Three union organizing drives, three different outcomes. But the same result and the same conclusion: U.S. labor law no longer works for workers.
In Minneapolis, 400 workers at Walker Methodist nursing home voted back in 2003 on whether to join AFSCME. But Walker Methodist's repeated challenges to NLRB decisions, and unexplained delays at the full NLRB in Washington, have left workers in limbo for more than two years. They still don't have their union.In Eagan, Cintas fired Jacob Salinas, a key union activist at the plant. The firing was illegal, the National Labor Relations Board says, one of the many ways the NLRB claims Cintas broke the law.
So Cintas ? the nation's largest uniform company and commercial laundry ? goes on trial before an administrative law judge in Minneapolis in January. However, more than a year later, Salinas is still fired and his former co-workers still don't have a union.
In the newest case, the regional office of the NLRB ruled last month that hotel management at the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington made it impossible for a fair election to take place. So the NLRB threw out the results from June's vote. Sounds good. But, again, workers still don't have a union.
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| The National Labor Relations Board threw out a tainted election at the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington, but union supporters (from left) Maria Fuentez, Sonia Cruz and Fredy Mendez wonder if justice will prevail. "We may lose the war but not the fight," Fuentez says. Union Advocate photo |
Workers' rights are human rights
These examples are from the Twin Cities. But cases like them occur across the country virtually every day, unions say. Only the names and faces change. That's why in more than 65 cities, unions and allies are commemorating International Human Rights Day on the weekend of Dec. 10, pointing out how U.S. labor law fails to live up to international human rights.
"Workers, we know that we have rights," said Maria Fuentez, a dishwasher at the Holiday Inn and one of the core supporters of workers' efforts to join UNITE HERE Local 17. "The problem is," she says, "there is no law that protects the workers."
The hotel workers organized, she said, because they wanted basic workplace guarantees. They were tired of scheduled pay raises that never showed up, or showed up months late but were not retroactive, she said. They were tired of paid vacation days disappearing or being reduced without explanation, and tired of impossible schedules and work loads.
"It was like good money being stolen from employees," said Fredy Mendez, a union supporter who works in housekeeping at the Holiday Inn.
Workers at Walker Methodist put up with similar mistreatment, said Tony Ogundiran, a former licensed practical nurse at the nursing home who now works as an organizer for AFSCME.
 |
| After 2-1/2 years, Tony Ogundiran still is waiting for the NLRB to resolve union elections at Walker Methodist nursing home. "I always had a strong belief ? whenever you have a problem, it's meant to be solved, not run away from." Union Advocate photo |
"The workers at Walker Methodist, they really do need a union. They need to have a voice. They need respect and dignity at work."
The delay at the NLRB "is unbelievable," he said; it only helps the company by rewarding tactics designed "to block and frustrate employees so they're not interested anymore."
Tactics may be borderline, but effective
At the Holiday Inn, managers used different tactics to turn workers against the union. Once the election campaign began, workers faced an endless string of meetings where managers tried to intimidate and brainwash employees, said Sonia Cruz, a dishwasher at the hotel.
Officially, the NLRB found that the hotel violated labor law by soliciting and promising to remedy employee grievances. That, said Martin Goff, director of organization for UNITE HERE in Minnesota, is fancy language for saying hotel management basically tried to bribe employees to oppose the union.
"It was very effective," he said. "Some people had been skipped over for a raise. All of a sudden, a person has 2 years of retro pay at 50 cents an hour. They get a check for $2,000 and say, 'Why do I need the union?' "
 |
| Jacob Salinas: "Rights do not exist for workers in this country. I was exercising my rights and they still fired me." Union Advocate photo |
But the most effective tactic may have been at Cintas, which fired Salinas only months before the birth of his first daughter. "It affected me a lot in terms of my personal morale," Salinas said. "The company left me out on the street, with no benefits, nothing."
It clearly sent a message to his co-workers, he said: "It put fear into them."
Salinas said he can't wait around to see if the NLRB orders Cintas to give him his job back. He now works two jobs. "I have to support my family," he said. "It's been a year. What could I do?"
Inadequate solutions
The three Twin Cities cases point out what critics see as the underlying flaw in U.S. labor law: Companies violate the spirit, if not the letter of the law, take borderline or even outright illegal actions, and suffer few consequences that mean anything.
The Holiday Inn case is "so typical," Goff said, "other than we got the election overturned. And we got it overturned on objections to the conduct of the election, which in essence is a charge against NLRB itself."
Goff said he's not faulting the regional office of the NLRB. "They have the laws that they have. But their answer is to rerun the election. That response is inadequate. It's like saying, when someone sticks you in the eye, why don't you stick them in the other eye?"
Jeanine Otte and Rosa Valenzuela, both of UNITE HERE, assisted as interpreters in the reporting of this story. Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org
Related articles
Human Rights Day events focus on workplace
Nobel laureates urge stronger protections for workers
For more information
Read the new report on workers' rights issued by American Rights at Work
Read the statement issued by the Nobel laureates
Read the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Share
Three union organizing drives, three different outcomes. But the same result and the same conclusion: U.S. labor law no longer works for workers.
In Minneapolis, 400 workers at Walker Methodist nursing home voted back in 2003 on whether to join AFSCME. But Walker Methodist’s repeated challenges to NLRB decisions, and unexplained delays at the full NLRB in Washington, have left workers in limbo for more than two years. They still don’t have their union.
In Eagan, Cintas fired Jacob Salinas, a key union activist at the plant. The firing was illegal, the National Labor Relations Board says, one of the many ways the NLRB claims Cintas broke the law.
So Cintas ? the nation’s largest uniform company and commercial laundry ? goes on trial before an administrative law judge in Minneapolis in January. However, more than a year later, Salinas is still fired and his former co-workers still don’t have a union.
In the newest case, the regional office of the NLRB ruled last month that hotel management at the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington made it impossible for a fair election to take place. So the NLRB threw out the results from June’s vote. Sounds good. But, again, workers still don’t have a union.
|
| The National Labor Relations Board threw out a tainted election at the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington, but union supporters (from left) Maria Fuentez, Sonia Cruz and Fredy Mendez wonder if justice will prevail. “We may lose the war but not the fight,” Fuentez says.
Union Advocate photo |
Workers’ rights are human rights
These examples are from the Twin Cities. But cases like them occur across the country virtually every day, unions say. Only the names and faces change. That’s why in more than 65 cities, unions and allies are commemorating International Human Rights Day on the weekend of Dec. 10, pointing out how U.S. labor law fails to live up to international human rights.
“Workers, we know that we have rights,” said Maria Fuentez, a dishwasher at the Holiday Inn and one of the core supporters of workers’ efforts to join UNITE HERE Local 17. “The problem is,” she says, “there is no law that protects the workers.”
The hotel workers organized, she said, because they wanted basic workplace guarantees. They were tired of scheduled pay raises that never showed up, or showed up months late but were not retroactive, she said. They were tired of paid vacation days disappearing or being reduced without explanation, and tired of impossible schedules and work loads.
“It was like good money being stolen from employees,” said Fredy Mendez, a union supporter who works in housekeeping at the Holiday Inn.
Workers at Walker Methodist put up with similar mistreatment, said Tony Ogundiran, a former licensed practical nurse at the nursing home who now works as an organizer for AFSCME.
|
| After 2-1/2 years, Tony Ogundiran still is waiting for the NLRB to resolve union elections at Walker Methodist nursing home. “I always had a strong belief ? whenever you have a problem, it’s meant to be solved, not run away from.”
Union Advocate photo |
“The workers at Walker Methodist, they really do need a union. They need to have a voice. They need respect and dignity at work.”
The delay at the NLRB “is unbelievable,” he said; it only helps the company by rewarding tactics designed “to block and frustrate employees so they’re not interested anymore.”
Tactics may be borderline, but effective
At the Holiday Inn, managers used different tactics to turn workers against the union. Once the election campaign began, workers faced an endless string of meetings where managers tried to intimidate and brainwash employees, said Sonia Cruz, a dishwasher at the hotel.
Officially, the NLRB found that the hotel violated labor law by soliciting and promising to remedy employee grievances. That, said Martin Goff, director of organization for UNITE HERE in Minnesota, is fancy language for saying hotel management basically tried to bribe employees to oppose the union.
“It was very effective,” he said. “Some people had been skipped over for a raise. All of a sudden, a person has 2 years of retro pay at 50 cents an hour. They get a check for $2,000 and say, ‘Why do I need the union?’ “
|
| Jacob Salinas: “Rights do not exist for workers in this country. I was exercising my rights and they still fired me.”
Union Advocate photo |
But the most effective tactic may have been at Cintas, which fired Salinas only months before the birth of his first daughter. “It affected me a lot in terms of my personal morale,” Salinas said. “The company left me out on the street, with no benefits, nothing.”
It clearly sent a message to his co-workers, he said: “It put fear into them.”
Salinas said he can’t wait around to see if the NLRB orders Cintas to give him his job back. He now works two jobs. “I have to support my family,” he said. “It’s been a year. What could I do?”
Inadequate solutions
The three Twin Cities cases point out what critics see as the underlying flaw in U.S. labor law: Companies violate the spirit, if not the letter of the law, take borderline or even outright illegal actions, and suffer few consequences that mean anything.
The Holiday Inn case is “so typical,” Goff said, “other than we got the election overturned. And we got it overturned on objections to the conduct of the election, which in essence is a charge against NLRB itself.”
Goff said he’s not faulting the regional office of the NLRB. “They have the laws that they have. But their answer is to rerun the election. That response is inadequate. It’s like saying, when someone sticks you in the eye, why don’t you stick them in the other eye?”
Jeanine Otte and Rosa Valenzuela, both of UNITE HERE, assisted as interpreters in the reporting of this story. Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org
Related articles
Human Rights Day events focus on workplace
Nobel laureates urge stronger protections for workers
For more information
Read the new report on workers’ rights issued by American Rights at Work
Read the statement issued by the Nobel laureates
Read the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights