General Teamsters Local 251

December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Union protests UPS plan to move 10 good jobs out of state

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2015-12-21 UPS 003 General Teamsters Local 251 held an informational picket outside UPS in Warwick during the shift change Monday morning to inform the public about the company’s plan to move ten of the facility’s highest paying jobs to their Worcester, MA facility. Matthew Taibi, secretary-general of Local 251 told me that the jobs under threat are long-haul trucking jobs.

Taibi was clear that this action was not a strike or a refusal to work. Workers want UPS to respect Rhode Island families and jobs, and they want to keep these good jobs in the state.

A request for a statement from Governor Gina Raimondo‘s office has so far gone unanswered. Four days ago the Governor said, in regard to the state’s recent employment numbers, that, “we remain committed to growing our existing companies and attracting new businesses, and helping everyone make it in Rhode Island.”

Helping to keep these jobs in Rhode Island would be a good start.

February 17, 2015February 19, 2015

RI Hospital employees will vote on labor strike

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Following stalled contract negotiations between Lifespan and Rhode Island Hospital employees, members of Teamsters Local 251 can vote tomorrow on whether a work stoppage is warranted. There will be three ballot votes at the Local 251 Union Hall in East Providence at 8am, noon and 4pm, according to a Jobs With Justice press release.

“Lifespan executives have angered employees and the community by rejecting common-sense proposals, including a proposal to require the Hospital to “maintain sufficient staff and adequate supplies,” said the press release. “Lifespan even rejected a proposal that, “providing quality care to patients and their families is the top objective of the Hospital and that poor working conditions, inadequate staffing levels, inadequate supplies, and improper equipment undermine quality care.”

Rhode Island Hospital Senior Media Relations Officer Beth Bailey said, “We are committed to bargaining in good faith toward a fair labor agreement that reflects the positive contributions of our employees. Our proposals to date have included increases to wages for all three years of the contract and shift differentials, and a comprehensive plan to help union employees impacted by technology changes. We are confident in the quality of the care we provide and the investments we have made in technology, equipment and staff to support the delivery of quality care.”

Local 251 represents 2,200 employees at Rhode Island Hospital, including non-medical staff, such as secretaries, janitors and landscapers. “But they also represent the unit assistants, the folks who check on patients to make sure everything’s okay, and the CNAs,” said Strecker. He said he had no idea how many people would show up for the vote. “We hope lots!”

Tomorrow’s vote is one step in the process of calling for a labor strike, said Jess Strecker of Jobs With Justice.

“It’s an authorization vote,” he said in an email subsequent to sending the press release. “The contract negotiating committee will then make the final call about when or whether to strike. Then they would actually give a 10 day notice to Lifespan before going out on strike. The strike could last as long or as shortly as it has to.”

A FAQ sheet sent from Local 251 to the 2,200 members said, “Voting to authorize a strike notice does not mean we will issue a 10-day notice right away. We will continue to negotiate and try to reach a fair agreement. A strong Yes Vote will send a message of unity to the Hospital and give the Negotiating Committee more leverage to win a fair contract. A No Vote would send management the message that we are not united. Management would have very little reason to make a fair contract offer.”

The FAQ says, “The bottom line is there can be no strike without a second vote by members to go on strike.”

Kathy Ahlquist, says the press release, “blames understaffing for her father’s medical tragedy.” Kathy is the wife of RI Future contributor Steve Ahlquist, who has reported on some of the previous employee actions as a new contract was in negotiation.

lifespan-says-no-final-feb-10.qxd — Material provided by union to members.

January 30, 2015

Picket at RI Hospital as contract negotiations stall

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Yesterday an “Informational Picket” was held outside Rhode Island Hospital to draw attention to the stalled contract negotiations with Lifespan. Nearly 2,500 Teamsters, represented by Local 251, have been working under a contract that expired on December 31, and was extended to yesterday. According to a statement from RI Hospital the contract has been re-extended until January 30.

Union rep Brooke Reese told me that negotiations with the hospital are “not so great.” A press release from the union says that hospital management has rejected a union proposal that states, “providing quality care to patients and their families is the top objective of the Hospital and that poor working conditions, inadequate staffing levels, inadequate supplies and improper equipment undermine patient care.”

Lifespan has also rejected the union’s proposals on “job security, fair wages and benefits,” which the union calls “a slap in the face to every Rhode Island Hospital employee and every person in the community that is concerned about good jobs and quality patient care.”

To bring attention to their cause workers borrowed a large inflatable “Fat Cat” from New York Teamsters 804. It was an attention getting prop, and it had the effect of slowing rush hour traffic around the hospital more than usual. The Fat Cat is seen wringing the neck of a UPS worker, but for the purposes of yesterday’s picket we’re being asked to picture the strangled worker wearing hospital scrubs.

Jesse Strecker, of RI Jobs With Justice, said in a statement, “Lifespan isn’t hearing workers and the community’s concerns at the negotiating table, so we are coming together to raise our voices in front of the hospital.”

During the picket Strecker led a community delegation consisting of representatives from labor unions, community organizations and student groups as well as religious leaders in an attempt to deliver an “Open Letter” to the hospital administrators, but were prevented from doing so by hospital security. After much negotiation the letter was taken, with the promise of delivery, by the head of security, but no one from the delegation was allowed inside the hospital and no one representing the hospital addressed the delegation in any meaningful way.

Beth Bailey, Senior Media Relations Officer for Rhode Island Hospital, said in a statement that the most recent proposal from the union “does not make economic sense for the hospital or its patients, as our state continues to struggle economically” and that the hospital is “offering a fair contract that continues to provide wage increases, retirement, health care and other benefits.” The statement did not address community concerns about patient care.

The union maintains that Lifespan paid its “ten highest paid executives” more than $16.6 million in its last fiscal year, an average of $1 million more in compensation “than the average earned by CEOs of nonprofit hospitals nationally.”

January 27, 2015January 28, 2015

RI Hospital employees and community allies speak out

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More than 500 people crowded into the meeting room of Our Lady of the Rosary Church on Benefit St in Providence for the Worker & Community Speakout for Good Jobs and Quality Care on January 17. At issue was the contract negotiation between Lifespan/Rhode Island Hospital and General Teamsters Local 251 representing some 2,500 hospital employees.

According to Local 251, “As a non-profit entity, Lifespan and RI Hospital are supposed to put the healthcare needs of the community first. Unfortunately, management has taken cost cutting measures, causing shortages in equipment and staff that undermine patient care.”

Literature at the Speakout quoted a nurse, Aliss Collins, saying, “When we are understaffed, I cover 56 patients in three units. It’s not right for the patients or the employees.” There was a story at the Speakout of another nurse who was forced to buy her own equipment for measuring oxygen levels, because the hospital did not provide it.

Obamacare has allowed Lifespan/RI Hospital to take in an additional $33 million in net revenue last year, because so many Rhode Islanders are now covered under Medicaid. Yet rather than invest this money in patient care, Lifespan pays its “ten highest paid executives” more than $16.6 million in its last fiscal year, an average of $1 million more in compensation “than the average earned by CEOs of nonprofit hospitals nationally,” according to the union.

At the same time, hospital employees such as single mom Nuch Keller make $12.46 an hour with no healthcare coverage. Keller’s pay does not even cover her rent. She regularly works 40 hours or more per week, yet Lifespan continues to pay her as a part-time employee. And in case you missed it, Keller works at a non-profit hospital, and receives no healthcare.

The Speakout was intended to show community support for the workers of RI Hospital, and was attended by Representatives David Cicilline and Jim Langevin, as well as General treasurer Seth Magaziner. There were also representatives from many other unions and community groups such as Jobs with Justice, Unite Here! and Fuerza Laboral. Many religious leaders, including Father Joseph Escobar and Rev Duane Clinker, were on hand to show support.

It was hard not to feel that something new was happening at the Speakout. The level of community support and solidarity made one feel as if a union resurgence were imminent, which many feel is necessary if obscene inequality is to be combated.

It was Duane Clinker who helped put the event into perspective for me. He said that unions have often limited their negotiations to wages, hours and benefits, and health-care unions have long argued staffing levels, but “when/if organized workers really make alliance with the community around access to jobs and improved patient care – if that happens in such a large union and a key employer in the state, then we enter new territory.”

This struggle continues on Thursday, January 29, from 2-6pm, with an Informational Picket at Rhode Island Hospital. “The picket line on Thursday is for informational purposes. It is is not a request that anyone cease working or refuse to make deliveries.”

Full video from the Speakout is below.