Telecom Workers, Nurses Join CWA

More than 100 new members have joined CWA through two recent organizing drives in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Workers at CenturyLink in Chambersburg, Penn., voted 18-10 to join CWA Local 13000. A strong inside committee and hard work by Joe Kopeck, a unit president of Local 13000 who works in the organized unit of CenturyLink, and organizer Dave Hoskowicz helped workers come together.

"We're now getting calls from Hanover, Mount Joy, Carlisle. It's continuing to ripple," said Hoskowicz, who also recently organized CenturyLink employees in Bedford and Martinsburg, Penn. "The goal is to organize the whole state."

In Utica, NY, registered nurses at the Faxton Campus of Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare voted 49-31 to join CWA Local 1126. The nurses were especially motivated by a proposed merger with St. Elizabeth's Hospital and had a strong desire to have a collective voice during the changes that may be coming. Karen Marrotta, vice president of the Local 1126's RN Unit, and Frank Murphy, executive vice president of the Local 1126's Healthcare Unit, coordinated the organizing effort. In the campaign's final stages, Bill Nowak and the District 1 Healthcare Coordinating Council, as well as District Organizing Coordinator Anne Luck-Deak, lent a hand.

Marrotta had been in constant communication with nurses at Faxton since their election loss in 2005, waiting for the right time to move forward. The Local also represents nurses at the St. Luke's campus and LPNs/Techs at both locations.