Labor & Employment Law

Nurses, Donut Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions

By Mike Hall

Nurses in Connecticut and Dunkin’ Donuts bakery workers in Illinois recently voted for a voice at work and formed unions with AFT and the Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU).

Both groups of workers had to fight against the type of employer intimidation, harassment and other anti-worker tactics that the Employee Free Choice Act would eliminate.

Nurses at Rockville General Hospital overcame intimidation by hospital management in an unsuccessful May election and in December voted to join AFT Connecticut.

Sandy Lambert, a nurse at Rockville for 22 years, told the Hartford Courant that during the earlier campaign, she wore a pro-union button to work and was warned by a manager that the company was keeping a list of button-wearers among the 140 nurses.

The nurses filed an objection to the election with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which ordered the second election.

Sharon Thompson, an RN in The Birthplace, the hospital maternity department, says it is not unusual to work a double shift (3 p.m. to 7 a.m.) because the maternity department frequently does not have staff to cover overnight.

Me for 16 hours is not as good as me for eight hours and someone else fresh for eight hours.

We want to partner with the hospital to help reduce cost, and as the front line we know places where we could save the hospital money, without cutting patient care staff or hours and putting patients at risk. Our union will give us the power to improve care for our patients and improve working conditions for our nurses.

In Elgin, Ill., 40 bakers, fryers, drivers and other workers at a Dunkin’ Donuts bakery that supplies about 35 stores in the Chicago suburbs voted to join OPEIU Local 2009. According to the local, the workers decided to form a union after having suffered

years of wage cuts…working for an employer who routinely refused to pay out workers compensation claims, and seeing a number of their co-workers fired for calling OSHA [Occupational a Safety and Health Administration] to report health hazards.

The employer mounted an anti-union campaign and tried to exploit the language and cultural differences among the workers, says Christian Hainds, Local 2009 council coordinator. But the workers stood together.

They knew that coming together with their co-workers to organize a union with Local 2009 was the only way that guaranteed any hope for change.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).