Unions are acting like bullies on the labor playground…
There has been an ongoing battle between two large national unions and it’s a bit sickening to watch.
The SEIU (the Service Employees International Union) and the CNA (the California Nurses Association) have been fighting like a bunch of babies over representing workers at hospitals in different parts of the country.
It blows my mind that at a time when workers need the help of unions the most union leaders can’t get their acts together and play nice with each other.
I know, unions fight all the time over turf as they try to gain power and increase their ranks, but this skirmish has become ugly and public and it makes organized labor look like a bunch of angry boobs.
They are filing restraining orders and even getting violent.
This from the Los Angeles Times:
The California Nurses Assn. on Wednesday secured a temporary restraining order against the Service Employees International Union, accusing it of harassing the board members of the Oakland-based group.
The two influential nationwide unions have a long, acrimonious rivalry that reached a new height in March after they publicly battled over whether the SEIU should represent more than 8,000 nurses and other healthcare workers in Ohio.
The dispute flared again at a labor conference in Dearborn, Mich., on Saturday, when SEIU protesters attempted to gain access to a ballroom where Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the nurses association, had been expected to speak. Several people were injured in a scuffle, including a 68-year-old woman who fell after being pushed.
DeMoro accused SEIU members and staff last week of stalking nurses association board members at their homes, looking through windows and shouting.
SEIU spokeswoman Lynda Tran said union organizers have been driving a nurse and respiratory therapist to board members’ homes to express their disapproval of the association’s tactics in Ohio last month.
It’s a she said she said and it’s doing little to build up workers in this country.
At a time when wages are falling and government agencies that area supposed to be protecting workers rights and safety are being hacked back, you would think the labor movement would be able to sit down and take out the peace pipe.
From where I sit, it seems these unions are more concerned with protecting their corner of the playground than protecting workers.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
The SEIU, in which I am a relatively new member of, is the fastest growing labor union in the country for a very good reason. It is called aggression. What you may interpret as a ‘turf’ war may be true to the extent of my union wanting to achieve higher numbers. The harsh truth is with almost 2 million members in the SEIU, there must have been activity within the CNA to become part of the larger union. According to the CNA website, there are 80000 members nationwide. When you say ‘SEIU protesters’ were trying to gain access to CNA meeting, are you sure the report was so correct? There is an abundance of work to do on behalf of the SEIU. THe SEIU is more likely to work on behalf of it’s growing members, and people and organizrions that seek to become members, than aggressively persue more venues.
I believe there exist tremendous power in numbers. There is no way to satisfy everyone all at once. However without common goals, and even more common sense, the achievement of a safe and satisfactory livelihood is only a fleeting idea. I honestly am convinced the need for compassion in any venue is only accountable to those who have the passion to accomplish. Of the 70 people in our little local, there may be about 5 of us with any passion. The rest just want that paycheck and are very satisfied with that alone. so if 1 out of every 14 union workers care, that is better than 0 out of 70. The is power in numbers.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
All my exposure to unions has been negative, and this type of behavior just goes to further support my current opinion of unions:
While once created to champion employee causes, unions are now simply self-perpetuating enterprises that are more concerned about self-perpetuation than they are about addressing any real employee needs in the workplace.
[I mean you no disrespect, Robert. I hope the union is treating you well.]
May 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Robert, SEIU welcomes you and your passion. Your comment about the strength of and in numbers is spot on, and has been proven throughout the history of the labor movement in this country.
Eve, we agree with you wholeheartedly on the point that now–at a time of record inequality, in a tanking economy, under an administration that seems hell-bent on chipping away at workers’ rights–is no time for infighting over the sadly small portion of the already-organized workforce.
That’s why today we repeated our invitation to CNA to sign a mutual no-raid agreement. I posted about this
Learn over at Open Left just this morning.
I’m anxious to see if/when they take us up on it.
Honest organizing must be the path to growth–and the path to peace–in the labor movement; this is especially crucial in the high-stakes healthcare industry. Rather than dividing the too-few nurses who already have a union voice, let’s unite the 85% who don’t—for patients’ sake and for the profession.
Happy National Nurses Week.
~Nadia, SEIU
May 8th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
If I ever have a choice of choosing between unionized and non-unionized healthcare facilities, my dollars will go to the non-union facilities.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Thank you for your piece. I am a union member and proud too- but agree that SEIU and CNA are losing site of the real issue, the 90% of workers who need a union. Please stop this bull get back to doing what you both do best- which is organizing unions and improving the lives of working women.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:29 am
In my life, I was fired once. It happened just a few years ago and it still stings. It was absolutely, no doubt a matter of retaliation. I had to fend for my self. A labor attorney and his firm wanted to go ahead with a very incredible suit that could not guarantee my job back, but could provide punitive damages to my family and I. A senior vice president told me point blank, with an attorney present, if I persue this, my daughter, who is a well paid hourly supervisor with this giant, would most assuredly have great difficulty maintaining her employment. There was absolutely nothing, and I could do legally or otherwise. This is absolutely true. Even the lawyer was appalled. his firm dropped the suit at my request. In just three weeks that his firm worked on the facts of this injustice, he estimated the cost to be close to $20000. This company is the sixth largest in the WORLD!!! There was nothing I could do. It was management against me. One other salaried manger was fired, one hourly supervisor was fired and I was a multi-million dollar salesman. I was a Special Kid’s Workshop Captain and I did that so passionately and by myself and volunteerily. How would you feel if you went to an open event and had 300 kids singing songs and enjoying Captain Bob and my stories. And Mr. McFeely…the Mr. McFeely actually came over to help me. This was that companie’s ultimate customer cultivation and no one did it better than I. It was one salaried manger claiming I created an environmental hazard because I put a paint stick with latex paint on it in a garbage can while cleaning up a spill. With a union representing me, with my union dues hard at work and every word is a matter of record, do you think I would have had the very hardest time of my life happen?
This vituperation may sound harsh. This may sound unbelievable. Yet it is all true. It does not matter who you are, or who you think you are…without representation above and beyond that loyalty even I thought was good enough, is nothing. That Kid’s program is gone. That location I was in is canobolized. I made a difference there. People I worked with and developed excellent realtions with were powerless to assist me and they tried. And my daughter is still employed there at an even higher capacity because we raised her right. Thanks to the attorneys wisdom, I am glad she is still there. He told me times are getting tough. Sometimes they do.
I am still stinging and have moved on. Now I ask you Hiking Stik, if your employer fired you for a blatant reason, do you have an extra $20000 to hire an attorney to get back wages? Labor unions were a good thing in your opinion. I have to say, like any company, any group or organiztion..it is as good as it’s members. I will make a difference because I was totally violated. And in this great country of ours, in this time in history, there was NOTHING I could do. Now i have almost 2 million people behind me.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
For those of us that may have for gotten there is a document that starts out with the phrase WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES IN ORDER TO FORM A PERFECT UNION,TO ESTABLISH JUSTICE,INSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY,TO PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE,PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE,AND SECURE THE BLESSING OF LIBERTY TO OUR SELEVES AND TO OUR POSTERITY,DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH THIS CONSITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.Our union also has been looking for new ways to negoiate with Management but while we the people need new methods they stil use the same ones either accept our terms or forfeit your empolyment.There is not enough space to chronicle all the abuses the American worker is being compelled to suffer. but I would offer this nowwhere in the phrase I quoted earlier does it provide for secret meetings to promote the general welfare of the American people.So either we as Americans need to change our documents or who we listen to because after all it is what we here that can corrupt us according to Christian doctrine.So if we believe that secret meetins and decisions benefit the unions, I would only ask those who really want to make an informed decision about unions and their strenths and weakness get an overveiw of the U.A.W. starting in 1979 when they had 700, 000 members and how giving over their hard earn rights to Management has he U.A.W. now being bought out of their pensions, salaries cut by Fifty percent and a impossible attendance policy to follow. I suggest that you all remember power never conceeds without a demand so join forces and demand.