District 1 New York Legislative & Political Action Team Gathers To Plan For 2023

With several highly successful years of fighting for workers in the New York State legislature under our belt, the D1 New York Legislative & Political Action Team (LPAT) met on January 25th in New York City to recap 2022 and plan for both implementation of our recent victories, and what we’re fighting for in 2023.

Our legislative work includes meeting with elected officials to advocate for legislation that will protect our jobs and lift up workers, as well as rallying CWA members to take action on these issues. And 2022 was the latest in a string of major years for us! Our 2022 wins include:

• Billions of dollars for hospital funding to support our healthcare workers for financially distressed and safety-net hospitals, plus more in discretionary funding (and we’re keeping up the fight this year to make sure the hospitals in which our members work get what they need).
• A historic win on labor standards in broadband funding, including prevailing wage so that good union employers, like ours, don’t get undercut by low-road subcontractors, preference for companies that have strong workplace safety standards, qualifications so the companies our members work for get federal broadband funding, and prioritizing providers that offer speeds of 1GB up and down.
• Legislation to protect our members' jobs, stopping anti-union "One Touch Make Ready" regulations that would have threatened telecom jobs by allowing companies to hire contractors to do our work.

And in 2023, the work begins again! LPAT members discussed plans for the coming year to build on these wins, as well as how to ensure that new legislation is implemented properly and benefits our members.