For workers in two lockouts I've written about in recent months, it's two different stories. The lockout at Connecticut's West River Health Care Center ended this week. The lockout had gone on for nearly four months, and the National Labor Relations Board had issued a complaint against the nursing home chain, HealthBridge, for bargaining in bad faith. That was scheduled to go to trial in May. The workers return under their previous contract while bargaining continues. It's a victory to have the lockout over and workers back in the nursing home; hopefully it will be followed by management actually bargaining in good faith and not just advancing more ridiculous demands.
It was a happy scene as workers returned:
Elizabeth Geneus, who has been working at West River for 11 years, said she was happy to return after four months even as the negotiations drag on.
"The residents were happy to see us again," she said. "And this is our family -- this is our home. Some of them were crying when they saw us today."
One of the residents, Stella Chizenko, who has been at West River for almost two years, agreed.
"I was thrilled to death today," she said. "Thrilled to death. You know, when you're used to a certain group of people, and then they take them away all of a sudden, you feel lost."
SEIU 1199, the workers' union, has
proposed a cooling off period, in which the old contract would stay in place and workers could neither be locked out nor go on strike.
It's a different story for workers at American Crystal Sugar, who have been locked out for nine months and counting. That means falling behind on home payments, retirement savings and more:
Some Drayton and Hillsboro workers have been forced to sign up for fuel assistance and food stamps, many for the first time in their lives. Renae Fredrickson said she became physically ill at the thought of asking for help to feed her family.
“I went to the food pantry the first time and it was just ... oh,” she said. “I’ve always donated. I’ve never had to go there.”
All so the highly profitable company can get rid of the
tumor that its CEO considers a union contract to be.
(Continue reading below the fold.)
- Another company is singing the song of the underfunded pension. The Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City is trying to take its workers pensions, and their union is pledging a serious fight to stop it.
- American Rights at Work has launched Union Shop: a guide to what's union-made. Each week they'll feature a union-made product in each of several categories.
- Sara Ziff became a model at 14. At 29, she's turned organizer, starting the Model Alliance:
The Model Alliance is now collaborating with the Freelancers Union to pass the proposed Freelancer Payment Protection Act, which would protect independent contractors in New York from losing out on wages from clients and agencies. The organization is also in talks with Career Transitions for Dancers, a nonprofit that helps dancers plan for the end of their performance careers with counseling, scholarships, and placement. Ziff hopes that they can create a similar program for models.
- A Michigan teacher's aide was fired for not giving her boss access to her Facebook account.
- JC Penney has laid off 600 people in Texas and is closing a call center in Pennsylvania.
- Cleveland State University is finding shady ways to get around state and local laws pushing it to hire local workers.