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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2009)
JUNE 19, 2009:NWLP 6/16/09 10:05 AM Page 5 AFL-CIO praises draft Senate health care bill Justin May, a 10th term UA Local 290 apprentice from Eugene, works on a threaded pipe project. UA Local 290 apprentice Corby Campbell builds a lateral as part of the welding competition. UA Local 290 hosts regional apprentice contest Plumbers and Fitters Local 290 played host to the Dis- trict 5 Regional Apprenticeship Contest June 10-11 at its training center in Tualatin. Thirty-six apprentices from nine states competed in one of five disciplines — plumbing, steamfitting, welding, HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), and sprin- klerfitting. The competition consisted of timed, hands-on skills, as well as a written exam. Winners in each discipline qualified for the national contest in Ann Arbor, Michigan in August. The UA’s apprenticeship contest has been dormant for more than two decades. It was revived last year, with the regional contest in Seattle. Winners of the regional contest were: Plumbing— Jeff Love, Nevada Local 350; Steamfitter — John-Mark Carl- son, Washington Local 32; Welding — Kyle Callies, Washington Local 598; HVAC — Bradley Taylor, Wash- ington Local 598; Sprinklerfitter — Joshua Cooper, Cali- fornia Local 709. An unidentified steamfitter apprentice performs a rigging test at regional contest. P HOTO COURTESY OF J OHN K LICKER WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised the Senate’s draft health care re- form legislation for its plan to establish a Medicare-like alternative to compete against the private health insurance in- dustry. But a leader of one the federation’s top health care unions —California Nurses Association Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, publicly dissented. Sweeney said senators drafting the health care overhaul are following prin- ciples the labor movement campaigns for: Providing an alternative to the in- surers, letting people choose their own doctors, controlling costs, and provid- ing universal, affordable coverage. President Barack Obama also agrees with those principles and pushes them hard in town meetings, speeches and appearances. But DeMoro called the Senate bill “a sham” that wouldn’t work to control costs and provide universal care. She said a government-run single-payer health care system would do that. And DeMoro said the public is on her side — in town hall meetings and nationwide polls that show majority support for a single-payer system that would eliminate insurers, their high co- pays, deductibles, huge profits, and de- nial of care. DeMoro declared single-payer would cut down on the nation’s annual $2.3 trillion health care bill by at least $300 billion. Senate committees began working on details of the legislation the week of June 15. “We will introduce legislation that will strengthen what works and fix what doesn’t,” said Sen. Chris Dodd (D- Conn.), vice chair of the Senate Health Education and Labor Committee. “If you like the insurance you have today, you can keep it. If you don’t like what you have today, we’ll give you better choices, including a public option for health care.” The public option has drawn virtu- ally unanimous condemnation from Re- publicans, the insurance lobby, and business groups, who oppose any gov- ernment-run health care. The AFL-CIO insists that any health care reform legislation require all em- ployers to either provide health insur- ance to their employees or pay into a system to make sure everyone is cov- ered, and that workers’ health care ben- efits must not be taxed. Sen. Merkley open to ‘public option’ Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley was among 28 senators co-sponsoring a res- olution that calls for the inclusion of a public option in any health care reform package that comes out of Congress. The resolution says that “any reform of our nation’s health care system should give consumers a choice of an affordable, federally-backed option to introduce competition in the health in- surance market ...” “Health reform should provide con- sumers with the full range of choices to meet their needs,” Merkley said. “A public option will provide competition that will keep private insurance compa- nies honest and help improve service and lower health care costs for every- one.” The resolution was carried by Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown. Merkley was the only senator on the West Coast to support it. Labor board issues formal complaint against nursing home Elizabeth Lehr, a receptionist at Lau- relhurst Village nursing home, was fired because she engaged in legally-pro- tected union activity, and to discourage other workers from doing the same. It’s not just the union she wants to join — Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 — that says so. That was the conclusion of the National La- bor Relations Board (NLRB), the fed- eral agency that runs unionization elec- tions and handles complaints of labor law violations. The NLRB issued a formal com- plaint May 29 after an investigating agent determined that management at the Southeast Portland facility commit- ted 11 separate violations of U.S. labor law in late March and early April when a campaign to unionize was heating up. A July 14 date has been set for a federal administrative law judge to hear the case. The NLRB found that Laurelhurst JUNE 19, 2009 Vi l l a g e changed what had been a lax policy on em- ployees visit- ing the work- place in off-hours — in response to its employees’ union activi- ties. Once workers started coming in off E LIZABETH L EHR the clock to talk with co-workers about the union, a “No Access Rule” was announced and enforced, “to discourage its employees from forming, joining or assisting the union,” the NLRB said in its complaint. The agency found that manager Han- nah Austin, director of operations, cre- ated an impression among workers that their union activities were under surveil- lance, and interrogated employees about their union activities. Other managers surveilled pro-union workers, threatened them with reprisals for distributing union literature in non-work areas on non-work time, and gave verbal and written warnings for union activities. In one case, managers even called the po- lice on employees, “to threaten them with arrest for engaging in union … ac- tivities.” And they fired Lehr April 2. Laurelhurst Village is one of 16 nurs- ing homes owned by Portland-based Farmington Centers, Inc., none of which are union-represented. Local 503 spokesperson Ed Hershey said the union is still hopeful Farmington will switch gears and join a partnership the union has with six other nursing home compa- nies. SEIU joins with the industry dur- ing state legislative sessions to advocate for better funding, and in return, compa- nies agree to remain neutral on the ques- NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS tion of whether their employees should unionize. That agreement has helped the union grow to where it now represents 26 nursing homes. But until the company comes around, the union will continue legal and com- munity pressure. Hershey said the union is asking the NLRB for a 10(j) injunction, a court or- der reinstating Lehr. The union is also asking that the NLRB order Farmington to recognize the union and begin bargaining a con- tract. Such orders, known as Gissel bar- gaining orders, are rare, but Hershey said the conditions are right at Laurel- hurst Village: SEIU can show, with signed authorization cards, that it had majority support before management’s anti-union crackdown. After the crack- down, Hershey said, some workers who were taking a public role felt they could- n’t afford to lose their jobs, and backed off. The union isn’t sure it would win an election if held today — because man- agement lawbreaking poisoned the at- mosphere. Lehr, 23, was profiled in an article in the May 15 issue of Northwest Labor Press. She is still without work, has used up her savings, and has appealed her de- nial of unemployment insurance bene- fits. Laurelhurst Village contested her unemployment claim, saying she was fired for cause. A hearing scheduled for June 12 was postponed when an attor- ney for the nursing home (from Stoel Rives) demanded that the state adminis- trative law judge assigned to the case re- cuse herself because she is represented by SEIU Local 503. The judge did so. A new hearing had not be scheduled at press time. Lehr says she’s as committed as ever to the union campaign, and wants to re- turn to work, even if just to send a mes- sage to co-workers about the power of the union and the possibility of justice. PAGE 5
