Law judge rules North Memorial violated labor law, orders hospital to reinstate fired worker

September 8, 2015 by

NLRBNorth Memorial Medical Center illegally fired one worker and unlawfully attempted to block others from participating in a campaign to fight staffing cuts and protect patient safety at the Robbinsdale hospital, an administrative law judge ruled Friday.

Acting on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, Judge Christine Dibble upheld charges of unfair labor practices filed by two unions, the Minnesota Nurses Association and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, and she ordered North Memorial to reinstate Melvin Anderson, an SEIU member fired after joining informational picketing outside the hospital in June 2014, with back pay.

“By giving him his job back and paying back pay for the time they took from him, this ruling shows that workers can stand up for what is right for patients and workers and not have to fear for their job,” SEIU Healthcare Minnesota President Jamie Gulley said. “Melvin, and all of the members of SEIU and MNA who continue to stand up for patient safety, should take pride that this ruling only reinforces their fight.”

Members of the two unions staged informational picketing June 26, 2014, after hospital management moved unilaterally to cut staffing among nurses, dietary aides, housekeepers and other support workers. The cuts, workers said, made it more difficult for them to provide the quality of care North Memorial’s patients deserve.

Union nurses and health care workers picketed outside North Memorial June 26.

Union nurses and health care workers picketed outside North Memorial June 26.

Management took action to block union organizers and officers from talking with members in the days before informational picketing, calling security guards to escort two union representatives off the property and forcing an off-duty nurse to change out of a union t-shirt.

Those actions, Dibble ruled, amount to an unlawful infringement on workers’ right to engage in “protected, concerted activity” regarding the terms and conditions of their employment, as enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act.

“We are pleased that the Board has vindicated our rights to represent our union and recognized the injustice of the employer’s attempt to harass and intimidate legitimate union activity,” MNA representative Joe McMahon said.

Specifically, the ruling confirmed that workers are entitled to have conversations with union staff or stewards in public areas – like a hospital’s cafeteria – free from intimidation or surveillance. Employers may not deny union representatives access to their property unless they are being disruptive, and employers may not prohibit union members or representatives from displaying union logos.

In addition to reinstating Anderson with back pay, the ruling requires North Memorial to post on its bulletin boards that it has committed the unfair labor practices and will halt them immediately.

North Memorial may file an exception to Dibble’s ruling. If no timely exception is filed, her findings become the NLRB’s official decision.

Read the full ruling here.

Read the Union Advocate’s report on the safe staffing campaign at North Memorial.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Fired after joining strike, four janitors suspect retaliation

June 19, 2015 by
Demecio Romero is one of four workers – all members of the same family – fired from their jobs cleaning Lexus of Wayzata, Village Chevrolet and the Auto Bargain Center in Wayzata.

Demecio Romero is one of four CTUL members – all members of the same family – fired from their jobs cleaning Lexus of Wayzata, Village Chevrolet and the Auto Bargain Center in Wayzata.

 

Four janitors with 8 years of experience cleaning car dealerships in Wayzata were fired June 9, the same day they joined a Twin Cities-wide strike for better wages and working conditions.

Suspecting retaliation was the motive behind their release, the janitors and their supporters are pressuring the dealerships and their cleaning contractor, ROC Commercial Cleaning, to do the right thing and reinstate the four workers.

Alicia Yopihua, Romualdo Romero, Julio Romero and Demecio Romero – all four related – say the subcontractor that employed them to clean Lexus of Wayzata, Village Chevrolet and the Auto Bargain Center Lot told them the day of the strike that it had lost its contract with ROC, meaning the four were out of work.

During a demonstration in St. Paul on the day of the strike, Demecio Romero accused ROC of attempting to intimidate workers who were supportive of the strike.

“ROC is threatening to take retaliation against us when we go back to the dealerships that we clean,” Romero said through a translator. “That’s not OK.”

All workers, union and non-union, have a legally protected right to strike – it is “protected group activity,” according to the National Labor Relations Act – and workers cannot be fired or punished for exercising it.

[Call Lexus of Wayzata, 952-476-6111, and Village Chevrolet, 952-473-5444, and tell them workers should not be fired for exercising their rights.]

CTUL, the Twin Cities-based worker center that has been organizing retail cleaning workers for the past eight years, filed a complaint against ROC with the National Labor Relations Board alleging unfair treatment. But it could be months before the NLRB process is resolved; fired workers are left without a paycheck in the meantime.

(photo courtesy CTUL)

(photo courtesy CTUL)

That’s a big blow to the family members, who live under the same roof and who joined the strike, in part, because they weren’t earning enough to meet their needs. Demecio Romero said his hourly pay actually has declined in the eight years he’s worked cleaning the Wayzata dealerships.

“What they pay is not sufficient for me and my family,” he said June 9. “We want them to pay what’s fair to their workers.”

CTUL has set up a solidarity fund to support the workers. Click here to make a donation.

Supporters are also being asked to call the dealerships, tell them to take responsibility for work being done on their property and demand the fired janitors be reinstated (see the flyer for details).

CTUL also plans to ramp up public pressure with delegations to the dealerships and other companies that use ROC as their cleaning contractor, beginning this weekend. Monitor CTUL’s Facebook page for dates and times.

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Walmart fires Brooklyn Center associate who joined one-day strike

February 28, 2014 by

web.walmart-firing1April Williams knew the risk she ran last November, when she joined two co-workers in a one-day strike for higher wages, full-time scheduling and a voice on the job.

But Williams, a single mother who lives with her sister and relies on public assistance to make ends meet, said she’d rather face those risks than remain silent any longer. “Living like this is not working for me,” she said.

Walmart fired Williams earlier this month, but yesterday she vowed to keep fighting.

“Walmart has chosen to not only pay the majority of its workers poverty wages, it has also decided to retaliate against workers like me who dare to speak out,” Williams said. “No matter what Walmart tries to do to me, I will continue to stand up and speak out for higher wages free from retaliation.”

Fortunately for Williams, she’s not in that fight alone.

More than 100 supporters, including several single mothers, marched to the Brooklyn Center store yesterday, where they called on management to reinstate Williams, pay higher wages and enact family-friendly scheduling policies that empower single moms like Williams to lift themselves out of poverty.

OUR Walmart members Cantaré Davunt and Gabe Teneyuque exit the Brooklyn Center Walmart after delivering a letter in support of fired associate April Williams.

OUR Walmart members Cantaré Davunt and Gabe Teneyuque exit the Brooklyn Center Walmart after delivering a letter in support of fired associate April Williams.

Two Walmart associates active in OUR Walmart, the non-union organizing group behind the recent wave of unfair-labor-practice strikes and protests across the country, delivered a petition and letter supporting Williams to management at the Brooklyn Center store.

“I was raised in a military family, and I learned we need to speak up for those who aren’t able to speak for themselves,” said Cantaré Davunt of Duluth, who has worked at Walmart for nearly five years.

OUR Walmart organized the demonstration with TakeAction Minnesota as part of a week of action targeting low-wage employers – and highlighting the importance of raising Minnesota’s minimum wage.

Wealthy corporations like Walmart have a responsibility to pay their workers higher hourly wages and to create flexible scheduling for store associates working to balance work and family life, demonstrators said.

Jacquita Berens, a single mother of three and a full-time student, is not a Walmart employee, but she joined the demonstration to support friends and family members who work minimum-wage jobs at Walmart.

“I and many others like me are working hard, long hour shifts daily, away from our children and families yet receive no benefits,” Berens said. “As employees, we’re constantly put in situations where we’re forced to choose whether to care for our sick children or lose our jobs. Poverty wages just aren’t right.”

Berens delivered a letter from TakeAction Minnesota calling on Walmart to help solve Minnesota’s low-wage work crisis by publicly supporting a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2015 and index the wage to adjust for inflation.

In Minnesota, seven out of ten minimum wage workers are women, and many are single mothers struggling to provide for themselves and their families.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,