April 3, 2009:NWLP
3/31/09
9:46 AM
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Providence nurses say ‘UNION YES’
A group of about 200 nurses at
Providence St. Vincent hospital in
Portland voted Feb. 13 to join Ore-
gon Nurses Association, becoming
part of an existing unit of 1,300.
The tally was 94-19 — a pretty
strong showing that the “resource
nurses” want the benefits of a union
contract.
ONA staff attorney Alan Yoder
said the economic downturn played
a part in the nurses’ decision to
unionize. Many health care facilities
are seeing a reduction in patients
owing to the severe recession, and
the resource nurses, who don’t have
a set schedule and substitute for reg-
ular staff RNs, were concerned they
might be targeted for layoffs.
“Both groups of nurses realized
they’d be much stronger working
together,” Yoder said.
Zachary
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More Steelworkers laid off
at Cascade Rolling Mills
McMINNVILLE — If there’s a re-
covery on the way, it’s not yet visible at
Cascade Steel Rolling Mills.
The steel plant makes rebar, so it’s a
good bellwether for the construction in-
dustry. If these steelworkers are busy,
odds are somebody on the West Coast
has placed an order for materials used in
construction, and building trades em-
ployment can’t be far off.
Right now, they’re not busy.
About 75 Cascade steelworkers were
laid off permanently in December, at
which point United Steelworkers Local
8378 negotiated a “rolling layoff’for the
325 who remained: For three months,
they worked two weeks out of four, and
the company continued to pay for health
coverage during the two weeks workers
collected unemployment insurance ben-
efits. Because the maximum unemploy-
ment benefit doesn’t come close to their
union wages, workers lost over a quarter
of their income for the three months. But
they kept their jobs.
That deal ended March 28, and 75
more workers were laid off permanently.
Of the remaining 250, most remain on
temporary layoff until April 13. The
union learned that 16 of the company’s
nonunion employees were also laid off,
out of about 150.
Local 8378 President Joe Munger
says company salespeople are starting to
get inquiries from customers, but have
no big orders yet.
UNITE leaves HERE, joins SEIU
PHILADELPHIA (PAI) — Dele-
gates representing some 150,000 mem-
bers of UNITE HERE voted March 21
to secede and affiliate with the Service
Employees International Union.
At a convention in Philadelphia, the
450 delegates elected Edgar Romney,
executive vice president of UNITE
HERE, as president of their new organ-
ization — Workers United. They then
voted to affiliate with SEIU, where they
intend to organize food service and hotel
workers, among others.
UNITE, which represents apparel
and laundry workers, merged with the
larger Hotel Employees and Restaurant
Employees Union in 2004. The new
400,000-member UNITE HERE affili-
ated with the Change to Win labor fed-
eration, where Romney is a top official.
Ironically, the leader of the secession
movement, UNITE HERE International
President Bruce Raynor (formerly of
UNITE), will remain in that post until
UNITE HERE’s convention in June.
John Wilhelm, president of UNITE
HERE’s Hotel and Restaurant Division,
denounced the move, saying its consti-
tution did not allow for secession. That
issue is now before the courts.
The UNITE HERE Executive Board
has since voted to withdraw from
Change To Win, where SEIU is the lead-
ing member.
E D H ALL
Merkley appoints
Hall labor liaison
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has
hired longtime Fire Fighters Union
leader Ed Hall as a staff liaison to or-
ganized labor, in order to strengthen
outreach efforts to labor groups.
Hall said he plans to attend local
union and labor council meetings on
Merkley's behalf to listen to union
members and convey their concerns to
the senator. His role would also be to
meet with labor unionists when
Merkley is in Washington, D.C., or oth-
erwise unavailable. He is based at
Merkley’s Portland office and is reach-
able at 503-326-3386.
Hall, 52, grew up on the South Coast
in Brookings and is a lifelong resident
of Oregon. Until Jan. 5, he was vice
president and political director of the
Portland Fire Fighters Association Lo-
cal 43, but decided not to run for re-
election. He retired as a firefighter
March 7 after 31 years at fire depart-
ments in Salem, Corvallis, and Port-
land. He began his new job March 9.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
APRIL 3, 2009