News

CWA Local 1168 is Placed Under Temporary Administration - Update #2

Thank you to everyone who was able to get on the Town Hall call on Tuesday evening.  We appreciated the opportunity to update everyone on the Trusteeship of the Local and begin to answer the many questions members have.

 

Charges

As discussed on the call there are three sets of charges that have been filed as outlined and required by the CWA Constitution.  

We will refer to them as:

  1. Charge #1 filed against Patrick Weisansal by Robert Andruszko on May 27, 2026;
  2. Charge #2 filed against Mary Nowocien by Cori Gambini on June 17, 2026; and 
  3. Charge #3 filed against Cori Gambini and Robert Andruszko by Patrick Weisansal on June 18, 2026.  

Shareedah Al-Hark, an LPN at BGMC, was appointed as a prosecutor for Charge #1 on June 11, 2026.  Shareedah has been reviewing evidence and on June 30th notified the involved parties that she believed there was probable cause related to the charges of financial impropriety.   A trial date will be set within the next four to five weeks.  

Chris Auten, an RN at MFSH, was appointed as prosecutor for Charge #2 on June 30, 2026.  Chris will soon begin the process of analyzing the evidence and conducting an investigation as it relates to Charge #2.  

We will soon select a prosecutor for Charge #3 and get that process started as well.

 

Elections

We received many questions regarding the Local nominations and elections that were to occur this Fall.  As stated on the call Tuesday night, there will not be nominations or elections while the Local is under temporary administration.  Once all of the Local problems are resolved, the trials have been completed and the temporary administrator decides that the Local should be turned back over to the members, nominations and elections will be conducted.

 

Local Audit of Financial Records

As a point of clarification, we have retained an accountant to perform two huge tasks for us.  The first is to do a complete audit of the Locals financial records.  The second is to complete an audit of the payroll records for several years for all current and former Executive Board Members and Special Directors.  As soon as the auditor’s report is available, we will review it and generate a report to the members.

 

Please remember that these updates are the only accurate and official communication on the trusteeship of CWA Local 1168 and the issues that led to it.  If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Local at 716-639-1168.

 

Thank you!

Debora M. Hayes, Area Director, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO

Erin Spaulding, Staff Representative, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO