Notice to Members, September, 2020

September 11, 2020

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The Covid-19 Pandemic has been challenging for everyone.  CWA has worked with, and occasionally pressured the City to ensure that the safety of our members and their families came first.   Together, we were able to accomplish several good benefits and extra safety precautions:

• Allotted sick time will not be used due to a positive COVID-19 test result or having to quarantine.
• In an effort to minimize the risk of potential COVID-19 exposures, we were able to implement a program to allow members to work from their homes one day per week.
• Line of Duty Death Benefits. This bill provides an accidental death benefit to all public employees (state and local) who worked on or after March 1, 2020, contracted COVID, and died on or before 12/31/20
• We succeeded in obtaining extra time for lunch and breaks.
• Time off for childcare or to take care of a family member impacted by COVID-19.

 We also succeeded in fighting an attempt to move Traffic out of the NYPD and into the Department of Transportation.  This issue may rise again in the future.  If it does, we will continue to fight and use of our political allies to fight against this move.

Local 1181 is still under Temporary Administration (TA).  Although there were many obstacles and challenges to overcome we are getting closer to having elections for Local Officers and turning  the Local back over to the members of 1181. 

VP Trainor sent a letter dated April 22, 2019.  He provided a full update and reasons behind the decision to put the Local under Temporary Administration.  This letter is still posted on the Local’s website.  

On April 22, 2019 he reported that the Local’s treasury had improved from a negative balance, -$31,088.58 to a positive balance of $162,384.80.   As of today the Local 1181 treasury is over $300,000.  Since March 2019, when the Temporary Administration took place, this is an improvement of more than $325,000.00.  

While in temporary administration, the National Union amended Local 1181’s by-laws. There were needed changes as the bylaws were outdated and restrictive.  A copy of the old bylaws and the amended bylaws are available on the Local website. The following Articles and sections have been updated:

• Article III
• Article IV
• Article VII, Section 1 (C) and Section 2
• Article VIII
• Article IX, Number 2 and 4
• Article X Sections A, Section E (2) (7) (8) (9)
• Article XII, Section 1 A and B; Section 2; Section 3
• Article XIV, Section 1- 5
• Article XVI, Section 2
• Article XX New Article regarding Compensation for Union Business and Financial   Rules
• Articles XXI-XXIII were renumbered

We created new financial rules to protect the Local and avoid any future issues. A copy will be posted on the Local’s website.

There will be Elections for new officers.  We have a trained election committee in place to help run a new election.   Once elected, the new officers will receive officer training and when the temporary administration ends, they will be placed into office.  The National Union will assign the Local a Staff Representative to help in all aspects of the Local. 

We thank you for your hard work and your support of CWA during this difficult time.  The Local 1181 members working along with the National Union have made great advances. 

Thank you for your continued support for our strong Union.  We are doing everything possible to restore your faith in the Labor Movement and to encourage your involvement. If you have any representation issues that you need help with, please do not hesitate to call Rebecca Greene 646-552-4070.

The Local’s website has been updated: www.cwa1181.org.

Sincerely,
Wayne Poole
Temporary Administrator
CWA Local 1181