On the picket line

Calif. hospital workers nail CEO greed

After the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System in California proposed belt-tightening measures — layoffs of 100 out of 900 workers and cuts to pensions and health benefits — during contract negotiations with the Healthcare Workers union, NUHW launched a counterattack. Union research into executive pay exposed that outgoing CEO Sam Downing is scheduled to collect a payout of nearly $4 million in so-called “supplemental” pensions, in addition to his annual pension of $150,000. So NUHW took the story to the L.A. Times, which ran an exposé on April 28. The story also noted that Downing’s $790,000 salary in 2009 made him the third-highest-paid state employee. Then the State Assembly held a well-publicized hearing on executive pensions and voted to perform an audit of the publicly funded hospital in Monterey County. Incidentally, Salinas Valley has a long history of labor struggles. John Steinbeck set his epic novel “Grapes of Wrath” there, and César Chávez led local farm workers in a massive strike in the early 1970s. And the beat goes on. (nuhw.org, May 3)

Kaiser nurses stage one-day strike in S. Calif.

The 2,500 nurses at 80 Kaiser Permanente facilities in Southern California called a one-day strike on May 18. Nearly 2,000 members of the Healthcare Workers union set up a picket line at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center to send a message to management: “We want a contract that protects patients and keeps our benefits intact. With nearly $1 billion in profits so far this year, Kaiser can easily afford to meet our demands.” The NUHW release noted: “Because of our action last week, Kaiser’s bargaining team knows without a doubt that we’ll do whatever it takes to win a fair contract.” (May 21)

UW-Superior academic staff votes union

If Gov. Scott Walker thought that attacking collective bargaining rights of public sector workers would intimidate workers and kill unions, his agenda has totally backfired. The academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Superior voted overwhelmingly May 18 to be represented by the American Federation of Teachers. This is the sixth time in the last three months that UW workers at various campuses have voted for union representation, and the first time in UW’s history that academic staff — 174 part-time and nontenured faculty and nonteaching professionals — joined a union. The faculty at UW-S already belongs to the AFT. (aflcio.blog, May 19)

Memphis strikers finally make Labor Hall of Fame

On April 29, in an emotional ceremony that included several standing ovations, the 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers who struck in 1968 for the right to join a union were inducted into the Labor Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. This was the first time that a group of workers was inducted into the U.S. Labor Department institution. Striker Alvin Turner “drew strong parallels between the problems they faced in 1968 and the attacks on public employees today. ... He said in times like these, it is essential workers stick together.” (Union City, Metro D.C. AFL-CIO online newsletter, May 2)

NLRB sues Arizona over anti-union amendment

The National Labor Relations Board has sued Arizona to stop a recently passed amendment to the state’s constitution requiring that workers hold secret ballot elections before a company will recognize a union. Says the NLRB, this interferes with federal law giving employers the choice of recognizing a union if the majority of workers sign cards, a practice known as card check. (New York Times, May 7)