Local 1040 Adds Over 200 Mental Health Workers

Local 1040's legislative work and a key organizing campaign dovetailed to bring union representation to 211 mental health workers. Providing mental health services for prison inmates across the state, the psychologists, social workers and mental health clinicians work for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - public employees covered by the state's new card-check recognition law.

Local 1040 previously represented state employees doing this same work in the New Jersey prisons but lost the unit in 1997 when the work was contracted to a private employer, CMS. In January, CMS lost the contract to the university, whose employees are covered by the new law.

CWA locals including 1040 and other unions lobbied for passage of the law, signed by Gov. Richard Codey in July. And Local 1040 President Carolyn Wade succeeded in getting neutrality language into all its contracts covering state workers, including those in the prisons, neutralizing any possible threat of an anti-union campaign.

Meanwhile, local Organizers Connie English and Tom Bruno and local stewards visited more than eight separate prisons and other worksites, explaining the union to the workers and asking them to sign cards.

"Their main issues were job security and benefits," English said. "Since they worked side by side with the state workers, they knew what the state workers have. That was a plus for us."

Wade welcomed the new members and said, "It's been a long time coming, but the persistence of the union and of the workers brought this project to fruition. These were members taken out of our local nearly 10 years ago, and we just would not stop until we got them back."