On the picket line

D.C. nurses vote to strike

Registered nurses at the largest hospital in Washington voted Feb. 16 to authorize a one-day strike on March 4. The 1,650 RNs, represented by National Nurses United since Oct. 6, have been working at Washington Hospital Center without a contract since June 2010. The nurses cite problems with patient safety from understaffing, lack of respect by managerial staff, and the administration’s attempt to rescind hard-won economic gains.

The NNU filed new charges with the National Labor Relations Board on Feb. 24 alleging that WHC blocked union access to its members; spied on and threatened union members; engaged in bad-faith bargaining; and improperly ceased dues check-off. Pressure on WHC mounted when 10 D.C. Council members wrote the hospital urging them to respect the nurses’ issues and to offer a fair agreement. Their letter called the 13 percent annual turnover rate of WHC nurses over the past six years “disturbing.” (Union City! — online daily newsletter of D.C. Metro AFL-CIO Council, Feb. 17 and 25)

Poll shows support for public unions

A USA Today/Gallop poll, released Feb. 22, showed that 61 percent of respondents would oppose a bill in their state similar to one being pushed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to kill public sector collective bargaining. (Communication Workers online weekly bulletin, Feb. 25)

House budget vote cuts NLRB funding

As part of their austerity package, House of Representatives Republicans have included a 20 percent cut in the budget for the National Labor Relations Board. Though no true friend of labor, the NLRB’s role is to investigate violations of workers’ rights, oversee elections and try labor disputes. NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman said the already backlogged agency (a holdover from years of Bush inaction) would have to furlough staff for 55 days, forcing it to “severely curtail all of its operations.” The House first tried stripping all funding from the NLRB, but that amendment failed when 60 Republicans joined in voting it down. (CWA bulletin, Feb. 25)

D.C. union solidarity with Mexican workers

As part of the week-long Global Action for Workers’ Rights in Mexico that began Feb. 14, union activists and supporters in Washington picketed the Mexican Embassy on Feb. 16 demanding an end to the Mexican government’s ongoing intimidation of workers and labor rights violations. Mine Workers union president, Cecil Roberts, called the 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine explosion that killed 65 workers “industrial homicide.” No one has been accused or tried for that crime. He also condemned the Mexican army’s attack on the miners’ 2007 strike over health and safety violations. Roberts and three other union leaders delivered a letter to a Mexican Embassy representative calling on the government to “enforce the law, comply with fundamental labor rights and bring an end to the repression of Mexican workers.” (Union City! Feb. 17)