Union Wave Expands to Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca

ITHACA, N.Y. – Yesterday, clinicians and support staff at Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca announced that they have formed a union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). A supermajority of eligible staff has signed union authorization cards, indicating their desire to form a union with CWA.

The workers are seeking voluntary recognition from management, a streamlined pathway to union recognition endorsed by the federal labor board that allows workers to sign union authorization cards to demonstrate their decision to form a union. The workers join a growing movement of healthcare workers in Tompkins County who have organized unions this year at Cayuga Medical Center and local clinics.

“Workers across healthcare industries are facing increasing pressure to meet the demands of insurance companies at the expense of client care. Our choice to unionize reflects our belief that a new model for providing community-based mental health care is possible, without sacrificing the dignity and well-being of workers,” said Calyx Steiner, a clinician with Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca. “We feel that sustainable working conditions will allow people to build long-term careers meeting the needs of our community.”

“We need to be able to protect our own wellbeing so that we can continue to do our critical work to care for the mental health of community members here in Tompkins County,” said Kate Cardona, a clinician with Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca. “For us to offer our clients a sense of hope, agency, self-efficacy, and the possibility of change, we must also experience these ourselves in our workplace.”

Represented workers include clinicians, nurses, intake clinicians, behavioral health care coordinators, facilities workers, outreach workers, and clinic administrative coordinators. The workers provide mental health care and social services to the Ithaca community.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion