health care, labor

Aliquippa Workers to Bridge Finance: ‘Why Are We the First in Line to Work, and the Last in Line for Payment?’

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Photo: Debi Davidson, Unpaid Nurse at CMC

CMC Hospital
Workers Still
Waiting for Pay

By Michael Pound
Beaver County Times

“They found money to pay the lawyers, and they still won’t pay us? It is outrageous.” –Michelle Batchelor, Hopewell Township, former operating room nurse at Commonwealth Medical Center.

———

PITTSBURGH, Feb 18, 2009 – The company that holds the checkbook for the bankrupt Commonwealth Medical Center found money to pay the attorneys who represent many of the hospital’s creditors — but the folks who worked for the hospital in the weeks before it closed are still waiting to hear when they’ll get their money.

Despite assuring everyone involved that there would be an agreement in place to ensure that those checks would be forthcoming, an attorney representing Bridge Healthcare Finance — the primary creditor in the case and the firm that controls whatever money is spent by the hospital — pulled back from those discussions, with the exception of finding about $20,000 for paying other lawyers involved in the case.
Continue reading Aliquippa Workers to Bridge Finance: ‘Why Are We the First in Line to Work, and the Last in Line for Payment?’ →

elections

Subsidizing COBRA Is Not Enough–We Need HR 676: National Health Care

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by Andrew Coates MD

COBRA is a law that allows you to keep your employer-sponsored health
insurance for 18 months if you lose or change jobs. To do so, you have to
pay 102% of the cost (the full premium plus a 2% surcharge).

The stimulus package just passed provides for laid off workers, who had
health insurance on the job, to receive a subsidy of 65% of the health
insurance premium for up to nine months.

Continue reading Subsidizing COBRA Is Not Enough–We Need HR 676: National Health Care →

health care, labor

Once Again, Aliquippa Workers Hit the Streets to Demand Their Pay

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aliquippa-workers

Photo:  CMC workers gather for vigil and march

Bridge Finance
Dragging Feet on
Final Payment to
Hospital Workers

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Why is a major Chicago financial group with millions once again behaving like a low-life deadbeat, needing to be dunned for payment by the hospital workers it owes, and who have very little?

That’s the question that sent Aliquippa’s former employees of the Commonwealth Medical Center back to the shutdown hospital Feb 16 for a candlelight vigil and nighttime march through neighborhood streets. About 50 nurses and staff, fired last December, braved freezing weather to demand, once again, their full back wages. About two weeks earlier, after a brief sit-in in the facility, they got about half their money, with the other half promised within weeks. The promise proved empty, if not deceitful. Continue reading Once Again, Aliquippa Workers Hit the Streets to Demand Their Pay →

Economy, labor

5000 Steelworkers Deliver a Message to GOP Stimulus Blockers and Cutters

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Steelworkers Jobs
March Draws Thousands
in Granite City, IL

By Scott Cousins
St Louis Suburban Journals

Feb. 10, 2009 – A line of more than 5,500 laid-off steelworkers from Granite City, auto workers from Decatur and Fenton, Mo., and their supporters stretched out for more than eight blocks along a mile-long route as part of a “Put America Back To Work” march Tuesday morning in Granite City.

The march, sponsored by local and state labor unions and several community groups, was held to support passage of a federal stimulus bill, including a “buy American” provision.

Both city and union officials said slightly more than 5,500 people participated. Continue reading 5000 Steelworkers Deliver a Message to GOP Stimulus Blockers and Cutters →

elections

France Protects Its Auto Workers

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A Lesson from France
“The French government said it would give 6.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) in low interest loans to Renault SA and PSA Peugeot-Citroen in exchange for pledges that the car makers won’t close any factories or lay off any workers in France for the duration of the funding.” Wall Street Journal 2-10-09

Quel surpris! The French government bailout of France’s auto industry requires the auto companies to continue the employment of the company’s workers! In the US, on the other hand, the government urges the auto industry to “restructure” before receiving bailout funds, principally by laying off workers.

Are US auto workers any less deserving of this pledge? Does government owe them any less, in a time of global economic crisis?

But then nobody asked…

In the US, representatives of the auto workers join the CEO’s in begging for corporate bailout money while conceding that everyone must make sacrifices. It is a foregone conclusion that tens of thousands of workers will lose their jobs for the sake of “restructuring”.

France’s commitment to its auto workers certainly does not spring from any compassion on the part of its government. French President Sarkozy has dedicated his term to breaking the back of France’s unions. He is widely viewed as a French George Bush, seeking to wipeout the social gains of years of struggle in the interest of a harsh competitive regimen.

But the French working class has pushed back with militant, united street actions and strikes. They have joined students, immigrants, retirees, and professionals in resisting. Long derided by arrogant tourists for its labor militancy, France has – ironically – faired better economically than its European counterparts in the face of the world crisis.

The above commentary is from zz’s blog. Note that unemployed French auto workers also enjoy continued access to full health care benefits under France’s national single payer helathcare system.

Economy, Environment, Infrastructure, labor

Green Jobs 2009: Steelworkers Meet Hip-Hoppers and Tree-Huggers

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Photo: AFLCIO’s Richard Trumka at Green Jobs 2009

Blue-Green Insurgency
Gets Fired Up at the
DC Green Jobs Conference

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

When you walk into a large and stately Washington, DC hotel lobby and find it teeming with thousands of smiling, buzzing people-half in labor union jackets and ball caps, the other half dressed in 30-something hip-hop causal-you know some special is happening.

This was the lively, energized scene for three cold wintry days this Feb 4-6 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, as nearly 3000 activists and organizers gathered for the “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” National Conference. The gathering was convened by more than 100 organizations, representing every major trade union and every major environmental group in the country, among others. Continue reading Green Jobs 2009: Steelworkers Meet Hip-Hoppers and Tree-Huggers →

Economy, Infrastructure

Beaver County’s Recovery in the 1930s

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ccc-raccoon

Photo: Lodge at Raccoon Creek State Park Today. The park was built in the 1930s by CCC teams of unemployed young workers, like the Western PA CCC camp above.

Impact of 1930s
WPA and CCC
Still Seen Locally

By Bob Bauder
Beaver County Times

Feb.1, 2009 – President Barack Obama’s plan for putting Americans to work by rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure is an old idea, dating back to the Great Depression and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Among the alphabet soup of agencies created during the New Deal, the Works Progress Administration stands out as one of the most successful.

From 1935 to 1943, the WPA spent about $10.5 billion (about $159 billion in 2008 dollars) and employed about 8.5 million Americans who would have otherwise been on relief rolls. Continue reading Beaver County’s Recovery in the 1930s →

Economy, health care, labor

First Victory for Aliquippa Hospital Workers!

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Photo: Protest at CMC in Aliquippa During Sit-In

Bridge Finance
Backs Down,
Agree To Pay

SEIU Press Release
Jan 27, 2008

In a victory for laid-off employees of Commonwealth Medical Center (formerly Aliquippa Hospital) who have been fighting for unpaid wages, the Medical Center and its chief lender, Bridge Finance Group, agreed to pay part of the wages owed immediately and to work toward full payment within three weeks.

The agreement reached on Tuesday provides that the former employees will receive a portion of the wages owed by 12:00 Noon on Wednesday, January 28, with a commitment to ensuring full compensation in the next few weeks.

“This is a tremendous first step, and we are going to keep fighting to make sure everyone is paid in full for our work on behalf of patients and our community,” said Kathie Marino, RN and former Commonwealth employee. “Amidst this economic crisis, working people need to stick together so our voices are heard.”
Continue reading First Victory for Aliquippa Hospital Workers! →

health care, labor

Aliquippa Labor Battle Heats Up:

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Photo: Hospital workers demanding justice

SEIU Workers Stage Sit-In
to Demand Justice, Unpaid Wages

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Aliquippa, PA, January 26, 2009–Seven labor activists—four Registered Nurses, a union secretary and two priests—staged an occupation of the medical library in the Commonwealth Medical Center in Aliquippa, PA to demand backpay for employees who lost their jobs when the hospital closed in December. After several hours, the seven were escorted off the property by officers arriving in six police cars. Continue reading Aliquippa Labor Battle Heats Up: →

Community, health care, labor

No Shame: Hospital Workers Robbed in Court

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hospital27

Photo: Closed Hospital in Aliquippa

Injustice In Aliquippa:
New Labor Battle
Over Hospital Shutdown

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Hundreds of fired hospital workers are awakening the historic spirit of class struggle in Beaver County, as they confront an effort by heath industry financiers and a bankruptcy court to steal their wages after destroying their jobs.

That was the message made loud and clear at a rally of over 100 Commonwealth Medical Center workers and their allies at the Serbian Club on a snowy afternoon, January 9, in Aliquippa, Pa. The members of SEIU Local 1199 are organizing for further action at the US Bankruptcy court in downtown Pittsburgh on Jan.27, as well as at the offices of Bridge Finance Group in Chicago.
Continue reading No Shame: Hospital Workers Robbed in Court →