Organizing Update

Election Victory at CWA Local 1168

In an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, the clinical staff at Planned Parenthood in Central New York has voted 35 to 1 to join CWA Local 1168.

Workers have been demanding that management recognize their Union since July 17 when a strong majority of staff launched their organizing effort with a public mission statement and solidarity actions at their worksites. Throughout the summer they gathered political and labor support, petitioned management directly with their demand for recognition, and appealed to members of the community to support their organizing efforts.

Members of the organizing committee also appeared in local news articles and wrote letters to their local elected officials. As they fought for their voice on the job, the Central New York clinical staff received critical support from the already-unionized staff in Western New York.

The workers' impassioned efforts led to a quick agreement on the bargaining unit and kept management from hiring a union busting consultant once a decision was made to file for an election with the NLRB. In the days leading up to the election more than three quarters of the staff put their names on a public "we're voting yes" statement in preparation for t election.

The Central NY staff will now focus their mobilization efforts on negotiating a contract with management over the issues most important to them.

The campaign was truly a team effort with officers and staff from the Local and National all pitching in. Local organizers Patrick Weisansal II and Ann Converso led the organizing effort with oversight from D1 Organizing Coordinator Anne Luck-Deak; Cori Gambini, Bob Andruszko, and Sarah Buckley from Local 1168; and Debbie Hayes, Dave Thomas, Jennifer Tuttle, and Erin Bowie from District 1; with research assistance from Julian Brunner at CWA's Washington, D.C. Headquarters. Also supporting the effort was CWA's New Jersey area director Hetty Rosenstein.

A Victory at TNG-CWA Local 37002

32 organizers, canvassers and other staff of Take Action Minnesota (TAMN) have joined the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild (TNG-CWA Local 37002) this week. Take Action Minnesota is CWA's closest partner in movement-building in Minnesota and led the fight against a voter suppression law two years ago. This year TAMN helped to raise the state's minimum wage.

"We've long stood with the labor movement, now we stand as part of the Labor Movement," Terin Mayer, TAMN's Lead Economy Organizer, said. Over 500 CWA members have joined Take Action over the past few years. TNG-CWA Local 37002 President Janet Moore worked on the campaign.