INTERFAITH COALITION ALERTS CONGREGATIONS
ABOUT RED CROSS MISTREATMENT OF WORKERS
CHICAGO (PAI)—Interfaith Worker Justice, the pro-labor religious coalition based in Chicago, is sending communications to congregations nationwide alerting them the Red Cross is mistreating its union workers, Executive Director Kim Bobo says.
In a Nov. 10 telephone press conference, Bobo and workers from outstate Michigan, downstate Illinois and elsewhere detailed how the non-profit organization is both trying to prevent unionization – in Decatur – and imposing enormous health care cost increases on its own staff in six other areas.
The Red Cross actions put the nation’s blood supply, for doctors and hospitals, at risk, since the Red Cross handles half of it, Bobo noted. And the federal Food and Drug Administration has already fined Red Cross $37 million over the last two years for blood bank safety violations, all directly tied to its mistreatment of the workers, an AFL-CIO speaker said.
Direct pressure on the Red Cross, including a mass march in front of its D.C. headquarters by the Office and Professional Employees earlier this year, hasn’t worked so far. OPEIU includes seven Red Cross locals who were forced to undergo 1-to-3 day strikes earlier this year to publicize the problems.
Two of the locals forced to strike were OPEIU locals in Kalamazoo and Lansing, Mich. The others were in Buffalo, Toledo, Connecticut, West Virginia and Los Angeles.
Overall, 17 locals represent about 2,000 paid Red Cross workers, many of them registered nurses and others with medical backgrounds. The Teamsters just won two union recognition elections at Red Cross centers in North Carolina.
But the Red Cross is so intransigent that OPEIU and AFSCME – the union seeking to unionize the Red Cross workers in Peoria – have been forced to file labor law-breaking charges against the Red Cross with the National Labor Relations Board.
Faced with the agency’s stonewall, Interfaith Worker Justice is enlisting congregations nationwide to speak up for the Red Cross workers.
“The Red Cross is a wonderful institution and does really critical work,” Bobo said. “But part of that is to have care and concern for those doing the work,” she added.
Congregations nationwide have the Red Cross handle blood drives, Bobo explained. But many do not know that the agency has paid staff and is mistreating them. Interfaith Worker Justice’s mailing explains the dispute.
###
