Mar 13, 2025 - Safety Becomes Major Issue in CWA Healthcare Bargaining

CWA members from across District 6 held signs in support of their bargaining team, currently in negotiations with AT&T Southwest. Members shown here are from locals in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas.

CWA healthcare members in upstate New York kicked off bargaining last week for two contracts—one with Kaleida Health and one with Catholic Healthcare System.

CWA Local 1168 and 1199SEIU represent approximately 8,000 workers at Kaleida. Workers provide care and services to hundreds of thousands of patients every year.

“Our members are the backbone of the system that provides all levels of care from primary care to women’s healthcare services to highly specialized and complex treatment for the most serious medical conditions,” said CWA New England Area Director Debbie Hayes. CWA workers have a 45-year history of bargaining with the company.

In 2021, CWA members at Catholic Healthcare won a groundbreaking contract after a powerful five-week strike. Now 2,500 members of CWA Locals 1168 and 1133 are back at the table. Earlier this week, violence struck the Emergency Department at Catholic Healthcare’s Mercy Hospital when a patient shot himself. CWA members and leaders are calling for stronger protections for workers, including bulletproof glass in public-facing areas and metal detectors installed in public entryways.

At the top of workers’ concerns at both Kaleida and Catholic Health are returning to safe staffing levels, securing competitive wages and benefits, job security, and health and safety of workers. Poor staffing levels contribute to higher stress for workers, less time to care for patients, and longer waits for care. CWA submitted a complaint to New York state regulators last month detailing more than 16,500 staffing violations at western New York hospitals.

CWA Local 1126 members at Mohawk Valley Health System recently ratified a contract that will provide wage increases amounting to 7.5% over the first year and a switch from seniority determined by hours worked to a more traditional “date of hire” seniority system.

On Monday, CWA Maryland State Broadband Lead Marcus Chambers, a member of CWA Local 2018, informed an enthusiastic crowd of union members and supporters about threats to funding for reliable high-speed internet access in Maryland and across the country. The group gathered on Lawyers Mall in Annapolis, Md., for the annual MD/DC AFL-CIO State Council Union Night Rally.

CWA’s Broadband Brigade members have worked hard to make sure federal broadband infrastructure funds will create good, union jobs building reliable fiber connections. But now that is under threat from the Trump Administration and Congress.

Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick is bowing to pressure from satellite company CEOs to lower standards for the broadband infrastructure program, known as BEAD. He has proposed requirements that would funnel more of the money intended for fiber buildout to unreliable, non-union satellite internet service like Elon Musk’s Starlink. In addition, members of Congress have introduced legislation that would remove labor protections and wage requirements for buildout projects, directing more of the work to low-road contractors.

“We worked for almost three years to have labor standards incorporated into the BEAD program,” Chambers said. “They now want to strip that all away and more so Elon can have his satellite company Starlink come in with contractors and subcontractors to do subpar work on a technology that at best lasts five years before it ‘de-orbits,’ which we all know as ‘falls out of the sky.’ And let’s not forget the congestion issues that lower your speed. Let’s remember that weather conditions will lower your speed. With fiber, you don’t have to worry about any of that.”

States have already developed detailed buildout plans, and these proposed changes could cause unnecessary delays, put workers in danger, and leave rural residents and businesses with sub-standard service. Sign our petition to oppose changes to the BEAD program and stand up for reliable internet service and good jobs.

 
CWA Local 2100 member Chris Fallswick and CWA Local 2336 President Melissa Smith-Kupihea hold signs encouraging supporters to speak out in support of good jobs and reliable internet service as CWA Maryland State Broadband Lead Marcus Chambers, a member of CWA Local 2018, addresses an enthusiastic crowd during the annual MD/DC AFL-CIO State Council Union Night Rally.

CWA members took to the streets last week in a show of support for illegally ousted National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chair Gwynne Wilcox. They, along with union and non-union allies, stood outside the hearing where Wilcox argued against her termination. A federal judge reinstated her, calling the dismissal "unlawful and void."

By illegally firing Wilcox, President Donald Trump made it harder for us to enforce our contracts by leaving the NLRB with only two board members, preventing it from ruling in most cases. NLRB board members cannot be removed except in cases where “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office” has been proven, a legal threshold the administration failed to meet.

President Trump is appealing the decision as he continues his attack on union contracts. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of a collective bargaining agreement covering 45,000 frontline TSA workers who are represented by AFGE. Click here to read CWA’s response to this attack, which endangers not only workers but also the flying public.

At the Wilcox rally, Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee highlighted the role the NLRB has played in protecting the rights of CWA members at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who are currently on the longest-running strike in the country. Lee said, “The NLRB is the one thing standing in the gap for workers like the Post-Gazette workers. In the midst of the pandemic, when the bosses told them they didn’t care about whether or not they had healthcare...they did the right thing and they walked out of there. We have the right to stand up to anybody who would take that away.”

 
CWA members and staff attended a rally in support of Gwynne Wilcox, the Chair of the National Labor Relations Board. Representative Summer Lee (center) spoke passionately about the role the NLRB has played in protecting workers, including CWA members on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

 
WFWU-CWA members were joined by local unions across the country to hand out mobilization flyers at CWA-represented Wells Fargo branches.

Last month, Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU-CWA) led another week of mobilization pressure against the company as members of the national bargaining team sat across the table from Wells Fargo executives in Albuquerque, N.M.

The day before bargaining, workers at all 26 union branches emailed a letter to Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf and upper management demanding a fair contract. As the contract negotiation session concluded, CWA local unions handed out flyers to educate customers about the benefits of having a union branch where workers are able to bargain for better staffing and service levels, fair compensation, and job security. Bargaining is scheduled to resume this month.

Wells Fargo workers at the Lake Elsinore and Rancho Bernardo branches in California recently signed and delivered their letter of intent to management demanding union recognition, which would make them the 27th and 28th Wells Fargo branches to form a union with CWA.

Watch the latest WFWU-CWA campaign video here.

Last week, CWA members from Local 9413 took the “Union Strong” message to students and parents at East Career and Technical Academy (ECTA) in Las Vegas, Nev. Former ECTA student and current CWA Local 9413 Vice President Carla Campos helped open the event to CWA and other labor unions. This is the second year CWA has taken part in the trades fair, sharing information on post-graduation career opportunities for those who do not want a traditional career path.

Roughly sixty students attended the trades fair. CWA handed out flyers with information on the benefits of union membership and spoke with attendees about CWA’s role at companies like TCG Player and eBay. Campos also spoke from the dais on her experience in a labor union and navigating post-graduation life.

“When I was in high school,” said Campos, “I did not know that there was anything else outside of going to college, joining the military, or just jumping into the workforce. If I knew then what I know today, I would’ve joined a union right after high school!”

 
CWA Local 9413 Vice President Carla Campos and other CWA members handed out information and advice to students at the East Career and Technical Academy Trades Fair in Las Vegas, Nev.

Delegates to the 2023 CWA Convention adopted a resolution to make future meetings as accessible as possible for members and retirees who have a mental or physical disability.

The CWA Accessibility Committee has developed a survey so that you can help shape the future of accessibility at CWA meetings and events. The committee will carefully review survey responses and use them to develop recommendations that will be presented at the 2025 CWA Convention and shared across CWA. Please take the survey at https://cwa.org/access and share it with other CWA members and retirees. Responses are due by March 25, 2025.

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