A protest rally was held at the Satellite Office of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) on 815 N. Randolph, Champaign, Illinois, during the late afternoon of August 9th (Mon.), 2004. It included CUPHD employees and their supporters in the community. The protest was timed to coincide with a meeting of the health board within the Satellite Office, which received input from some of the protesters during a public comment session. Some board members appeared to be ill at ease during this session.

The leaders of the protest on the outside were Jerry Wright and Kathy Reardon, who are CUPHD employees (see the photo below). Approximately 30 people participated in the protest by holding signs and chanting various slogans, like "No Contract, No Peace!" and "We need a Leader, Not a King!" Many employees are unhappy with the anti-union tactics of CUPHD Administrator Dave King and the majority of health board members (including Linda Cross & Carol Elliott).

Employees Protest Anti-Union Activities of Management at CUPHD Office

The employees believe that the management has engaged in a campaign of union-busting and intimidation after their labor union, AFSCME, won a certification election during November of last year. This includes the following:

1) CUPHD has spent up to $50,000 in tax dollars to hire a local lawyer and a notorious union-busting law firm from Chicago who are attempting to nullify the certification election in court.

2) Two members of the union bargaining committee, who are both dental hygienists, were laid off from their jobs earlier this summer under suspicious circumstances.

3) Representatives of management have been stalling at the bargaining table, rather than negotiating in good faith, pending the outcome of the legal challenge to the certification election in court.

4) Inside the workplace, there is reportedly a vicious campaign of anti-union intimidation taking place.

If true, many of these tactics would violate laws governing labor-management relations, and could produce sanctions against the management of CUPHD by the Illinois Labor Relations Board or the National Labor Relations Board. As a result of such tactics, the morale of employees has declined significantly during the past several months.

Employees Protest Anti-Union Activities of Management at CUPHD Office

The two dental hygienists, Pam Roberts and Michelle Kramer, have worked at CUPHD for 25 years and 10 years, respectively. They were laid off from their jobs after the dentist at CUPHD decided to return to school. Currently, administrators are seeking another dentist for this vacant position. According to the two dental hygienists, whenever this happened in the past, they were never laid off. They suspect that they they were laid off because of their participation in the bargaining committee and other union-related activities. Furthermore, when CUPHD hires another dentist, they've been told that they "may" be rehired if "they are needed." At the present time, CUPHD has suspended all child dental services in Champaign County, including public outreach programs.