On August 20th, Members of the executive board of CWA 1168 conducted a series of concerning votes. In addition to always pushing the local for more member participation and decision-making, Patrick Weisansal has fought for open bargaining for the last 2 contracts. Open bargaining means inviting members to bargaining sessions so that any member can sit in the bargaining room and see and hear what is happening live. During this bargaining, Patrick was always pushing for more updates and more member participation. He felt that members should know day to day what was happening at the bargaining table. Unfortunately, much of the executive board did not support this. Patrick has been fired from his position as Organizing Director at the local. Mary Nowocien has also been fighting for open bargaining and more transparency and participation of members during bargaining. She runs a program to reach out to all new members to welcome them to CWA, see how they are, and serve as a mentor for our new members. She also was a vocal supporter of open bargaining, brought in new stewards, and involved/educated rank and file members as mobilizers/organizers. Mary also vocalized her opinion on the contract especially on the lump sum bonus and changes in language. Mary has been fired from her position as New Hire Committee Chair. Mary and Patrick are leaders in a national initiative through our national union called CWA Strong. This is a program that encourages member participation and wins with members leading the fight. Some of the executive board suspended funding for this project that our membership voted on and fired the facilitator from the trainings. This project has been in place and moving forward for over a year. A couple of examples of CWA Strong initiatives: - Staffing letter. A group of CWA members communicated with members throughout Buffalo General to gather their staffing issues and bring them to management in a meeting in the spring. This was leading up to bargaining and was to prepare us for the fight to take Kaleida Health on for better staffing. - When members came out strong against uniform color rules, CWA Strong and Patrick led a fight to and deliver a pile of petitions and won. This was a big win and made news. - Mary Nowocien led a fight against the closing and cutting of the cafeteria hours at DeGraff and won from working closely with the workers affected and including them in the fight. - The New Hire Committee that worked with new CWA members to welcome them to their new position, support, and mentor them through their probationary period. - Pennies for Evelyn: when Kaleida wanted to take away a pay differential for a longtime lower wage union member, CWA Strong made sure she didn’t lose her differential. We, the undersigned, are against the firing of Patrick Weisansal, Mary Nowocien, and the cutting off of the CWA Strong Program. Instead, we believe in the following principles: - Fighting for issues that are deeply and widely felt by members. - Putting the issues that are widely and deeply felt above the relationships of union leaders and management - “Nothing about us, without us”. Members affected by a particular working condition get the biggest say in how and when it is fixed or changed - including total transparency around bargaining and the inner workings of our union. - No more two-tiered systems. We won’t sell younger or newer workers out for the benefit of any other members. It is unacceptable for union leaders to fire their fellow members for being outspoken and wanting to do things differently. We wouldn’t allow the employer to do it and we can’t let our own local. Initiated by the following executive board, special directors and bargaining committee members, Cori Gambini - President - CWA Local 1168 Sarah Buckley - Legislative & Political Action Director, CWA 1168, Millard Fillmore Registered Nurse Michele Murray - Area Vice-President, Buffalo General Hospital, Technical, Clinical, Clerical Bargaining Unit Nadine LaFalce - Area Vice-President, Millard Fillmore Hospital Technical, Clinical, Clerical Bargaining Unit Myriah Kin - Chief Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, BGH, Technical, Clinical, Clerical Elaine Morley - Chief Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, Buffalo General Hospital Registered Nurses Frank Jurgens - Chief Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, MFS, Technical, Clinical, Clerical Denise Abbott - Healthy & Safety Director, CWA 1168, DeGraff Memorial Hospital Registered Nurse Kim Kornowski - Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, Millard Fillmore Hospital Registered Nurses Mary Nowocien - Chief Steward, Bargaining Committee Member, DeGraff, Technical, Clinical, Clerical, Service Former Chairperson for the New Hire Committee Patrick Weisansal II - Former Mobilizing and Organizing Director, CWA Local 1168

This is about UNFAIR TAXATION and, as a hybrid owner, this definitely affects me.

The Trump Administration's Department of Labor just posted harmful regulatory changes in the Federal Register that would drastically reduce wages and job opportunities for US workers and protections for workers on H2A visas. The 489 pages of complex regulations announced by the Trump Administration would devastate protections for all farm workers and we must keep them from rolling out. The public comment period has just opened and will be open until September 24. Please help us do all we can to make sure these changed regulations do not go in effect by taking action today. Please sign and add personalized comments to your signature as personalized comments get a better response.

Lake Associations throughout NJ have relied upon PREDFDA (Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act) to help meet the rising cost of maintenance issues for lakes and dams. Amendment A5043/S3661 will gut the law and make it impossible to maintain over 180 dams in more than 1000 lakes. Majority of these dams and lakes are maintained by private Lake Associations. Without all residents paying a fair share, these dams and lakes will fall into disrepair and eutrophication. Dam disrepair could put property and people's lives at risk , and the lakes could become an environmental nightmare. Eventually the taxpayers will be on the hook for the remediation. Governor Murphy Veto these amendments and set up a committee of experts to evaluate what neglect of these lakes will cause. PS. Thanks to your efforts with emails and phone calls A5043 was conditionally vetoed and left to expire. We now have a new nemesis even more cruel to the lake environments. This bill is A2480/S908. We must start this fight all over again with letters and phone calls if we want to save our lakes! Call your Assembly and state Senators and of course Gov. Murphy 609-292-6000.

Guaranteed basic income has been demonstrated to be an incredibly effective method of alleviating poverty and many ancillary problems associated with poverty. UBI is also a powerful tool in the fight for social and racial justice. Lastly, UBI is good for the economy.

Waiting tables is an extremely involved job. It requires more than what meets the eye as the general public has very little idea of what it entails. It’s extremely demanding and people can be so rude, they act as if they are the only person in the restaurant. The idea that the customer is always right is a fallacy that allows this behavior. It should be within reason of course to receive the best service, however often times people take things out on the server that is out of their hands such as the kitchen’s mistakes. A bad tip takes away from a good tip and when you’re forced to pay 3% of your sales to hosts, bussers, and bartenders a 20% tip is already a 17% tip. To do a job where you are constantly moving for 8 hours, never sitting down, hot, sweaty , rude people and you still have to smile is a performance that is NOT easy. People will sit in your section and take their time to order an appetizer and water, spend 1 .5 hours in the seat playing on their phone on a Saturday night. Not realizing the window a server has to make their money is about 3 hours and we do this by flipping our tables, so tipping by percent then is really a slap in the face. Also the federal government taking away gratuity for large parties really cut our income by a 1/3 . Same thing a large party takes up your whole section so let’s say they stay 3 hours and don’t tip, you actually end up paying for their food, losing money. If the kitchen messes up, the food is comped but there’s no recourse or respect to servers time or compensation. In order to balance this out servers should at least make 6$ hour or minimum wage . I feel the time that corporate restaurants not paying their staff and using servers to pay with their hard earned money needs to end . I’m waiting on change !!!!!!

Recently when several workers at the UCLA Green lab inquired about establishing equitable pay scales for all of the employees at the lab, management's response to the meeting request was to fire, the day after the request was made, a woman who was thought to have organized the group. Though this reaction is appalling in any workplace, it is exceptionally disgusting when it takes place at a public institution which is tasked with studying and helping those with mental illness and the known link of hostile work conditions with causing mental illness (study link below). You can’t be of true service to the study & care of those with mental illness if you help create conditions that can cause it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1757742/pdf/v056p00302.pdf

RAs completed full work related requirements throughout the 2018-2019 school year. However, they were not fairly or fully compensated for the work they completed. RAs report financial instability and lack of communication regarding this topic.

Center Pocket Billiards Café is a reputable small, minority-owned, family friendly business in Maryland. We are seeking the approval of a liquor license for a billiards and full-service restaurant and bar at 4931 Tesla Drive, Suites G-J, Bowie, MD 20715. We will provide a safe environment and host location for the American Poolplayers Association and TAP pool leagues, tournaments, and pool instruction. We host weekly adult, ladies, juniors, and seniors leagues. We are owned by pool players for pool players who love the sport of pool. Your support will allow our safe and family-friendly establishment to come to Prince George’s County. We encourage community involvement and participation. We welcome novice and experienced players as well as the curious to sign up for a team to connect with others in the community. We are coordinating our security plan with the Prince George’s County Police Department to ensure our security procedures are appropriately aligned with our business concept. Operating a safe and secure establishment is our number one priority, not only for our players and patrons but for the community as a whole. Thanks for your support!

If we allow our seniors to lose their homes because they can no longer manage to pay property taxes, we may be creating a new underclass of people dependant on public services who could have managed to take care of themselves if they didn't lose their homes. I spend the entire year trying to keep up with bi-annual property taxes on a limited income of veterans' pension. This leaves us with no savings at all for any emergent need, even a minimal cost doctor's visit is seriously considered as to necessity. My husband is a service-connected veteran but not at 100%, so no tax relief for him. Please consider the elderly of our state and don't allow them to become homeless and an unnecessary burden to society due to property taxes.

I have been personally affected by this issue- everyone is touched by the private and rapacious banking and finance industry. I am a teacher, cannot afford to live in my county, and do not want my pension and tax dollars to be invested in fossil fuels or extractive, violent industries.

The for-profit healthcare machine, Steward Healthcare, is up to familiar antics: silence the nurse, forget the patient and make more money. Our nurse’s union began contract negotiations in October 2018 and have been operating on a series of extensions with the hope of reaching a reasonable deal. Instead of a fair union contract, Steward insists on an either/or decision - agree to a loophole that could bust the union or accept unfairly low wages and concessions on healthcare benefits; a coupling of “shut up or earn less” proposals. Our union is our most effective platform to stand up for our patients who need us for our specialized and individualized care. Hillside is the only hospital in the area that rehabilitates amputees, paraplegics and quadriplegics, patients with multiple sclerosis, brain injuries, and Parkinson’s, or those recovering from a stroke. It is a shame Steward wants to force us to decide on patient advocacy or jeopardizing our own economic welfare. Steward’s familiar antics leave us concerned that Hillside will join other local institutions in the graveyard of once owned Steward facilities; a healthcare flip that they later deem as a flop because there were not enough commas after the dollar sign. Our patients cannot afford for us to be another casualty of Ohio’s unregulated healthcare system – one that allows profit-centered healthcare giants, like Steward, to chew up and spit out community-minded hospitals. Join us in telling Steward that our nursing union is the best platform to advocate for our patients. Nurses should not have to choose between their union or unfair wages!