CWA Local 1180 Celebrates 50th Anniversary

CWA Local 1180 President Arthur Cheliotes (center) congratulates honorees at the Local’s 50th Anniversary Dinner celebration. From left: CWA President Chris Shelton (Morton Bahr Leadership Award), CWA Local 1180 Secretary-Treasurer Gloria Middleton (1180 Humanitarian Award), NYC Public Advocate Letitia “Tish” James (1180 Humanitarian Award), and Greg Mantsios, Director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute (Lifetime Achievement Award for Promoting Labor Education.)

CWA Local 1180 marked its 50th year as a union in New York City with a celebratory dinner on Friday, October 30. The monumental occasion brought together more than 300 friends, guests and supporters of Local 1180 who came for this golden anniversary.

1180 President Arthur Cheliotes welcomed all attendees with the following:

“This is truly a monumental occasion for Local 1180. It was 50 years ago, in 1965, that we started as members of the Municipal Management Society — the predecessor association to CWA Local 1180. Members knew they needed a union with full bargaining rights, and sought out and joined the Communications Workers of America after considering AFSCME and the Teamsters. Back then we had only 1,100 members, but we were CWA’s very first public sector local. By the late 1970s, our Local had grown to around 4,000 members, and by the early 1900s, our numbers surpassed 10,000.

Less than a year after we became the newly formed CWA Local 1180, AFL-CIO, we signed a contract and achieved 9 percent wage increases, established minimum salaries for the titles we represented, and ensured promotional guarantees. Local 1180 also won full health benefits, an education fund, and impartial arbitration. The agreement included improved vacation time, sick leave, and reduced work hours. The rising tide of unions improved the lives of all workers and our Local was part of it.

Now, 50 years later, we have made great strides, fighting for and winning significant achievements. It’s this determination and pride in fighting for our members and all workers, despite the attacks we face today, that will ensure Local 1180 and the entire labor movement continue the fight to achieve dignity, justice, and respect for every worker.”

Local 1180 honored four very special and unique individuals who have made a difference in the labor movement and who inspire others to do the same. Cheliotes said that their individual contributions to labor have helped shaped both the Local and the overall labor movement. Those honorees were CWA President Chris Shelton, who received the Morton Bahr Leadership Award; Gloria Middleton, Local 1180 Secretary-Treasurer, and NYC Public Advocate Letitia “Tish” James, who were both honored with the 1180 Humanitarian Award, and Greg Mantsios, Director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Promoting Labor Education.

Gloria Middleton, in receiving her award, spoke about her passion for equal rights: “My passion is to help in the fight for equal rights for everyone. As far as this country appears to have come from the days of the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s, we still have so much further to go. We need to remember that we cannot stick our heads in the sand and think that equality for all is just going to happen by osmosis. It takes the efforts of all of us to keep this country going in the direction that leads to what the forefathers of this country wrote in the constitution.”

And Gloria practices what she preaches as she is chairperson for the Local’s Committee on Civil Rights & Equity, is currently Chairperson of the CWA National Committee on Civil Rights & Equity, and is also a member of the CWA Minority Caucus.

“Reaching 50 years as a Union is a tremendous milestone,” Cheliotes said. “We have achieved great successes in our first half century and look forward to what we will be able to accomplish in the next 50 years.”