Solidarity With Baltimore’s Security Guards

Travis Henson-Rollins, a security officer in Baltimore, told dozens gathered for a May 22 rally that those in her profession are expected to be on the front lines everyday but are not given respect or fair wages.Members of 1199SEIU joined Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby, local clergy and community groups for a rally May 22 at the Inner Harbor to launch a new campaign for improved wages for the city’s 1,000 private security officers.

The property service workers union 32BJ SEIU estimates that security companies such as Brantley & Crown Security could save taxpayers more than $33 million over the next decade by simply raising standards for Baltimore security officers to a level where officers no longer relied on public assistance. Currently, the guards earn as little as $9 an hour, drastically below Baltimore’s living wage of $10.59

Click to read more ...

GBMC Workers Secure a Raise, Maintain Popular Healthcare and Training Benefits

Management Take-Backs Taken Off the Table

Victorious GBMC caregivers and organizers at the ratification vote for their new contract. Sheila Saunders, a unit secretary at GBMC, (bottom right) says 1199SEIU members “got a great deal!”

Following a May 8 ratification vote, more than 350 members of 1199SEUI at Greater Baltimore Medical Center will receive an immediate bonus and a one percent wage increase, followed by another one percent increase on Dec. 1 under an agreement with hospital management. 

The contract protects union members’ health insurance coverage, holding costs down and slightly decreasing costs for the most popular coverage.  Union members also won GBMC’s continued participation in the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund, which had been among the numerous management take-backs that were originally put forward but were beaten back by workers at the bargaining table.

Click to read more ...

Maryland Legislators to Study Equal Labor Protections for UMMC Workers

Mary L. Washington, D-Baltimore City, is a sponsor of the Equality for Maryland Caregivers Act of 2013.The Equality for Maryland Caregivers Act of 2013 gives caregivers at the University of Maryland Medical Center the same labor protections enjoyed by workers at every other UMMS facility in the state and by the vast majority of workers in the United States.

ANNAPOLIS— The Maryland General Assembly adjourned on Monday with an agreement to study new legislation that would provide equal labor protections to 5,000 workers at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

The proposed law, the Equality for Maryland Caregivers Act of 2013, solves a dilemma for UMMC workers, who are not covered by either federal or state labor boards. In Maryland, private hospitals fall under the National Labor Relations Board and public hospitals fall under the Maryland Labor Relations Act. The University of Maryland Medical Center is governed by neither. 

Click to read more ...

UMMC Caregivers Stand Up For Their Rights

Francine Fields, a cytotechnologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center, says having a union at the hospital "could make the playing field fair."

The proposed Equality for Maryland Caregivers Act would give UMMC caregivers the same labor protections as other workers.

***

When Jason McPherson arrived to work at Baltimore’s University of Maryland Medical Center last November, there was the usual huddle of caregivers called by the head nurse to provide updates about patient care.  But on that day, rather than discuss patients, the nurse announced that there would be a ban on mentioning anything about joining a union or union activities at the workplace. 

Francine Fields, a cytotechnologist at UMMC, remembers the sense of surveillance by cameras and individuals when she and her co-workers wanted to explore collective bargaining options last year. “In many instances, the atmosphere was an atmosphere of fear, an atmosphere of uncertainty.”

Because of these kinds of violations of their labor rights, McPherson and Fields are among several UMMC workers who have stepped forward to provide testimony in support of the Equality for Maryland Caregivers Act. The legislation, which is being considered by the Maryland General Assembly, would grant caregivers at UMMC the same labor protections enjoyed by the vast majority of American workers and by workers at every other facility in the University of Maryland Medical System. Right now, UMMC is a quasi-private and quasi-public institution and is not subject to rules of either the National Labor Relations Board or the Maryland Labor Relations Act.  The board of the statewide hospital system is appointed by the governor and the system receives 58 percent of its funding from public sources.

Click to read more ...

HEARD ON THE HILL: 1199ers Won't Let Medicare and Medicaid Go Over the Cliff

1199MD/DC members meeting with U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes.

If you paid a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, you might have noticed that the hallways were bustling. Not from freshman representatives moving into new offices, but from dozens of purple clad 1199ers lobbying to protect Medicare and Medicaid as Congress searches for a solution to the fiscal cliff.

In meetings with members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, 1199ers spoke from the heart about how cuts to Medicaid and Medicare would affect the patients they serve.

Click to read more ...