Organizing Awards

CWA President Larry Cohen announced the winners of the President’s Award, CWA’s highest honor for organizing and named in honor of our union’s first president Joe Beirne. This year, CWA Local 1109 and CWA Local 4302 shared the honor. Local presidents Rolando Scott Jr. of Local 1109 and Todd Leyda of Local 4302 accepted the awards.

Members and leaders of Local 1109 were recognized for their organizing and continued campaign at Cablevision. They will be there “one day longer,” standing strong and building a movement in their fight for a first contract.

Local 4302 was recognized for its organizing at the University of Akron, where earlier this year, nearly 400 employees won their election and joined CWA. The local never gave up in the campaign that began more than 25 years ago.

Locals also were recognized for organizing more than 100 new members. Each local receives a $1,000 organizing subsidy and a plaque; locals that have won this award 5, 10 and 15 times receive $5,000. More than 300 locals have received this award at least once.

Honored this year:

• Local 1036 West Trenton, New Jersey: 37 Certified Nursing Assistants at Aspen Hill and Buttonwood Hospitals; 50 Licensed Practical Nurses, Psych Aids and maintenance workers at Buttonwood Hospital; and 60 supervisors in Cumberland County, NJ.

• Local 1109 Brooklyn, New York: 282 technicians at Cablevision, 69 technicians at Falcon Data Com and 53 techs, warehouse workers and dispatchers at Vision Pro.

• Local 1126 New York Mills, New York: 103 Registered Nurses at St. Luke’s/Faxton Healthcare- Faxton Hospital.

• Local 3010 San Juan, Puerto Rico: 81 installers at JAF Communications – Caguas and Ponce, 3 workers at AT&T Switch, 11 AT&T Mobility – St. Croix workers and 13 installers at TTS – Salinas. This is the fifth time that the local has received this award.

• Local 3176 Ocala, Florida: 131 employees at Embarq/CenturyLink.

• Local 3403 Baton Rouge, Louisiana: 138 retail workers at AT&T Mobility.

• Local 3406 Lafayette, Louisiana: 116 retail workers at AT&T Mobility.

• Local 3410 New Orleans, Louisiana: 132 retail workers at AT&T Mobility.

• Mississippi Political Action Council: United locals throughout Mississippi to successfully organize 312 AT&T Mobility retail employees.

• Local 4302 Akron, Ohio: 378 classified staff at the University of Akron.

• Local 7777 Denver, Colorado: 102 SuperShuttle drivers.

• Local 9119 Berkeley, California: 165 Senior Dieticians at the University of California.

• Local 39521 San Francisco, California: 225 ASL Interpreters at Purple Communications. The local is receiving this award for the fifth time.

• Local 26072 Cocoa, Florida: 355 Flight Attendants at Omni Air.

• Pinnacle Airlines MEC in Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1,470 Flight Attendants at Pinnacle Airlines.

The convention also recognized CWA locals that are working to help T-Mobile USA workers get a union voice. In a video message, CWA Local 3704 President Steve Auerbach from Charleston, S.C., talked about the harassment that T-Mobile workers face on the job: “Employees are belittled and harassed constantly, and they have no recourse but to quit if they don’t like the way they’re treated or they are fired without cause with no one to turn to. But even worse is the constant fear they work under. One told us ‘every Monday morning I go to work, wondering if I will have a job at the end of the day.’” He called on more locals to join the fight.