(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1122-represented Workers employed at Crisis Services, Incorporated have ratified a new, three-year contract that starts in January 2025 and features an 8% wage increase and improved health care, Union President Tom Antonio tells WNYLaborToday.com.

Crisis Services, which was started by a group of concerned citizens back in 1966 who advocated for a place for people having thoughts of suicide to seek help, operates a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, 365 days-a-year mental health hotline. 

Over the years Crisis Services has grown into a multi-disciplinary, comprehensive crisis response center that remains the only one of its kind here in Erie County, New York.

Local 1122 represents about 50 Workers at Crisis Services, Union Officials said.

The new contract was actually negotiated months before the current agreement was set to expire at the end of 2024, Antonio said: “They ‘got ahead of it and got it done.’”

The deal - which will go into effect on January 1st, 2025, calls for an overall wage increase of 8% over three years, “improved” Member options involving health care, “better” language concerning safety and being on-call, he added.

Paying tribute to those CWA/Crisis Services Members, Antonio said: “Our Membership at Crisis Services ‘deal with the most stressful crisis situations and are such a credit for what they do in a forgotten part of our Health Care System.’  ‘It really is God’s work they do and they do it all.’  ‘They are such a credit.’”

Lori Marranca - who serves as CWA Area Vice President North, said: “‘The jobs they do are unbelievable.’  One is a Sexual Assault Case Manager.  Another is a Domestic Violence Case Manager.  And others go out to people's homes ‘that are a danger to themselves or others.’  They also counsel those coming back into the community after a stay at the hospital.”

Antonio and Marranca also praised the work of the CWA Bargaining Team, which included Liz Podgorny, Angela Tauriello, Elizabeth Komoroske and Anna Hills.

“They are a ‘wonderful group and I am so proud of them working so hard and fighting for the best for their’ Co-Workers,” Marranca said.