On the picket line

Vermont workers protest NLRB ruling

The Vermont Workers Center sprung into action on Oct. 5, two days after the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision reclassifying nurses who supervise one or more associates as ineligible for union representation. The center held an angry and loud picket line outside the Federal Court building in Burlington to protest the anti-union ruling. “We won’t stand still as the Bush labor board rolls back workers’ rights,” read an Oct. 4 VWC news release for the demonstration. “With the Oakwood Healthcare Inc. decision (one of three cases collectively called ‘Kentucky River’), this administration is on the road to strip up to 8 million workers of their freedom to have a union on the job.”

The release continued: “It is clear that management will sculpt ‘supervisory’ responsibilities to meet this new standard; and it is equally clear that the anti-worker board majority will look to apply that standard in other industries, as well.” The VWC release quoted two dissenting members of the NLRB as estimating that “by 2012 professional workers who could be affected by this ruling might number almost 34 million, accounting for 23.3 percent of the work force.” The Vermont Workers Center is affiliated with Jobs With Justice, whose Web site features a petition protesting the NLRB ruling and demanding union representation for all workers. To sign it, go to www.jwj.org.

UMass nurses vote to strike

Registered nurses at the UMass Memorial Medical Center, University Center, voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike on Sept. 27. The hospital, which posted $100 million in profits in the last 18 months, is demanding concessions that would cost the nurses up to $8,000 a year in lost wages and benefits. Management wants to dramatically increase health insurance costs and eliminate the nurses’ pension plan as a benefit. The Massachusetts Nurses Association estimates that will cut retirement savings by 35 percent, with a potential loss of as much as $104,000 for many nurses.

“The [vote sends] a clear and powerful message to the hospital that our nurses are firmly committed to their positions in this negotiation and we will not allow management to take away every benefit that makes it worthwhile to work here,” said Kathie Logan, chair of the MNA bargaining unit in a Sept. 29 union news release.

Negotiators for the 830 nurses at UMMC have attended more than 20 sessions since last December, with the last several including a federal mediator. Stay tuned.

New Brunswick nurses win strike

It took a 25-day strike for 1,300 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., to win a decent three-year contract. The big issue, ironically, was health coverage, which the union says was “greatly improved.” A joint worker/management committee was set up to look into continuing health-care issues. The nurses, represented by United Steel Workers Local 4-200, also won 3-percent pay raises for each year of the contract and new employee rights and safety provisions. This strike just goes to show why all nurses need collective bargaining rights to fight off the bosses’ attacks.

Detroit teachers approve contract 3 to 1

By a vote of 5,401 to 1,714, Detroit teachers approved a compromise contract after a hard-fought 16-day strike. Altogether 7,115 of 9,000 members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers voted for the three-year contract.

“This was a tough contract to negotiate,” said Janna K. Garrison, president of AFT Local 231, in an Oct. 6 news release. “We managed to stave off the district’s efforts to cut our pay, gut our seniority rights and do away with step increments. While we did have to make some concessions, they were nowhere near the $90 million in concessions the district wanted. This is a contract that we can work with and build on for the future.”

Immigrants in Gulf cleanup win overtime pay

A Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit forced Belfor USA Group, one of the biggest disaster-recovery companies in the country, to pay immigrant workers hired by its subcontractors in the Gulf Coast more than $200,000 in overtime pay. The center brought the lawsuit on behalf of 175 workers who had worked as many as 80 hours a week cleaning up Tulane University and other projects. In the agreement worked out in September, Belfor set up a toll-free number so workers could complain about mistreatment, and agreed to monitor practices of subcontractors.