USW’s John Lepley on Mental Health, Healthcare Workers and Solidarity

John Lepley, Director of Education and Membership Development at the United Steelworkers, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast during Mental Health Awareness Month to describe a union that has been working to humanize workplaces for 84 years and is now bringing that mission into a new era with voluntary mental health classes for local union leaders and members.

The program was developed with psychology professor, Waleed Sami, from The City University of New York (CUNY), whose doctoral dissertation examined the link between unions and mental health outcomes. It teaches workers to recognize warning signs in their colleagues, creates stigma-free spaces for honest conversation and equips Local leaders with practical tools to connect struggling members with professional help.

Lepley also addressed the issues facing the union's healthcare members, the role of collective bargaining in addressing staffing and scheduling pressures and the continued support of General President Roxanne Brown for the mental health program she helped champion.

• The United Steelworkers’ voluntary mental health training classes, developed in partnership with CUNY psychology professor Waleed Sami, bring together members from across industries and regions to break down the stigma around mental health, identify warning signs of struggling colleagues and build the kind of trusted peer relationships that research shows are central to healthy human functioning. The classes have grown from an initial pilot of approximately 50 members to a regular offering at conferences and virtually. Participation has expanded significantly as the stigma around the topic continues to erode.
• Healthcare workers represented by the USW are among the most acutely affected by the mental health crisis the program addresses. This includes working in isolation, dealing daily with patients in physical and emotional distress and operating in chronically understaffed environments. Nurses and other healthcare workers face compounding stressors that the union is addressing through both the mental health curriculum and collective bargaining, which pushes for better staffing ratios, improved scheduling and stronger workplace safety standards.
• Research cited by Lepley shows a strong statistical correlation between union membership and positive workplace mental health outcomes, and a psychology professor who wrote his doctoral dissertation on precisely that relationship served as a key collaborator in developing the curriculum. Lepley also described a member's transformative experience in the pilot class that reached then-Vice President Roxanne Brown and helped build the executive leadership support that has continued under her general presidency.

Mental Health Has Always Been Part of the Union Mission

John Lepley opened by marking two milestones that arrived together this month: Mental Health Awareness Month and the United Steelworkers' 84th birthday, celebrated on May 22, the date in 1942 of the union's founding in Cleveland.

The connection, he said, is not incidental. From the beginning, the USW's founding principles included a commitment to improving workers' total well-being through collective bargaining, not just wages and benefits.

It's OK Not to Be OK

The central message the USW's mental health program carries into every class is simple: it is OK not to be OK. That message cuts against a cultural norm Lepley described from his own experience growing up in the 1980s, when toughness meant walking off pain and not asking for help. COVID-19, he said, cracked that norm open for many workers in ways nothing before it had. The stress and isolation of that period made conversations about mental health feel not just acceptable but necessary.

The program's classes are entirely voluntary, offered as part of a conference curriculum that members can choose to attend. Lepley said the most striking thing about watching these classes over time is the change in who shows up. Workers who would not have walked into a mental health session a decade ago are now among the most engaged participants. The union space, he said, makes that possible. It is a rare environment where people from different regions, different industries and often different worldviews find common ground in their shared union identity and their responsibility to look out for each other.

What the Classes Actually Do

The curriculum, developed with CUNY psychology professor Waleed Sami, does not try to train union members as therapists. It teaches them to be observant, informed and caring colleagues. Examples include the following: What are the visible warning signs that someone is struggling? Is a co-worker withdrawing from contact? Are there physical signs of possible domestic violence? Is substance use becoming apparent? What practical steps can a steward or local leader take to help someone connect with professional help? This can be a medical provider, a counselor or a faith leader in their community?

Lepley described the atmosphere in the first pilot class as something close to a balloon on the verge of bursting. People were stressed even in a positive environment, and the permission to acknowledge that stress openly produced a reaction he said he had never seen in any other class setting. Members left having formed genuine bonds and checked in on each other long after the conference ended. That outcome, he said, is the point.

Healthcare Workers and the Staffing Crisis

Healthcare is one of the most hazardous industries in the United States, and the USW's healthcare members are among the workers whose mental health needs the program is most urgently designed to serve. Nurses and other healthcare workers are routinely isolated during their shifts, dealing with patients who are in distress, sometimes under the influence of substances and occasionally violent. Staffing shortages amplify every stressor. The pandemic made it all dramatically worse, and the recovery has been uneven at best, Lepley explained.

In collective bargaining, the union is pushing healthcare employers to hire adequate staff, adjust scheduling to give workers genuine time away from work and protect workers from isolation. Lepley framed staffing not just as a workload issue but as a safety and mental health issue, noting that a nurse working alone is in a fundamentally vulnerable position that no amount of individual resilience can fully address.

Collective Bargaining, General President Brown and the Road Ahead

Lepley connected the mental health program directly to collective bargaining. Scheduling, staffing levels and the boundary between work and home life are all bargaining issues with mental health dimensions. The union's work on those fronts is inseparable from its work in the classroom.

General President Roxanne Brown has been a visible champion of the mental health program since its earliest days. She was present during the pilot class when a member described the experience as transformative, telling her it had given him a new language for connecting with the people he cares about. Her continued advocacy has been essential to the program's growth, Lepley said.

If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. More information on the United Steelworkers is available at usw.org.

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