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News :: Labor |
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Labor Headlines 9-7-02 |
Current rating: 5 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
07 Sep 2002
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Headlines as broadcast during the Illinois Labor Hour, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on WEFT 90.1 FM, Champaign. Provena Nurses Fired for Union Activity, Patient Concerns; ILWU Struggles Against "Bait and Switch" Negotiation Tactics; Homeland Security: Bush Still Wants to Break Unions; Bush Capitalizes on Labor Day; Corporate crime update (Citigroup, "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap); 9-11 Retaliation: Louisiana State U. Researcher Fired for FBI "Person of Interest" Label |
News:
Provena Nurses -- more next week
An outspoken nurse from Urbana's Provena-Covenant Medical Center was fired yesterday, according to a report in today's News-Gazette. Nikki Hurley, a registered nurse who worked in cardiac services was fired during a phone call from the department's director. The hospital says she was fired for using a fax machine for non-work purposes and for failure to follow instructions. Provena-Covenant is banning Hurley from hospital property. The previous day, Hurley was one of three Provena-Covenant nurses who spoke at a panel discussion hosted by the Champaign County Health Care Consumers. The panel's focus was on the quality of care at the hospital. Hurley and the others said that the Provena-Covenant's recent staffing cuts have dramatically hurt patient care. They say that staffing ratios have gone from one nurse for five patients to one nurse for nine patients, and they say that support staff have been eliminated, forcing registered nurses to take on additional duties such as watching patient monitors, stocking shelves, and cleaning toilets. A total of six nurses attended the forum, but a nurse who spoke anonymously said that many more wanted to attend but were afraid of retaliation from hospital administrators. On Thursday last week, the News Gazette published a story about Hurley and two other nurses, saying that their concern for patients and their attempts to organize a union at Provena-Covenant led to retaliation. The other two nurses had already been fired. The nurses began organizing a union with the Illinois Nurses' Association in 2000, but the association abandoned the campaign in 2001. Since it's illegal to fire someone for trying to organize a union, one of the fired nurses filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, however the board rejected the charges. Both nurses are now working elsewhere.
http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=12276
ILWU
Are the west coast seaport operators trying to provoke the longshore workers to strike so that George Bush can break the union with the US armed forces? Reports from the bargaining table between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore Workers' Union suggest that such provocation may be the owners' strategy. On September 2, the Longshore workers issued a press release stating that as both sides were reaching agreement on the two most important issues, the owners drastically switched terms, ending the discussions. The seaport operators' next move was to call the Bush administration, which has threatened to send military personnel to seize and operate West Coast ports. ILWU President Jim Spinosa said, quote, "Every time we get close to a agreement, PMA reneges." unquote. Spinosa believes that the owners want to create a crisis to allow the government to force a contract on the workers. The union offered two examples of such bait-and-switch tactics. On Saturday, Aug. 30 the owners changed their position on technology, saying that the union would not be allowed to represent workers hired to work with new seaport technology, reversing a position the owners held from the opening day of bargaining. The following day the employers changed their position on health care. The ILWU said that after days of bargaining and give and take by both sides, the negotiating teams agreed on a framework for the health benefits plan. But the next morning the owners poisoned the deal by demanding changes in the grievance process before accepting the health plan. An agreement on health care was reached later in the week, after the owners' call to Bush and after a growing chorus of public figures--including Jesse Jackson--publicly urged Bush to stay out of the negotiations. West Coast activists have been confronting a coalition of fifty corporations who want Bush to break the union if they go on strike. The corporate coalition is called the West Coast Waterfront Coalition and includes many prominent national retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target Stores, the Gap, and Payless Shoes. More information about the corporate involvement in the longshore negotiations can be found at the Jobs with Justice website, www.jwj.org.
http://www.jwj.org
http://www.portmod.org/membership/general.htm
http://www.ilwu.org
Homeland Security
When Congress re-convened last week after a five-week long vacation, George Bush went back on the offensive, insisting that 170,000 employees of the a proposed Homeland Security Department be stripped of collective bargaining and civil service rights. About 50,000 of those employees are currently members of unions, but they will lose their union under Bush's plan. All the employees receive civil service protections. Bush, America's first so-called "MBA President", says he needs the managerial flexibility to hire and fire at his discretion, but prominent Democrats like Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle called Bush's proposal, quote, "a power grab of unprecedented magnitude," unquote. Denise Dukes, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees who works in the Federal Emergency Management Agency responded to Bush, saying, quote, "Union members are not an obstacle to homeland security. We are homeland security," unquote. Bush will fail to win passage of the bill by his original goal of September 11, and he has threatened to veto the homeland security bill if the senate doesn't accept his terms of employment.
http://www.afl-cio.org/news/2002/0904_homeland.htm
Labor Day-Bush
Labor Day brought George Bush to some labor opportunities with union members. While Bush hasn't met with the president of the AFL-CIO in the nineteen months since he's been in office, he has met with the leaders of two dissident unions, on multiple occasions. Labor day was another opportunity for Bush, when he met with James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters and with Doug McCarron of the Carpenters union, which quit the AFL-CIO in March 2000. Both unions have supported Bush's call for oil drilling in sensitive environmental areas. In return Bush has expressed sympathy with Hoffa's desire to end the federal oversight of the Teamsters, which has been in place since Ronald Reagan's presidency (which the Teamsters also supported). The Carpenters' president gains credibility appearing with Bush, since the Carpenters no longer participate in a national labor federation; and Bush gains much-needed credibility with workers. Some call it a deal with the devil, but the Teamsters and Carpenters stress that they are simply being flexible. Hoffa said, quote, "The Teamsters have made our point clear: We have no permanent allies, only permanent interests. The Teamsters cannot be counted on as an ATM machine for the Democratic National Committee," unquote.
Corporate crime update:
1) Citigroup: Speaking at a Merrill Lynch converence, the chairman and CEO of Citigroup, admitted that the corporate giant engaged in so-called "inappropriate behaivor" during the 1990's, but he stopped short of admitting that his corporation broke the law. Citigroup's stock value has declined about 30 percent since being investigated for its role in two of the largest bankruptcies in US history. Citigroup is being investigated for the collapses of Enron and WorldCom, as well as dishonest reporting of the value of stocks and impropriety in its consumer finance operations, like its credit card operations. The CEO blamed the crisis on, quote, "the incredible bubble in the internet sector" unquote. The Wall Street Journal reported that Citi may pay a $200 million settlement.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ft/020906/1031119131629_1.html
2) "Chainsaw Al": Paid $500,000 to settle with SEC
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020904/bs_nm/accounting_sunbeam_sec_dc_3
9-11 Retaliation: Louisiana State U. Researcher Fired for FBI "Person of Interest" Label
http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/09/2002090502n.htm
http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/09/2002090601n.htm |
