Volume 76, Issue #1 | Spring 2016

Spring 2016

NJ Governor Vetoes Leah's Law

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed “Leah’s Law,” endangering thousands of child welfare workers who are engaged in some of the most dangerous work in the state.

The bipartisan legislation was named for CWA Local 1038 member Leah Coleman who was stabbed more than 20 times by a deranged client in November 2014. The brutal attack, which nearly cost Leah her life, occurred just days after the Christie administration made the cost-cutting decision to pull all police officers out of New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) offices. Without security or metal detectors, the client walked into the building with a nine-inch kitchen knife in broad daylight. Thankfully, two CWA caseworkers were able to tackle and subdue the assailant, while three HPAE nurses treated Leah’s wounds until the ambulance arrived.

What’s the Most Stressful Job in America? Ask a CWA Member

CWA members do many of them, from emergency dispatchers and first responders (Number 1) to call center workers and telephone operators (Number 3) to social workers (Number 8) to probation officers (Number 16).

Flight Attendants Fight for 10

Flight Attendants are entrusted with the safety, health, and security of passengers. But they’re often asked to perform duties on their “rest” time, resulting in getting less rest than required.

A top legislative priority for AFA-CWA is increased minimum rest requirements for Flight Attendants to be included in the Federal Aviation Administration’s authorization.

Piedmont Workers Making Our Voices Heard

Piedmont Ramp Workers Focus on Safety

For airport ramp workers at Piedmont Airlines, safety is the top priority.

150 Workers die each day from hazadrous working materials

CWA Health and Safety Training

Each year, CWA, working in partnership with the Steelworkers union and the Tony Mazzocchi Center, trains about 1,000 workers across all our sectors. The goal: to train a new generation of health and safety activists using the most up-to-date training programs and methodology and to build even stronger links among CWA activists and with health and safety activists throughout the labor movement and allies.

NY Nurses Push for ‘Safe Staffing’ Bill

New York nurses are fighting back against management pressure to take on 9, 10 or even more patients at once. They know that’s not safe for patients or nurses. Research shows that when nurses care for two to three times the patients they can safely manage, the chances of preventable death, hospital acquired infections, and adverse outcomes increase.

Appliance Park Lean Manufacturing Saves Jobs, Safeguards Workers’ Health and Safety

Appliance Park in Kentucky was one of the biggest GE operations in the country, manufacturing washer/dryer units and other appliances. It also had been a huge offshorer of good jobs and manufacturing. In fact, employment, once at 9,000, had fallen below 2,000 by 2011. But IUE-CWA has been working to reverse that decline with the rollout of the Lean High Performance Manufacturing program, and now some 4,000 IUE-CWA Local 83761 members are building appliances at the Louisville facility.