21 Arrested as Community Leaders Block Scabs to Support Strike
By Steve Thornton
(June 1) On the 48th day on strike at a Connecticut nursing home, twenty one community leaders, labor activists, clergy members and elected officials were arrested while blocking scab workers from entering and leaving the Park Place Health Center in Hartford.
“We are here today as witnesses for justice,” reads a statement released by the activists, who also cited Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that civil disobedience “seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.”
The human blockade is one of many solidarity actions that have been organized by area supporters who have also provided material and moral aid to the strikers on a regular basis.
The strike involves a total of four nursing homes in Hartford, Winsted, Derby and Ansonia which are organized by District 1199, New England Health Care Employees Union, SEIU. The homes are owned by Spectrum Care, a local corporation run by Brian and Howard Dickstein and Sean Murphy.
Boss Commits Unfair Labor Practices
The labor action of almost 400 workers was triggered on April 15th, more than one year after their contracts expired. Over the last 12 months, the employer fired, suspended and intimidated dozens of workers who no longer had full union protections. District 1199 has charged the company with massive unfair labor practices and has filed charges of illegal activity by Spectrum at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
“We have now successfully negotiated contracts with operators of 36 other nursing homes covering 4,000 long-term care workers in Connecticut – without any strikes or other job actions,” said District 1199 Vice President Almena Thompson. “The union is the same, the contract terms very similar – the only difference is the company in question, Spectrum.”
“And Spectrum is the only company who has engaged in these massive Unfair Labor Practices – that’s why there are strikes at Spectrum’s homes, but were no strikes at any other nursing home.”
Dangerous Work, Poor Safety Record
Spectrum also has an abysmal health and safety record. On March 10, 2010 the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) sent letters to “15,000 workplaces [nationally] with the highest numbers of injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activities or job transfers.” All four of the Spectrum nursing homes on the strike deadline, plus a fifth home where the contract does not expire until 2011, received the OSHA notification. According to OSHA, “Workplaces receiving notifications had [illness and injury] rates more than twice the national average among all U.S. workplaces.”
Vice President Thompson said, “Among nursing home chains, Spectrum has one of the worst health and safety records in Connecticut, yet they want to slash pay for workers injured on the job to $10/hour if the nature of the injuries require lighter-duty work.”
Strikers’ Action Program
One hundred Hartford 1199 members (dietary, housekeeping and laundry workers, nurses and nurse aides) have maintained an active program of agitation both on and off the picket line:
– After intense worker lobbying, the Hartford City Council voted on May 24th to unanimously support the strikers, demanding that the Spectrum owners settle a fair contract, back off of their position that the strikers would be permanently replaced, and demanded that the company pay for police picket line overtime.
– The strikers have found creative ways to discourage outside workers from applying for jobs at the Park Place. Most frequently, the potential scabs are approached before they cross the picket line and are talked out of stealing the strikers’ jobs. But at least one striker placed one young man in a lawn chair and sat on him until he agreed to leave. Another walked in front of a job seeker and “just acted crazy” witnesses said. The applicant was so disturbed by the sight she turned around and left.
– Strikers have extended support to other labor causes as well. More than 60 joined the Workers’ Memorial Day event at the State Capitol on April 28th. Others joined Red Cross workers in nearby Farmington who walked in to their boss to deliver a ten-day strike notice.
– Each striking home has walked the others’ picket lines and sat in during contract negotiations, which have continued despite the employer’s “surface” bargaining.
Support the striking Spectrum workers!
Visit www.seiu1199ne.org or call 860-549-1199
More photos: http://www.homestead.com/homefront
photos courtesy of Steve Thornton
One of the Strike’s biggest supporters died last Thursday. She spoke at our first rally and offered to be part of our civil disobedience last week. Here is an execerpt from her obituary:
NANCY BENEDICT, Adventuress, gardener, crusader for justice – Nancy King Benedict, 64, beloved wife of John Patrick Murphy, passed away suddenly at her home on Thursday, June 3, of a heart attack. Nancy led a rich and passionate life and set an example for everyone who knew her. While she struggled since her early 50s with Parkinson’s Disease and the attendant erosion of mobility, she continued to be as bold as she was curious, as active as she was caring. Nancy was part of every major fight for social and economic justice, of every effort to make the world a better place. She blazed new trails and was a powerful voice for affordable health care for everyone long before it was a front page issue. Nancy was born July 7, 1945 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and spent her childhood in Glen Cove, NY, a small town on Long Island’s North Shore. Nancy found a personally gratifying job at the Connecticut Co-op in Hartford, where she did everything from process orders, operate a forklift, and most importantly, start food co-ops throughout New England. She also learned to drive a motorcycle and fulfilled a long-held desire to solo-pilot a small airplane. Nancy began a new career with the Connecticut State Employees Association in 1985 as a Retiree Organizer. She serviced and staffed Council 400 retiree union chapters and the State Employee Health Care Cost Containment Committee. In addition, Nancy became involved in political drives and lobbying efforts and events to protect and expand benefits for retirees. Health considerations forced an early retirement, but she remained involved in advocacy through the week of her death, when she “walked” the picket line – as she had many times before – at Park Place Health Center in Hartford. Over the last several years she worked with CCAG, Health Care for America Now, the Connecticut Parkinson’s Working Group, stood with workers on picket lines whenever possible, and served as the co-chair of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group since 1997. The family would like to acknowledge the extraordinary care and compassion of all of her health care providers, but most notably, Dr. Ann Semolic, Dr. Toni de Marcaida and all of the 1199 health care workers from Park Place Health Center who work hard to provide quality health care for every patient. A memorial celebration will be held on the evening of Tuesday, (July 6, 2010) at the Pond House Banquet Hall in Elizabeth Park, 1555 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117-2804. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Connecticut Parkinson’s Working Group (CPWG) 132 Highwoods Drive, Guilford, CT 06437 or the Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG) 30 Arbor Street Suite 6N Hartford, CT 06106. For up to date information, please use this URL: nancy.CCAG.net