately staffed, and now we’ll need to ensure that the proposal and situation are thoroughly examined, but this is an incredible victory that shows the power we have when we stand together and fight for our patients and our facilities! |
| Solidarity = Power: CWA Local 1033 Ramps Up Efforts to Strengthen Member Power |
 |
| Recognizing that the first orientation with new hires on the job is one of the most critical times to welcome them into the union and give them the tools to get involved and help us grow, Local 1033 New Hire Orientation (NHO) Ambassadors are stepping up to strengthen their own skills and came together on March 12th to discuss best practices. The NHO Ambassadors training focused on how to best engage and personally connect with new hires, focusing on three concepts:Selling new members on the union vs. inspiring them to join and take part, and defining ourselves and our unionUsing personal stories and communicating our shared identity through our own experiences and our shared historySeeing the NHOs as the first in many engagements with the members, and how we can ensure that members stay engaged with their union |
.png) |
| The group will reconvene in April to dig deeper into the training and their union story, as well as both the challenges and opportunities we have ahead of us. Alongside the training, Local 1033 has held several Solidarity Days at different worksites over the past several weeks, with solid attendance and engagement from members at each location, including the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles and Law and Public Safety offices. 1033 leaders at both locations talked with members about Weingarten Rights, updates from their Healthcare Ombudsman, victories won in the most recently NJ State worker contract, the CWA dues structure, and more, to make sure that members have a solid understanding of their contract, their rights in the workplace, and the role of their union. |
.png)
| Both stewards and members came away from the events energized and ready for their next event! |
.png) |
| Keeping Up the Fight to Close Healthcare Funding Gaps |
 |
| On March 6th, CWA Locals 1122, 1133, and 1168 joined a huge coalition of unions and community groups in Western New York to hold a press conference calling on the State Legislature to include money in the NYS budget to address funding cuts impacting our communities. “Medicaid cuts are directly worsening short staffing in our facilities,” said Brian Magner, RN and President of CWA Local 1133. “When positions go unfilled and workloads grow, patients wait longer, complications increase, and lives are put at risk. We are calling on New York State to increase Medicaid funding in this year’s budget to protect safe staffing and patient care.” |
| CWAers didn’t stop there — on March 23, Locals 1122, 1133, and 1168 again teamed up with our union family at 1199SEIU and NYS Assemblymember Jon Rivera to demand that the State do all that it can to bridge the gap left by federal funding cuts and make sure that our healthcare centers get what they need to keep services running. AM Rivera is urging fellow legislators to pass the Reinvest in New York Health Care Act, which would put a 9.63% tax on profits that insurance companies take out of state, which would be redirected into patient care. He’s also fighting alongside CWA to fix our broken tax system to make sure that the richest New Yorkers — those making over $5 million a year and who received federal tax cuts through the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” — pay their fair share to ensure that our healthcare facilities get the funding they need. |
.png)
.png)
| “We are no longer going to prioritize the financial benefit to a handful of super wealthy people, just so that people that are struggling can struggle all the more,” AM Rivera said at the March 23 press conference. You can help! Send an email to your NYS Assemblymember and Senator to tell them that we need to restore $500 million in funding cuts to make sure that financially struggling hospitals get the care that they need! |
| Local 1298 Testifies on AI in the Workplace |
 |
| On March 4th, CWA Local 1298 President Dave Weidlich testified in Hartford, CT on two pieces of legislation in Connecticut this year: in support of SB 5, An Act Concerning Online Safety, and in opposition to SB 86, An Act Addressing Innovations in and the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence. |
| “A.I. will bring several challenges to our workplace that we will be addressing as it may be implemented by our employers. I presented the following concerns on behalf of our local. It is becoming more commonplace for automated decision-making systems to be used in workplaces. Some uses are monitoring workers, assigning tasks, and evaluating performance; influencing decisions about hiring, discipline, scheduling, promotion, pay, and job security. While introduced for efficiency or innovation, they shape workers’ livelihoods without clear rules, transparency, or accountability, and must not undermine worker rights or replace human judgment in workplace decisions. I commend this committee for recognizing the risks posed by unregulated automated decision systems to workers. SB 5 introduces crucial measures like notifying workers about electronic monitoring and setting guardrails around high-risk systems affecting their careers. |
| Strong worker protections are vital. As these systems become more embedded in workplaces, workers need a say in their implementation. Employees offer valuable insight into tools affecting their jobs and ignoring their input risks harm and creates costly mistakes. Automated systems should be a bargaining topic to ensure technology supports, not replaces, workers. Lastly, real enforcement is necessary. If harmed by these systems or monitoring, workers need a clear path to redress, including a private right of action. With the right rules, automated decision systems can support workers and public services. I also oppose SB 86 because it fails to provide many of the important protections included in SB 5.” |
| CWA Local 1037 Members Unanimously Ratify New Contract |
| CWA Local 1037 members at La Casa de Don Pedro (LCDP) voted a unanimous YES to ratify their new contract on March 9-11, after more than a year of negotiations. The new contract includes wage increases in each year, more time off, greater employer contributions towards retirement security, and more. The contract will be retroactive to January 1, 2025, and run through June 30, 2028. |
| Local 1180 Calls for Action on Equal Pay Day |
.png)
| Equal Pay Day is observed each year to call attention to the staggering pay gap faced by women throughout the country. The day marks how far into the new year women have to work in order to match the average annual salary of men earned in the year before. According to the US Census Bureau, New York has one of the lower gender pay gaps, and union membership also has a huge impact on lowering the gender pay gap. But across the country, women earn on average just 82% of what men earn. That’s why each year, CWA Local 1180 members turn out in force to rally at New York City Hall to call for action, including legislation in New York City, to help close the gap. “Today is not just about looking back to see where we’ve come from but about looking forward to where we need to go,” said Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton, speaking at the rally. “It’s about recommitting ourselves to the fight. Because equal pay is not just a women’s issue, it is a worker issue! For all the women here today I say this: know your worth. Speak up for yourself. Support one another. Because when one of us moves forward, we all move forward.” |
| Deadline Approaching! Joe Beirne Scholarship is April 30 |
.png) |
| The deadline for the annual Joe Beirne Scholarship is one month away! Applications are being accepted through April 30th for one of sixteen Scholarships of $4,000 each for the 2026-2027 school year. The CWA Joe Beirne Foundation was established in October 1974 by the Communications Workers of America Executive Board to honor the name and memory of the founding President of CWA, who served for more than 30 years. In his capacity as the first CWA President, Joe Beirne took great pride in the roles he played in the fields of education and learning and other areas of social concern. Following his death on Labor Day in 1974, the Joseph A. Beirne Foundation has worked to honor his lifelong commitment to education and progressive social causes. Scholarship DetailsEligibilityCWA members, their spouses, children and grandchildren (including dependents of laid-off, retired or deceased CWA members) may apply. Applicants must be high school graduates or at least high school students who will graduate during the year in which they apply. Undergraduate and graduate students returning to schooling may also apply. Prior winners may not reapply. Dates & DeadlineApplications are due by April 30, 2026 at 11:59pm ET. SelectionsWinners are chosen by lottery drawing and only winners will be notified. Click here for a list of past winners. Study RequirementsNo specific studies are required. Scholarship winners may pursue whatever courses they wish. FundingThe CWA Joe Beirne Foundation has been built up by voluntary contributions and is self-perpetuating. Contributions and pledges are received from CWA Locals, members and officers. ApplicationsApplications should only be submitted through the online application form. You can read more about the history of the scholarship and the application process here. |
| Virtual Training: Know Your Rights in the Workplace |
.png) |
| As we see an increased presence of immigration enforcement in many workplaces, including some of our own, it’s important to know what your legal rights are at your job if you’re in a situation like this. Join us for our next virtual “Know Your Rights” training (conducted over Zoom) on Wednesday, April 22, at 7pm to hear from lawyers from the AFL-CIO, covering constitutional rights in and out of the workplace and how they apply to immigration enforcement, protesting and other acts of civil resistance. Click here to register. If you or a coworker is more comfortable receiving the training in Spanish, we’ll be hosting a training conducted in Spanish on April 15. |
| CWA Locals Across New Jersey Come Together for WILD Conference |
.png)
| On March 14 and 15, CWA members from Locals 1040, 1088, and others joined women from across the labor movement for the New Jersey State AFL-CIO’s 20th Annual Women in Leadership Development (WILD) Conference! The event focused on leadership development, mentorship, and building strong connections across locals, unions, and the entire state to strengthen the labor movement as a whole. |
| Local 1170 Far Surpasses Fundraising Goals to Support the Rochester Community |
.jpg)
| CWA Local 1170 celebrated its annual Leadership and Lifetime Achievement Givers at its annual breakfast on March 13. Through the generous donations of 1170 members, the Local exceeded their campaign goal of $65,000 to the United Way. |
| Local 1181 President Honored for Exemplary Leadership |
 |
| On March 24 Rebecca Greene, President of CWA Local 1181 was honored at the Labor Press Distinguished Woman in Labor Awards for her outstanding leadership, dedication, and service to the labor movement. Rebecca began her civil service career in June 1991 at the Queens Hospital Center Emergency Room, as Supervisor of the Clerical Staff of the Emergency Room, helping people who struggled with acute medical emergencies. This experience taught her the importance of serving with compassion, dignity, and love. Six years later Rebecca changed her career path and began working for the New York City Police Department Traffic Division. This also allowed her to complete her college education, earning an Associate Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. |
| Rebecca worked as a New York City Traffic Agent, issuing traffic summonses to vehicles that were parked in violation and directed traffic throughout the city. She became a Supervisor in April 2004, overseeing Compliance Agents who issue environmental control and parking summonses, and Agents who direct traffic, and supervising truck enforcement and the HELP unit. She also was tasked to assist in assembling a truck enforcement manual. In March 2018, Rebecca stepped up to take on the role of President of CWA Local 1181, with former leaders of the local behind her, citing her skillset and fortitude. |
.png)
| CWA District 1 80 Pine Street, 37th Floor New York NY, 10005 cwad1.org |