News

CWA 1133 Communications Vital Signs

May 2025 Vital Signs

Staffing:

Mercy Only:

We are working hard to push Catholic Health to make changes on the staffing issues most important to us. Some of the issues we are working to address include but are not limited to: 

1. Floating: 

  • Floating to units that staff aren’t familiar with 
  • Floating to units other than sister units 

2.Charge Nurses 

  • Ensuring each unit has a designated charge 

3.Nurse Assistants

  • Programs to support nurse assistants 
  • Shared governance 

4.Surge Beds 

  • Working to push CHS to ensure units are staffed appropriately for surge beds 
  • Holding CHS accountable to the contract and the law

5.Training/Education 

  • Pushing for CHS to implement trainings: 
  • PACU certification
  • Improve the preceptor class 
  • ECMO training
  • Chemo Training for 5E
  • Stroke certification/classes 
  • Pediatric education in ER 

6. Break relief

  • Pushing CHS to provide additional break relief other than the buddy system 

7. Many individual unit issues, including but not limited to:

  • ER issues like ITA break relief, ITA job duties, ER PIT initiative, monitor tech 
  • 5NC issues like surging beds, charge nurses taking assignments 
  • Bolstering the Transport department to assist units 
  • MACC ER to increase number of additional monitors, pushing CHS to move monitor location closer to the nurse's station 
  • CVICU, ECMO training, open-heart staffing, ensuring enough ITAs are on the needs list
  • Respiratory staffing 
  • PACU holding nurse 
  • Maternity issues such as lactation, educators, milk bank, already pushed CHS to add an additional Lactation consultant!
  • Imaging staffing and schedules 
  • 7W floats taking patient assignments 
  • Health Information coders FTEs 
  • And MANY MORE staffing issues in ALL units

May is Mental Health Awareness Month:

  • Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes their own capabilities, can cope with normal stress of life, can work productively and can contribute to their community. If you notice any abnormalities or major changes of someone you know, they may be experiencing a mental health challenge. 
  • Tell them they can anonymously call or text 988 to reach someone for emotional support or questions, help is available 24/7

Reminders & Updates:

  • There will be no contracted increase in June until the contract is resolved, and retro will be negotiated.
  • MERCY ONLY: Our 24 Hour PTO Day comes back June 3rd. Remember you cannot use it from November 15th-January 2nd or on a holiday or before or after a holiday or before or after scheduled PTO. 
  • KENMORE ONLY: Please remember to check schedules as soon as they come out to address any issues
    immediately
  • Our next membership meeting is on June 4th, 2025 at the union hall at 4:30pm, food will be provided. 
  • The Community Service Committee will be at the South Buffalo Farmers Market again this year on June 8 from 9am-1pm. Please come out and show your support. 
  • EAP is not a punishment; it is to help you. CHS uses it as a punishment, and it is not. 
  • MERCY ONLY: If you are someone in need, please contact them We have a new person in IDM, her name is Elizabeth Krombel along with Thomesha Stevenson. 
  • We will no longer respond to questions on the BMH and KMH Facebook group. It’s an out-of-date page. Please use the other Facebook group CWA Local 1133 Updates.
  • If you have any questions about the union contract, please call the union hall. 
  • If you are interested in communicating information to your unit regarding bargaining updates, please contact Bob Scime at the union hall 716-828-1133.

Parades Coming Up:

  • June 1st - Pride Parade
  • June 14th - Juneteenth 
  • July 15th - Canal Fest
  • August 16th - Puerto Rican & Hispanic
  • September 1st - Labor Day 
  • More information for each parade to come.

Lobby Day:

On March 11 and 12, CWA members across the state, including 10 from our Local, traveled to Albany to talk to our legislators about major issues that are impacting our members. We met with over 20 legislators to talk about our experiences working in healthcare. 

Some of the issues we lobbied on include: 

1. Increasing hospital funding through Medicaid and restoring hospital funding to financially distressed hospitals. 

2. Reducing the amount of time striking workers have to wait to receive unemployment benefits from 2 weeks to 1 week. We were the first CWA local on strike to benefit from our previous bill that reduced the waiting time from 7 weeks to 2. 

3. A bill to prevent mandatory overtime for ALL frontline healthcare workers. 

4. Making corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share to make sure vital programs are funded-- including hospital funding. 

We were successful in getting multiple Assembly Members and Senators to sign on to our bills and support our priorities! This is huge and is exactly why we make these trips. When we get the opportunity to tell our stories to legislators, they have to listen because they know they have to answer to their voters. Another small group will be attending the May lobby day, and we will continue to push our priorities. We are also doing candidate endorsement for the month of April. Look out for CWA's endorsement list later this month!

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE WEARING YOUR BUTTON AND BADGE HOLDER! 

Lead Mobilizers for Mercy: Bob Scime Radiology Support, Rebecca Aldrow Pharmacy Tech, Kerri Diebold-Phillips ED ITA, Cody Wagner RN ICU, Lisa Golab RN Mother Baby, Matt O'Connell RN Stress Lab, Chanell Jones Central Supply, Andrea Gilmour EKG Tech, Jenn Liberti RN Mother Baby, Lovei Martin CNA OLV, Brendon Moskal OR Tech.

Lead Mobilizers for Kenmore: Cheryl Tumia RN 3E, Fred Rich RN 3E, Courtney Polasik RN MRU, Hannah May RN Float

This update was brought to you by the Communications Committee:

Rebecca Aldrow, Jamie Banks, Kerri Diebold-Phillips, Kimberly Hayward, Brian Magner, Kevonna Neely, Larry Potts, Sharon Scime, Bonnie Shantz and Jennifer Williams.