CWA Newsmakers

Willie L. Thompson, a CWA representative in District 1, has retired. Thompson, 60, started his career as an attendant at Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital in Marlboro, N.J., in 1960. Later, while working as a technician, he was awarded a full, two-year scholarship to study nursing. He earned a degree in 1967, became a head nurse and then a nursing supervisor for 13 years, overseeing about 80 employees. In the early 1980s, Marlboro employees and later supervisors became part of CWA Local 1040. Thompson served as the Marlboro unit’s president until June 1983, when he was hired by the local as a full-time staff representative. Over the next three years, he helped with organizing drives, represented District 1 at CWA’s Minority Leadership Training at the George Meany Institute and worked on the South Jersey “Get Out the Vote” campaign. In 1986, he was hired as a CWA representative.

Dawn Schnickels-Johnson, treasurer of CWA Local 7200, has been honored by United Way of Minneapolis with its Unsung Heroes Award. Schnickels-Johnson has volunteered as a United Way speaker for 12 years, making about 30 speeches annually, and has represented labor on United Way’s campaign cabinet. A member of its board of directors from 1989 to 1999, she has also served on the charity’s marketing/resource development and community services committees. A contributor for 25 years, Schnickels-Johnston said, “The greatest reward and inspiration I receive comes after I’ve given a talk and an individual approaches me and says I convinced them to make or increase their contribution.”

A “tradition of caring” among members of CWA Local 1103 in Port Chester, N.Y., led the United Way of Westchester and Putnam counties to present its annual Spirit Award to the local. It was the first time the award has been given to a labor organization, recognizing the local’s years of service to charitable campaigns and disaster relief. Among other efforts, members raised a record amount of money last year — $14,000, matched by Bell Atlantic — in the community’s “Human Race” walkathon. The local’s business agent, Ralph Zoccolillo, serves on the United Way board, and local President Bob McCracken is a past board member. Ralph Gregory, United Way chapter president, said the award “recognizes that organized labor and United Way have long worked hand in hand to make a powerful difference in people’s lives.”