Local 1180 News

Unions: Court Striking Down ACA Would Be Blow to Vital Workers

The Chief Leader, Oct. 23, 2020

The unions for workers who have been exposed to the coronavirus are warning that they could lose their health care if the Affordable Health Care Act and its coverage for pre-existing conditions is thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court is scheduled to take up the constitutionality of the ACA six days after the Nov. 3 elections.

Gloria Middleton, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1180, represents thousands of Administrative Managers, some of whom work at city hospitals. She believes the ACA  gives her members some peace of mind.

 "Not everybody in your family may be a public servant," she said. "They may be working for private industry, and they may be getting their health care through the Affordable Health Care Act, and if, God forbid, you are working in a hospital and you do bring [COVID] home to them, what then?"  (Read More)

National Domestic Workers Alliance Join Local 1180 

Oct. 6, 2020

The Staff Union at the National Domestic Workers Alliance have won official #union recognition and joined CWA Local 1180! We now go the #bargaining table to win our first union #contract.

Provisionals Are First on Layoff Line, Regardless of Their Seniority

The Chief Leader, Sept. 30, 2020

Before laying off as many as 22,000 city workers with civil-service status to deal with a $9-billion budget gap, the de Blasio administration would have to start by eyeing the nearly-15,000 provisional employees it has on the payroll, according to the chair of the City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee...

Gloria Middleton, who is president of CWA Local 1180 which represents Administrative Managers across multiple city agencies, believes there is a legitimate place for using provisionals, but doing so should not undermine the integrity of the civil service.

"Under the Long Beach decision, the City should only use provisionals in the case of a non-existing competitive list,” Ms. Middleton said in an email. “However, the status of provisionals needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis, especially because of the current situation we are in. With the huge increase in the number of unemployed, for example, there are so many more people applying for food stamps and the City probably needs provisionals to handle the vast increase in applications.”  (Read More)

Op-Ed: Mayor Must Address Racial Disparities in New York City

amny.com, Sept. 22, 2020

By Corey Johnson, NYC Council Speaker & Gloria Middleton, CWA Local 1180 President

New York City is both a city of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. And unfortunately, the extreme poverty that we see in New York City is overwhelmingly centered in communities of color. Of course, this is not news to anyone paying attention, but COVID-19 has put a new and tragic spin on this decades’ old problem. Black and Latinx New Yorkers died of COVID-19 at around twice the rate of their white counterparts…(Read More)

Local 1180 Wins OCB Decision to Accrete H+H Assistant Directors in 11-Year Battle

It took 11 years, but CWA Local 1180 never gave up its fight with NYC Health + Hospitals to unionize Assistant Directors. That battle finally paid off with an OCB decision that granted the Union the right to accrete hundreds of hospital workers in the title. Just how many ADs there are throughout H+H remains the question, however, as the citywide corporation that operates the public hospitals and clinics is pushing back. Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton said the Union has asked H+H for a complete list of all Assistant Directors with contact information, but has yet to receive a response other than they are working on it. Middleton said that reply is not sufficient. “H+H should easily be able to push a button and produce a list of everyone on their payroll in the title of Assistant Director. If they can’t, then that’s a much larger problem and speaks volumes about the way that H+H is run,” she said. In the meantime, Local 1180 is doing everything it can to find those in the Assistant Director title by making sure 1180 Shop Stewards who work at H+H find any ADs they can and have them contact the Union, sending an email to all H+H 1180 members asking them to get involved in the organizing committee, and of course, continuing to pressure H+H for the list. Any Local 1180 member who knows Assistant Directors should have them contact the Union at 212.966.5353 immediately. Any Local 1180 member who wants to get involved, please reach out to Leslie Fine. 

Local 1180 Mourns the Loss of Shop Steward Priscilla Carrow

It is with tremendous sorrow and the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Priscilla Carrow, Coordinating Manager at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, on Monday, March 30, 2020, due to COVID-19. She was also a dedicated, active CWA Local 1180 Shop Steward.

Priscilla first became a member of Local 1180 in August 2006. She was also a passionate leader of the Queens Borough Community Coordinating Committee, but she was so much more than that. She diligently served as a member of Community Board #4, was a member of the Queens Democratic Party, was extremely active in her community, and was one of Local 1180’s most involved Shop Stewards.

“We lost one of God’s most precious children due to the coronavirus, a blessed soul who gave her all every day at work at Elmhurst – a hospital overloaded with the coronavirus – to make sure others were taken care of,” said President Gloria Middleton. “I am beyond devastated and heartbroken as is the entire Local 1180 Executive Board. Priscilla always had a huge smile on her face and kind words to offer. Please keep her family in your prayers.”

As you all may know, funerals at this time will only be for the family. Priscilla is survived by her two children, son Tasheen Carrow, and daughter Keyana Reaves.

Retro Checks by March Overwhelming Approval for Local 1180 Pact

Raise Breakdown

Some '1180' Members Grumbling: City Corrects a Botched Admin. Manager Payout

By BOB HENNELLY Dec 24, 2019

WORKING OUT THE KINKS: Communications Workers of America Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton, seen here at a union rally prior to reaching a settlement with the de Blasio administration involving the union’s pay-discrimination suit on behalf of 1,800 past and present Administrative Managers, has had to deal with city glitches in making the proper payments to employees and complaints by some of her members about how much of their awards were diverted to pay lawyers’ fees in the case. (Read More)   (Download & Share)

Office of Payroll Administration Apologizes for Mishandling Back Pay Payments (Read More)

President Middleton Testifies on Equal Pay

Gloria Middleton spent the last six years negotiating for equal pay for city-employed administrative managers in New York City, after research showed a salary gap that reached nearly $100,000 among individuals working the same jobs. 

Black and Latina women were some of the lowest earners. The city settled for about $15 million in April, with paycheck bumps coming for employees later this year.  The difference those bumps will make cannot be understated, said Middleton. 

“It will allow them to afford an apartment in New York City,” she said. “It’s putting food on the table. They can actually take a vacation every now and then.”  (Read More)

2,000 to Split $15M

ADMIN. MANAGER BIAS PAYOUTS DUE IN DEC

By BOB HENNELLY,  "The Chief", Aug 30, 2019

Morton Bahr, who led CWA during the most turbulent years of the communications industry and made the union a powerful force for working people, died earlier this week at age 93.
 
Bahr was elected CWA president in 1985, serving in that position for 20 years. He successfully led CWA through the turbulent technological and structural revolution that transformed telecommunications. His vision ensured that the union would continue as an effective advocate for working men and women long into the future, across communications, information technology, and other sectors.
At this week's CWA Convention, CWA President Chris Shelton paid tribute to Bahr. "Not only CWA members, but the entire labor movement, lost a giant last night. Morty was comfortable whether he was in the company of Presidents of the United States, in the halls of Congress, or on a picket line," Shelton said. "He was not only a great president but he was a member's president. Morty loved fighting alongside members in organizing drives and on the picket line almost more than anything that he did as president of this union. He will be sorely missed."

Those wishing to share condolences and memories of President Bahr may do so here. Submissions will be shared with his family.

It is with an extremely heavy heart and deep regret that we inform you of the passing of Local 1180 Staff Representative Kevin Hines on July 22, 2019. "Kevin was not only a great Staff Representative, diligently serving the members of Local 1180 and giving it his all, but he was a great friend, a team player, and an all-around genuinely nice person," said Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton." He always had a bright smile on his face, laughter to share, and advice to offer. He will truly be missed by so many. We are all in shock and in mourning from this news."

FINALLY
A Level Paying Field Union & City Settle EEO Case

March 2019

For two years, the City of New York and the Communications Workers of America Local 1180 have worked to settle claims to compensate members who were paid unfairly based on their gender and race. A stipulation of settlement has finally been signed between parties to settle the litigation. CWA Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton said that close to 1,600 Administrative Managers — mostly women and minorities represented by the Union — were found by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to have been paid less than their white, male counterparts, after the Union filed a complaint in 2013 during the Bloomberg administration.

“Our journey for justice just took a big step forward, and our Administrative Managers, who have stood with the Union during this long fight, will finally get the recognition and restitution they deserve. Our members have served for decades, delivering important public services without the recognition or compensation they were and are entitled to. The fact that someone is female, or black, or Hispanic should make no difference in what they get paid. This case was about equal pay for equal work. We are proud to have represented our members in helping to achieve this important victory in the battle for pay equality,” Middleton said.

The Union and the City, along with the Representative Plaintiffs, have spent the past two years in settlement efforts with the help of the Court’s Magistrate Judge, and parties have recently hashed out the final details that brought about the settlement agreement. With all legal i’s dotted and the t’s crossed on the stipulation of settlement, Middleton said the parties will jointly submit to the Court a motion for approval of the settlement, which is set to give approximately $5.5 million in back pay, $5.5 million in annuity payments, additional retroactive pay estimated at approximately $4 million, and pay increases for members.

Additionally, the settlement will include a host of equitable reforms meant to ensure equal pay practices moving forward, including an oversight committee to ensure non-discriminatory pay practices, and annual disclosure of pay data tied to race and gender along the lines of legislation the City Council passed late last year and became law on January 20, 2019.

(Read More) (Download & Share)

Union Forms Bargaining Committee to Prepare for Contract Talks with City

November 2018

 Labor News

At 65%, Approval of Labor Unions in U.S. Remains High

news.gallup.com, Sept. 3, 2020

As Labor Day approaches and economic conditions in the U.S. remain tenuous, Americans' 65% approval of labor unions is once again the highest it has been since 2003. Public support for labor unions has been generally rising since hitting its lowest point of 48% in 2009, during the Great Recession.

Gallup's initial reading of the public's support for labor unions was 72% in 1936, at the advent of the modern U.S. organized labor movement, and approval peaked at 75% in 1953 and 1957. The lowest ratings to date have been recorded during particularly weak economic times. This includes the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s -- when support fell below 60% for the first time -- and 2009 through 2012, when it hovered around 50%.  (Read More)

Council Bills to Aid Families of City Workers Who Die of Coronavirus

By BOB HENNELLY (The Chief)

May 7, 2020

Under two bills moving through the City Council, the surviving family members of hundreds of municipal civil servants who died from COVID-19 would be entitled to benefits that previously were granted to the families of 9/11 World Trade Center responders who died. The civil-service package, sponsored by Council Civil Service and Labor Committee Chairman Daneek Miller, would entitle the surviving spouse and children of the deceased city employee to health coverage and classify as line of duty the death of that civil servant.  (Read More)

QUEENS, New York City (WABC) -- Public defender Tiffany Caban has conceded the Queens District Attorney race, more than a week after Queens Borough President Melinda Katz was declared the winner. The race had been the subject of a court challenge involving some of the dozens of contested ballots cast in the primary race between Katz and Caban.

Cabán told supporters on Tuesday night that her campaign was conceding after a judicial review of disputed ballots didn't significantly alter Katz's slim lead in the tightly contested race. 99 of the 114 unopened and invalidated affidavit ballots were reviewed Tuesday by a judge at the Board of Elections in Queens. That includes 42 ballots that Caban challenged during the manual recount and 28 that Katz challenged. Caban had said if the more than 100 invalidated paper ballots are counted she could come out ahead in the end.

The Senate voted to pass the bipartisan Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act 97-2. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, were the only two senators to vote against the bill. The legislation was signed into law by the President the following week, and extended and fully funded the VCF through 2090. The signing of the bill renewing the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund means there will be continued financial support for those stricken with World Trade Center-related illnesses, and there are more of these patients every day.
As the Fund was running out of money prior to this bill being signed into law, many 9/11 First Responders received reduced awards for their illnesses.

The Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act requires that beginning on October 1, 2019, the Special Master make whole victims who received reduced awards as the Fund was running out of money.

Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya recently announced that she plans to pay all victims who received reduced awards in full before September 11, 2019, which is the 18th anniversary of the attacks.