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Vol. 80/No. 14 April 11, 2016
—ON THE PICKET LINE—
Maggie Trowe, Editor
Militant/Deborah Liatos
Members of California Nurses Association/National Nurses United rally
March 21 at Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center on last day
of weeklong strike for a first contract.
Help the Militant cover labor struggles across the country!
This column gives a voice to those engaged in battle and building
solidarity today — including Steelworkers opposing concessions,
construction workers demanding safe conditions and workers fighting for
$15 and a union. I invite those involved in workers’ battles to contact
me at 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, New York, NY 10018; or (212)
244-4899; or themilitant@xxxxxxx. We’ll work together to ensure your
story is told.
— Maggie Trowe
Kaiser nurses in L.A. strike for contract, against short-staffing
LOS ANGELES — Chanting “Kaiser, Kaiser you can’t hide, We can see your
greedy side,” hundreds of registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente’s Los
Angeles Medical Center rallied March 21 on the last day of their
seven-day strike to press their fight for a contract.
The walkout involved 1,200 nurses who voted to join the California
Nurses Association/National Nurses United last July and are now seeking
their first contract. A central question in the strike is short-staffing.
The strikers held spirited daily pickets at the hospital as well as
actions at Kaiser’s Southern California corporate offices in Pasadena.
“Before we had 32 beds in ICU. We were already short-staffed,” Gerald
Bailey, an intensive care unit nurse for eight years, told the Militant.
“We opened a neuro ICU with 16 beds but didn’t hire more nurses.” Bailey
said he’s worked up to 22 hours straight.
A year ago management said workers would be fired for using hospital
food utensils, he said. “Even in prison you get utensils.”
“Everything is about cost-cutting,” said Rodrigo Ramirez, a registered
nurse at the medical center for 11 years. “We haven’t had a wage
increase in six years. They want to eliminate the sitter so if someone
falls, there is no one to catch them. Or they want to restrain patients.”
“Right now they are videoing in people’s rooms, which is an invasion of
privacy,” added striker Gus Mata.
Kaiser made over $14.4 billion in profit over the past six years.
— Deborah Liatos
Flight attendants, mechanics at United picket for union contracts
SAN FRANCISCO — For the third time in less than a month Teamsters at
United Airlines have organized picket lines at airports or United
maintenance bases demanding a new contract. Members of the Association
of Flight Attendants joined Teamsters on a picket line of 150 at the
airport here March 17. The AFA also had picket lines at 10 airports in
the U.S. and some in other countries. Teamsters have been fighting for a
contract for over three years. Flight attendants started negotiations
this year.
Union contracts for airline workers are governed by the 1926 Railway
Labor Act — extended in 1936 to include the airline industry — which
violates workers’ right to strike when a contract expires. It says they
must first exhaust procedures for mediation and a “cooling-off” period,
which can take years.
— Tom Tomasko
Related articles:
Big protests in France oppose anti-labor ‘reform’ law
Lessons of 1934: Gov’t mediators are no ‘friends of labor’
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