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

OBVIOUS

A lot of us have children that live and play in Oxford. Just because you don't live in the area this petition is targeting doesn't mean you are not affected. I see this problem daily and have been fighting for change in this area. since we have attended town board meetings they have been very receptive and I think this may help. Thank you.

I just wanna wear them.

My petition is about Aldine I.S.D. dress code. I have been personally affected by not being able to wear ripped jeans because I have a limited wardrobe and issues with figuring out what to wear everyday. We want to follow rules that make sense and do away with the ones that don’t.

I believe that this is necessary because it will open many more opportunities for employment. There for it will also help our economy grow.

Inaccurate and disrespectful biopic

It’s high time that the world’s greatest city should honor the beauty and genius of one of the world’s greatest artists. Joni Mitchell used to live in the ground floor apartment at 41 West 16th Street in the Chelsea District of Manhattan. This stretch of 16th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, should be renamed “Joni Mitchell Way.” There are many important moments in New York City’s history with Joni Mitchell. But let’s start with this one: Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning And the first thing that I knew There was milk and toast and honey And a bowl of oranges, too And the sun poured in like butterscotch And stuck to all my senses Oh, won't you stay We'll put on the day And we'll talk in present tenses Joni has said that the song “Chelsea Morning” was inspired by a mobile she constructed using shards of colored glass retrieved from an alley. “We collected a lot of it and built these glass mobiles with copper wire and coat hangers. I took mine back to New York and put them in my window on West 16th Street in the Chelsea District. The sun would hit the mobile and send these moving colors all around the room. As a young girl, I found that to be a thing of beauty. There’s even a reference to the mobile in the song. It was a very young and lovely time…before I had a record deal.” The day after the Woodstock festival ended, Joni performed the song on The Dick Cavett Show. Check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXe95iTtci0 Folks, we are desperately in need of some good news. Let’s honor Joni. Let’s make this happen!

I can't believe that Saudi Arabia's brutal monarchy is STILL one of America's biggest allies. When will we cut the cord? The Saudi family dictatorship has imprisoned and tortured multiple women's rights activists. Male supporters of women's rights have also been jailed. Free these women and men NOW. Sources: 1. "'What they did to me was so horrific': brutal silencing of a Saudi feminist," Ruth Michaelson, May 24, 2019, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/24/what-they-did-to-me-was-so-horrific-brutal-silencing-of-a-saudi-feminist-loujain-al-hathloul 2. "Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Briefing: Women’s Human Rights Defenders in Saudi Arabia," Testimony of Human Rights Watch, May 23, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/23/tom-lantos-human-rights-commission-briefing-womens-human-rights-defenders-saudi

Because I don't want myself and others like me to suffer and die needlessly!

today a student was discovered in my childs high school with a loaded gun in their backpack.. how is this possible ? i want to feel safe sending my children to school. 2nd week of school and already??

Two men detained at ICE’s El Paso Service Processing Center remain on hunger strike in protest of their prolonged detention, due process violations, and the threat of deportation to the country they fled. As of September 16, 2019 the men in El Paso are on the 70th day of their hunger strike. Through an open-ended court order obtained by ICE, the men in El Paso are being force-fed for weeks at a time, in violation of medical ethics and human rights standards. A third man was deported after being medically cleared despite being on hunger strike for 63 days. In federal court, one man challenging this torture testified about the pain of having a naso-gastric tube inserted into his body. Despite the pain, he asserted he would continue on hunger strike. "I want my freedom," one man said. "After that, I will drink any protein shake or eat anything that's given to me." Individuals held in detention should have the right to refuse food as a form of protest. The World Medical Association says that force-feeding hunger strikers is "unethical" and "never justified." Force-feeding procedures used in immigration detention are extremely painful—often intentionally so to break the protest—and can constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law. Hunger striking is often the only form of peaceful protest people in immigration detention have available to them to bring attention to what’s happening behind the walls of these immigration jails. These facilities create further obstacles to pursuing immigration relief, trapping people in a nearly impossible situation where they are detained with no end in sight and no possibility for release. ICE has the discretion to release anyone in their custody. Urge members of Congress to take immediate action to demand that ICE stop force-feeding these individuals and release them now from detention to their sponsors and supporters here in the U.S. If they are not released soon, their death is imminent.