Despite a LIUNA nurse and hospital technicians strike that threaten patient health and radical leaflet propaganda, the Tenet Corporation which owns San Francisco’s Redding Medical Center was able to keep the center an “open shop.” LIUNA went on strike Jun. 4, but a federal mediator got them back to the table the next day. On Jun. 23, the union relented and although the hospital made concessions, it remains an open shop which means union membership will not be a condition of employment. [BNA Daily Labor Report 06/25/98 & Providence Journal-Bulletin 06/05/98]
Trumka & Co. Incite Radicalism
Jun. 24 was the AFL-CIO’s “Day to Make Our Voices Heard” which is the latest AFL-CIO P.R. stunt designed to incite radicalism in union members. Small protests in allegedly 70 cities were held across the country. As part of the festivities, registered nurses in Vancouver, WA left a medical center understaffed. Longshoremen shut down the Port of Oakland, CA. In Denver, about 250 unionists gathered to hear AFL-CIO’s Linda Chavez-Thompson offer her legal opinion that: “It ought to be a civil right of every worker to form a union.” All of 40 workers commemorated the event in Roanoke, VA. Not to be outdone, almost 300 gathered in Queens, NY to watch the AFL-CIO’s ethically-challenged Richard L. Trumka shake his fists and spout fiery rhetoric from on atop flat-bed truck. [Vancouver Columbian, San Francisco Examiner, Denver Post, Roanoke Times & Newsday 06/25/98]