Re: [Marxism] From CNA/NNOC: "RNs Condemn Violent Service Union Attack at Michigan Event"

[Mike Kramer <mkramer666@xxxxxxxxx>]

I just found the CNA press release, but not the one
from SEIU, printed in full on the Forbes website.
Should we conclude from that that Forbes is endorsing
the CNA in this dispute? Not too sound a methodology
in my book.

The background on this is a case of what I, and many
others, view as straight up union-busting engaged in
by the CNA. After a neutrality and election procedure
agreement was won at a health system in Ohio following
a 3 year comprehensive campaign waged by SEIU 1199WKO,
the CNA flew in a bunch of organizers to urge the
workers to vote "no union" - basically waging a boss
fight for the boss. They alleged that the election
agreement was evidence of "backroom dealing" and
"company unionism" despite the fact that they have
organized under such agreements on many occasions. 

Most disgustingly, one of the CNA's main messages was
that "skilled" workers like RNs shouldn't be in a
union with hospital housekeepers and dietary workers.
It is probably no surprise that workers in the latter
job categories are largely African Americans and
immigrants. 




--- Joaquin Bustelo <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I searched assiduously, but apparently Fox Business
> News did not find the
> CNA/NNOC press release on the SEIU action fit to
> publish on their website.
> As my mother used to teach me, "Dime con quien andas
> y te diré quien eres."
> ("Tell me who you're with and I'll tell you who you
> are.")
> 
> It should be noted that if anything close to the
> account below is true, the
> SEIU has exposed itself to being destroyed. Under
> current U.S. law, use of
> violence or the threat of violence to silence
> someone is "terrorism" and an
> organization that organizes such an action is
> subject to being designated a
> "terrorist organization," in other words, being
> declared illegal by
> administrative diktat, having all its funds frozen
> and all its property
> seized. That's on top of the normal laws against
> assault and battery,
> criminal conspiracy, and so on as well as the state
> and federal RICO
> statutes.
> 
> However, given Fox Business News's endorsement of
> the SEIU action, we are
> probably safe in assuming we won't have to organize
> a defense committee for
> the SEIU anytime soon.
> 
> *  *  *
> 
> RNs Condemn Violent Service Union Attack at Michigan
> Event 
> 
> Hundreds of SEIU Staff Bused in to Smash Into
> Meeting to Attack RNs and
> Break Up Conference on Union Democracy 
> 
> 
> DEARBORN, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The California
> Nurses Association/National
> Nurses Organizing Committee tonight condemned a
> brutal assault by busloads
> of purple cloaked staff of the Service Employees
> International Union who
> smashed into a conference of union members Saturday
> night in Dearborn, Mi.
> and physically assaulted women and union members who
> stood in their path. 
> 
> "I am deeply concerned about this heightened attack
> on women and nurses,
> directed by SEIU President Andrew Stern," said
> CNA/NNOC Executive Director
> Rose Ann DeMoro, who was scheduled to speak about
> the campaign for genuine
> healthcare reform at the banquet. 
> 
> DeMoro cancelled her appearance at the event to
> coordinate support for
> CNA/NNOC leaders in California after Stern and SEIU
> began sending roving
> bands of staff to the homes of CNA/NNOC RN board
> members in California
> Thursday and Friday, stalking and harassing them. 
> 
> "There is an ugly pattern here of physical abuse and
> tactics of intimidation
> that have no place in either our labor movement or a
> civilized society,"
> DeMoro said. 
> 
> In Dearborn Saturday night, at least seven busloads,
> carrying up to 500 SEIU
> staff in purple jackets and T-shirts drove up to the
> Hyatt Regency Hotel
> where the banquet was being hosted by the magazine
> Labor Notes culminating a
> weekend conference on topics including union
> democracy, health care reform,
> and encouraging the resurgent growth of labor. 
> 
> Upon unloading from the buses, the hundreds of
> picket-sign wielding staff
> stormed the hotel and pushed their way through doors
> to break into the
> ballroom where the event was being held. 
> 
> While breaking in the building, the SEIU staff, now
> joined by SEIU staff
> inside the building, physically assaulted a group of
> union members and
> activists at the door. 
> 
> At least one woman, a retired auto worker and former
> business manager for
> Labor Notes, was injured and went to the hospital
> after being pushed to the
> floor and hitting her head on a table. 
> 
> As the SEIU staff broke into the hall, some three
> dozen CNA/NNOC nurses and
> leaders, there to attend the conference, including
> Malinda Markowitz, RN, a
> member of CNA/NNOC's Council of Presidents, who was
> scheduled to speak in
> DeMoro's place, were whisked out the back of the
> hall for their safety,
> leaving in vans. The atmosphere was so tense that
> hotel cooks tried to climb
> into the vans to join them for fear of their own
> safety. 
> 
> The evening assault at Labor Notes followed a day of
> disruption by SEIU
> staff at workshops throughout the day at which
> various CNA/NNOC members were
> on panels or participants. 
> 
> "I am disgusted with the tactics of SEIU and their
> total disrespect for what
> was going on here -- members from multiple unions
> who were discussing an
> agenda to fight the increased corporate attacks on
> working people," said
> Markowitz. "It's clear their only agenda here was to
> disrupt and try to
> divide labor and workers. Physical violence is
> absolutely unacceptable." 
> 
> "I am absolutely appalled, to have a union coming in
> here with tons of
> people ramming down doors. If they have these kind
> of resources, why aren't
> they using them to help people in the trenches
> rather than attacking nurses
> and other working people," said Danielle Magana, RN,
> an NNOC member from San
> Antonio, Tex. 
> 
> "If I were a nurse here I would not join such an
> aggressive union," said
> Prudencia Mweemba, an RN from Zambia who is a PhD
> candidate at Kent State
> who was attending the conference. "What they did
> today showed me they are
> irresponsible. I don't see how they can represent
> people with such an
> attitude." 
> 
> "Had I not seen this with my own eyes I would not
> have believed it," said
> Kimberly Helmick, an Ohio RN. "SEIU did a big
> injustice to all the labor
> movement people who were here." 
> 
> DeMoro noted that irony of the attack on a
> conference, in which union
> democracy was a major topic, coinciding with growing
> efforts by Stern and
> SEIU International to suppress dissent in his own
> union and signing
> contracts with employers that limit the voice of
> SEIU members at the
> workplace. 
> 
> SEIU contracts with nursing home chains, for
> example, have limited the
> ability of caregivers to protest and report unsafe
> conditions. Within SEIU,
> Stern has been engaged in targeting dissenters and
> seeking to limit
> participation at his international convention in
> June. 
> 
> Another example, she noted, was SEIU's pact with a
> Catholic hospital chain
> in Ohio where SEIU had the employer file for an
> election to impose SEIU as
> its handpicked union for RNs and other staff. The
> deal also barred employees
> from discussing the election or the union.
> Ultimately, Stern and the
> employer cancelled the election when the deal was
> exposed in part because of
> CNA/NNOC criticism of the deal, the pretext of the
> Michigan attack Saturday
> night. 
> 
> For more information about SEIU's efforts on behalf
> of employers, see
> www.ServingEmployersInsteadofUs.org.
> 
> 
> ________________________________________________
> YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a
> message.
> 
=== message truncated ===


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu