-- Labor News & Views --

Union protests planned job cuts at Fulton State Hospital
(04/29/2010) - News Tribune - (Don Norfleet)
[Fulton, MO] About 20 members of the union representing Fulton State Hospital employees gathered Wednesday afternoon in the Biggs Forensic Center parking lot to protest Gov. Jay Nixon's planned cut of about 300 jobs at the hospital.

Jackson Health System union reratifies pay cuts
(05/04/2010) - Miami Herald - (John Dorschner)
[Miami, FL] The Jackson Health System local of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees reratified their pay reductions by a vote of 76 percent on Monday, Jackson Health System reported.

State Union Leader Seeks National Stage
(05/06/2010) - Wall Street Journal - (Naftali Bedavid)
[New York, NY] The head of New York's largest public-employees union is trying to vault into the leadership of the national labor movement, and one of his messages is aimed at the Democratic Party: You can't count on labor's blind support. Danny Donohue, who leads the 295,000-member Civil Service Employees Association, is running for secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (Afscme), one the nation's most powerful, politically active unions.

ANA: Alaska Nurses Association

Former nurses union chief will plead guilty to embezzlement
(04/30/2010) - Anchorage Daily News - (James Halpin)
[Anchorage, AK] The former executive director of an Alaska nurses union has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of embezzling more than $22,000 from the union to pay his personal bills, according to documents filed in court this week.

CNA: California Nurses Association

Nurses want certain injuries, illnesses to be presumed job-related
(05/04/2010) - Sacramento Bee - (Jim Sanders)
[Sacramento, CA] California nurses and hospitals are locked in a precedent-setting fight over injury compensation that could benefit nurses but cost hospitals hundreds of millions annually. Proposed legislation would declare that various infectious diseases or back and neck injuries suffered by nurses stemmed from their job and are eligible for workers' compensation benefits unless hospitals can prove otherwise.

General Labor News

Mayor Confronts Former Union Allies
(04/24/2010) - Wall Street Journal - (Tamara Audi)
[Los Angeles, CA] Before he became mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa rose to power here as a union leader, organizing lawyers, teachers and secretaries. But with Los Angeles facing a $485 million budget crisis, Mayor Villaraigosa is pressing for layoffs if union workers don't agree to wage cuts. That has pushed the old labor warrior to the other side of the picket line—and through the looking glass.

Hospital Cuts Hit Health-Care Workers
(04/29/2010) - Wall Street Journal - (Suzanne Sataline)
[New York, NY] With one hospital closing and others slashing budgets, the city's healthcare-job marketplace could get crowded in the coming days, and some employees fear they could be facing a long spell without work. More than 3,500 employees will have lost their jobs when St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan effectively closes on Friday, weeks after filing for bankruptcy when deals to merge with other hospital systems fell apart. As of March, the city's hospitals employed nearly 162,000 people.

Home Healthcare workers unionize
(05/06/2010) - MissouriNet - (Jessica Machetta)
[Missouri] After fighting cuts to funding — and services — throughout the legislative session, Missouri's home healthcare workers have unionized. The ballots have been counted and home care attendants — 12,000 of them — voted to form a union.

Union elections to be held at local hospitals
(05/10/2010) - El Paso Inc. - (Robert Gray)
[El Paso, TX] Two unions filed petitions late last week to hold elections at two El Paso hospitals. The unions are SEIU, the national Service Employees International Union, and NNOC, the National Nurses Organizing Committee. The hospitals are Del Sol Medical Center in East El Paso and Las Palmas Medical Center on the Westside.

Transportation unions hail new rule
(05/10/2010) - Kansas City Star - (Randolph Heaster)
[Kansas City, MO] A 76-year-old transportation law was swept away Monday under a rule change announced by a federal agency. The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor-management relations in the transportation industry, said future elections will require a simple majority of employees voting in favor of union representation. The upshot is that workers in the airline and railroad industries will have an easier path to organizing.

MNA: Massachusetts Nurses Association

Tufts Medical stuck with fine
(04/30/2010) - Boston Herald - (Thomas Grillo)
[Boston, MA] Tufts Medical Center has agreed to pay a $5,000 federal fine for failing to track nurses' injuries. The settlement with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration was reached after the feds issued a letter detailing instances in which the hospital failed to document and track injuries to staff.

MNA: Minnesota Nurses Association

Twin Cities metro hospitals, nurses prep for a possible strike
(05/04/2010) - Minneapolis Star Tribune - (CHEN MAY YEE and MAURA LERNER)
[Minneapolis, MN] Locked in the most contentious contract talks in a quarter-century, 14 Twin Cities hospitals and their 12,000 nurses are bracing for a strike that could start as soon as June 1 and send hospitals scrambling to staff their wards.

NNOC: National Nurses Organizing Committee

Union victory in Houston. What it could mean for El Paso hospitals
(05/03/2010) - El Paso Inc. - (Robert Gray)
[El Paso, TX] A union victory in Houston late Friday has energized labor leaders in El Paso who are trying to organize Las Palmas and Del Sol Hospitals. The vote at Houston's Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center, the first private-sector hospital in Texas to vote for union representation, was the culmination of years of organizing effort by the National Nurses Organizing Committee, or NNOC.

Painters Union

Union Spat Clouds School Project
(05/03/2010) - Wall Street Journal - (Anton Troianovski)
[New York, NY] An uptown labor dispute is complicating the New School's plan to build a $215 million building on the corner of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue. The school on Thursday plans to unveil long-awaited plans for what's expected to be a 16-story "University Center" with both dormitory and classroom space. The New School's current building on the site at 65 Fifth Ave. is already being demolished.

PASNAP: Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals

Temple may have to pay pickets unemployment benefits
(04/28/2010) - Philadelphia Inquirer - (Jane M. Von Bergen)
[Philadelphia, PA] In a strange twist, Temple University Hospital may wind up paying its striking nurses and allied health professionals for their time on the picket line. "They could be on the hook for a lot of money," said Bill Cruice, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP). It could amount to $1.5 million, he estimated.

Philadelphia Security Officers Union

Security firm drops objection to museum guards' unionizing
(04/28/2010) - Philadelphia Inquirer - (Stephan Salisbury)
[Philadelphia, PA] The security firm that employs about 130 security officers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art said Tuesday that it had dropped its bid to block the guards' effort to unionize. AlliedBarton, of Conshohocken, which supplies security services around the country and to many large facilities and institutions in the Philadelphia area, had filed a number of objections to a union election conducted in October.

SEIU: Service Employees International Union

SEIU's Stern Leaves Troubled Legacy
(04/26/2010) - National Legal and Policy Center - (Carl Horowitz)
[] As the leader of the second-largest union in the country - only the National Education Association has more members - Stern, now turning 60, for years has propagated a view that more is better. The only way unions can regain their post-World War II preeminence, he argues, is to dramatically expand membership, even if that means in practice (not that he would put it this way) stretching the law, discouraging internal dissent, and cutting sweetheart deals with employers.

How Mary Kay Henry Can Get SEIU Back on Track
(04/27/2010) - Beyond Chron - (Randy Shaw)
[San Francisco, CA] Incoming SEIU President Mary Kay Henry won the support of SEIU's Executive Board because she was seen as more committed to investing in organizing. Now she must translate her election over close Stern ally Anna Burger into actions that show SEIU moving in a new direction.

Pitt cafeteria employees return to work after two-day strike
(04/29/2010) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - (Len Barcousky)
[Pittsburgh, PA] Cafeteria workers at the University of Pittsburgh are back on the job today following a two-day strike. Workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ had walked out on Monday in a contract dispute with Sodexo, which has the catering contract at Pitt.

Adviser to Cuomo Is Also Top Lobbyist
(04/29/2010) - New York Times - (Danny Hakim)
[Albany, NY] Jennifer Cunningham is one of this city's most prominent lobbyists, best known for her advocacy on behalf of 1199/S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East, arguably Albany's most powerful special interest. At the same time, Ms. Cunningham is among the closest political advisers to the man who many Democrats hope will be the next New York governor: Andrew M. Cuomo.

Menlo Park council may impose terms on SEIU
(04/30/2010) - San Jose Mercury News - (Jessica Bernstein-Wax)
[Menlo Park, CA] The Menlo Park City Council will decide whether to impose terms on about 150 non-managerial employees Tuesday after city and union representatives met numerous times but couldn't reach an agreement, officials said Thursday. On April 20, the council voted in closed session to direct city staff to impose terms on workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 521, or SEIU Local 521, whose contract expired last October, Council Member Kelly Fergusson said Thursday.

Menlo Park imposes terms on SEIU workers
(05/05/2010) - San Jose Mercury News - (Jessica Bernstein-Wax)
[Menlo Park, CA] The Menlo Park City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to impose a contract on its largest emploTyee union, marking only the second time in 35 years that the city has forced terms on workers. Citing the need to rein in ongoing budget shortfalls over the long term, council members cast their votes in favor of imposing the city's "last, best and final offer" on about 150 Service Employees International Union Local 521, or SEIU Local 521, workers.

Home care workers might unionize
(05/05/2010) - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - (Guy Boulton)
[Milwaukee, WI] The results of a union vote that could affect more than 5,200 home care workers throughout the state will be announced Thursday in what could be the culmination of an extensive campaign by the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU pushed for the legislation that put in place the framework for the workers to be represented by a union.

New Union Leader Wants Group to Be More of a Political Powerhous
(05/08/2010) - New York Times - (Steven Greenhouse)
[Washington, D.C.] Ms. Henry will need more than organizing skills to fill the shoes of her visionary but divisive predecessor, Andy Stern, who was a prominent political player. Under Mr. Stern, the service employees became a formidable force in presidential, Congressional and governors' races and was the nation's fastest-growing union, expanding to nearly two million members.

UAW: United Auto Workers

UAW thrilled Cat will recall workers
(05/04/2010) - Peoria Journal Star - (Paul Gordon)
[Peoria, IL] Whatever it takes to thrill the leadership of United Auto Workers Local 974, the prospect that a couple thousand of its members could be back to work this year ranks near the top.

UAW should be rewarded for sacrifices, King says
(05/12/2010) - Detroit Free Press - (Brent Snavely)
[Detroit, MI] Bob King, who is expected to become the next president of the UAW, said union members who made big sacrifices to help save the domestic automakers should be rewarded as the companies recover.