Healthcare Workers History in CWA
CWA started as a telephone workers union in the '30s. Over the years CWA gained a reputation as a strong, militant, democratic and progressive union. As a result workers in many other industries began to look to CWA for help building a union in their own workplaces.
The first healthcare group to join CWA was the service and maintenance workers at Arnot-Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, NY in 1969. During the 1970s there were several smaller groups of healthcare workers organizing around the country. The big breakthrough came in 1979 when the RNs at the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) organized in Western New York.
Following the success of the VNA Nurses, a group of 800 RNs in Buffalo, NY began building a union at Buffalo General Hospital called Nurses United/ CWA Local 1168. The RNs successfully won their union and stood solid together and gained an excellent first contract with the hospital which set the standard for the region. Healthcare workers throughout the area started reaching out for organizing help. CWA has grown in Buffalo from the original 800 RNs, to be the largest health care Union in Western New York with more than 7,000 members in that area alone and more than 30,000 healthcare professionals nationwide.
RNs in Utica, NY, and thousands of state workers in New Jersey--including many healthcare professionals-- became part of CWA. Thousands more were organizing with the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE/CWA) in California. Thoughout the '80s and '90s healthcare workers from Wisconsin to Florida, Massachushetts to New Mexico, and other areas around the country have come together in CWA.
CWA's reputation for power and democracy also led dozens of other unions from all kinds of industries to affiliate or merge with CWA--these include, among others, the Association of Flight Attendents (AFA), The Newspaper Guild (TNG), New Jersey Nurses Union (NJNU), International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE), Texas State Employees Union (TSEU), etc. CWA's diversity and active membership means that every member everywhere, in every industry knows we have the solidarity and support of everyone else in the union. When it comes to taking on an employer, fighting for a fair contract, or improving conditions at work--no matter how big or how strong the employer may be--there's no place better to be than standing side by side with our CWA sisters and brothers!
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