(CENTRAL NEW YORK) – Management Overseeing Five Central New York Planned Parenthood Clinics Has Relented and Will Now Allow More Than 60 of Their Employees Who Want Unionization to Participate in a Vote That Will be Held On September 25th, Communications Workers of America (CWA) Representatives Tell WNYLaborToday.com.

The Planned Parenthood Workers - Who are Employed at Clinics in Batavia, Rochester, the Rochester Suburb of Greece, Canandaigua and Syracuse - and CWA Representatives Had Been Encountering Resistance From Central New York’s Planned Parenthood Chief Executive Officer Karen Nelson.  Both CWA Organizing Reps Patrick Weisansal and Ann Converso said the Union Was Having a “Hard Time” Getting Nelson to Recognize the Unit.

However, a Recent Rally That Was Held Outside Planned Parenthood’s Buffalo Headquarters and Additional Phone Calls and Personal Face-to-Face Discussions That Were Made and Occurred Between Several Elected Officials and Nelson Apparently Helped Gain the Promise That Planned Parenthood “Would Remain Neutral” Regarding the Upcoming Union Election, Those CWA Representatives Told WNYLaborToday.com.

“Honestly, Planned Parenthood’s Buffalo Headquarters Was a Great Place When it Came to the Rally’s Public Visibility.  People Were Driving by All Day, Honking Their Horns.  (Nelson) Was Also Contacted by a Number of Elected Officials Who Spoke to Her Face-to-Face,” Weisansal, Who Serves as CWA Local 1168’s Director of Mobilizing and Organizing, Tells Your On-Line Labor Newspaper

“It Was (Nelson’s) Home Base (in Buffalo),” Converso, a Registered Nurse (RN) Who Serves as Political/Legislative Coordinator for the CWA District 1 Healthcare Council, Told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper.  “(Nelson Initially) Wouldn’t Do it (Allow the Workers to Vote) and I Was 'Pleasantly Surprised' (Nelson) Changed Her Mind.  She said She Wanted (the Workers) to Vote.”

Overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Planned Parenthood Unionization Vote Will be Held On Thursday, September 25th at Three Sites, Including Locations in The Cities of Syracuse and Rochester and Suburban Greece.   

Suburban Buffalo-Headquartered Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1168 Already Represents 35 Planned Parenthood Caregivers in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. 

After a Merger Between the Group’s Western and Central New York Offices at the Beginning of the Year, Employees in Central New York Got a Chance to See What Planned Parenthood Employees in Buffalo and Niagara Receive Through Their CWA Local 1168 Contract. 

It Wasn’t Long After That the Non-Represented Caregivers in Central New York Took the Initiative, Contacted Local 1168 and Began the Process to Go Union. 

In Fact, Planned Parenthood’s Non-Represented Workforce Took the Bull by the Horns, Going Ahead Before the Union Could Get Started and Got More Than 70% of the Organization’s Employees in Central New York to Sign Union Authorization Cards in Moving Towards Unionizing the Workforce.

“Having a Union Here is Our ‘Only’ Hope of Making Things Better,” Cathy Stein, a 39-Year Registered Nurse (RN) Whose Been Employed by Planned Parenthood in Rochester for the Past Year and a Half, Told WNYLaborToday.com.  “What We Want is a ‘Say.’  We Make Planned Parenthood ‘Roll’ and We Should Have the Opportunity to Have a ‘Say’ in How it ‘Rolls.’  Management ‘Does Not Listen.’  They’ve Totally Ignored Us and Our Suggestions.  We’ve Been ‘Disrespected.’  We Want to be ‘Respected’ as Professional Caregivers.”

“Management Doesn’t Want Us to Talk to the CWA,” 31-Year-old Planned Parenthood Nurse Myra Perry Told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper This Week.  “The Biggest Thing is We Want a ‘Say’ in Our Job and We Want to be ‘Respected’ as Professionals.  We Want to be ‘Treated Fairly.’  Management’s Trying to ‘Discourage’ Us From Unionizing.  At the Same Time, We’re Losing Valuable Staff (Due to the Present Working Conditions).”

As the Union Election Gets Closer, Both Weisansal and Converso Tell WNYLaborToday.com the Workers are “Hanging Strong.”  “Nothing’s Changed and No One Has ‘Flip Flopped.’  The Only Challenge, Again, is That Some Workers Have Decided to Leave Because of the Working Conditions You Learned About by Speaking With (Stein and Perry),” Weisansal Told WNYLaborTodaycom.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: To Read Your On-Line Labor Newspaper’s July 23rd Labor News Report On the Drive to Unionize Planned Parenthood in Central New York, Go to: Fed Up, Non-Represented Employees At Five Planned Parenthood Clinics In Central New York Spearhead Effort To ‘Go Union’