Longtime WNYCOSH ally organization, the Buffalo Central Labor Council, recognized WNYCOSH with its annual Organization of the Year award at its December meeting. CLC President, John Mudie cited the organization’s great accomplishments around 7-Eleven worker safety, temporary worker rights, and safety and health trainings. Here is some of WNYCOSH’s work over the past year:
• Partnered with the Food Bank of WNY to provide safety trainings for their workers and around responsible use of temporary labor. FBWNY uses temp labor for staffing their warehouse, but hires them on permanently after three months. WNYCOSH provides quarterly trainings for their warehouse workers to ensure they have the tools and knowledge to work safely. WNYCOSH also trained over 5,000 workers around the Western New York area in 2015.
• Workers won a key demand for safety at their job following a six-month organizing campaign with 7- Eleven worker leaders and the Worker Center at one Buffalo store location—the campaign targeted both management and OSHA. The WNYCOSH Worker Center won double coverage on night shift every night of the week at one 7-Eleven store.
• The WNYCOSH Worker Center worked with workers from Audubon Machinery in North Tonawanda to fight for their earned wages. After a rally in December 2014, one employee recovered his last paycheck. More recently, with help from the Worker Center, the New Jersey Department of Labor fined the company $40,000 in back wages and penalties for not paying the prevailing wage to six workers in 2013.
• Worker Center continued to run monthly legal advice clinics in conjunction with PUSH Buffalo and the WNY Law Center giving advice to dozens of people in 2015.
• WNYCOSH sponsored a statewide Safe Patient Handling conference in Saratoga Springs in October with over 500 people attending.
• Worker Center helped develop and train for the opening weekend of the Open Buffalo Emerging Leaders Program.
We are proud to be an organization that advocates for workplace safety and health and to help improve the working conditions of all workers. Your support will allow us to continue this work. We hope you will consider making a year-end, tax-deductible donation of $30, $50, $75, $100 or any amount to WNYCOSH today. www.wnycosh.org/donate
