What's Really at Stake with this CNA/SEIU Controversy

SEIU — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:35:43 EDT

Hey, this is Nadia. I'm an SEIU staffer. Not sure how much this Ohio organizing debate is on the radar for folks who don't work for a union, but with the Labor Notes conference here this weekend, it's now local. Anyways, wanted to provide some context...

By now you may feel like you’ve heard quite enough of the back-and-forth between SEIU and the CNA over union representation of nurses and healthcare workers in Ohio. You may have also heard that the dispute runs deep and wide and goes back years and across state lines into Nevada, California, Texas and several others, and that the encounters have become more extreme.

And perhaps you’re wondering—why should I care?

If this were just about CNA and SEIU, or even just about a dispute at an isolated hospital in one state, you could move on. The thing is, these struggles are not taking place in a vacuum—and what becomes of them has far-reaching impact that touches us all. At a time when the economy is bad and getting worse, and the number of workers represented by a union in this country is an anemic 12%, labor unions face a choice…and workers everywhere face the consequences.

Unions can fight for turf within the ever-shrinking pool of unionized workers, or we can get back on the offensive by reaching out to help more workers join unions to strengthen the hand of more working families.

John Sweeney Webcast Tonight

Kathy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:42:58 EST

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has some ideas he'll be outlining via live webcast tonight. "Turn Around America" is being sponsored by the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School.

In the first-ever address by an AFL-CIO president to the influential Harvard University's John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, Sweeney will describe why America is not working for working people and what the AFL-CIO will do to create an America that works for all, including increasing member mobilization this election year and working to reform U.S. labor law to give workers a free chance to form unions. Says Sweeney:

We have an opportunity not only to restore the voice and vitality of the union movement, but to change the direction of our economy and our country. We're faced with a fundamental choice: continue down the low road we've been taking and end up in a swamp of inequality where corporations and the wealthy always get more, or turn around America and head back up to higher ground where working people get a fair share of the wealth they help create.

After his address, Sweeney will take part in an interview and a question and answer session with the audience. You can see the live webcast of the forum on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. at www.iop.harvard.edu/events_forum.html.

Posts with the tag unions

What's Really at Stake with this CNA/SEIU Controversy

John Sweeney Webcast Tonight