OLAT | Jan/Feb 2014

A JOURNAL OF 1199SEIU January/February 2014

“Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means income equality.� — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shown here addressing the 1199 Salute to Freedom on March 10, 1968.

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*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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PREPARING FOR LEAGUE NEGOTIATIONS

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CHOMSKY ON SOLIDARITY

BROOKDALE MEMBERS WIN BACK THEIR BENEFITS

3 PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Editorial

Our Life and Times January/February 2014

“RAISE HIGH THE BANNER IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY, 4 DISCRIMINATION, HATE & WAR.” PROTECTING OUR BENEFITS

,EAGUE NEGOTIATIONS WILL CALL FOR A SHOW OF STRENGTH

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HONORING DR. KING

-,+ $AY EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE 2EGIONS

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AROUND THE REGIONS

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HONORING MADIBA

3%)5 AND 0RES .ELSON -ANDELA SHARED A LONG AND SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

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OUR HISTORY: HEALTH & SAFETY

This issue of Our Life And Times is dedicated to the MEMORY OF TWO OF OUR BRIGHTEST BEACONS $R -ARTIN ,UTHER +ING *R AND 0RES .ELSON -ANDELA 4HESE ICONS OF UNBOUNDED COURAGE AND PERSEVERANCE SHOW US THE WAY IN SEEKING JUSTICE FOR WORKERS THE MARGINALIZED AND THE POOR 4HE 5NION S RELATIONSHIP WITH $R +ING DATES BACK AS FAR AS

WHEN LEADERSHIP COLLECTED FUNDS IN SUPPORT OF THE -ONTGOMERY "US "OYCOTT !ND OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH 0RES -ANDELA DATES TO WHEN HE WAS IMPRISONED ON 2OBBEN )SLAND h-ANDELA STOOD UP AFTER BEING JAILED AND HE TALKED ABOUT RECONCILIATION (E PUT HIS COUNTRY AND HIS PEOPLE BEFORE HIMSELF v SAYS &RED (ICKS A TRANSPORTER AT 3ILVERLAKE 2EHAB ON 3TATEN )SLAND .9 )N $ECEMBER (ICKS ATTENDED -ANDELA S FUNERAL IN *OHANNESBURG 3OUTH !FRICA AS PART OF AN 3%)5 DELEGATION h(E WAS ALSO A WORKER (E WAS A MAN WHO STOOD FOR EQUALITY HONESTY JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS n EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD IN THE STRUGGLE n HE FOUGHT FOR THOSE THINGS v 4HROUGHOUT OUR REGIONS MEMBERS MARKED $R +ING S HOLIDAY THIS *ANUARY WITH CELEBRATIONS AND COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENTS h) BELIEVE THAT THE CREATION OF DECENT PAYING JOBS IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIlCANT TOOLS WE HAVE THAT WILL CHANGE THE CONDITION IN OUR COMMUNITY -Y INVOLVEMENT WITH AND THE #OALITION OF "LACK 4RADE 5NIONISTS WILL ALLOW ME TO BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION v SAID )NDIA 7ALTON AN 2. AT 7OMEN S AND #HILDREN S (OSPITAL OF "UFFALO AT THE 5NION S +ING $AY EVENT THERE

h7E WILL BUILD OUR 5NION IN HIS IMAGE v WROTE FORMER 0RES ,EON $AVIS IN THE !PRIL COMMEMORATIVE EDITION OF 1199 Drug and Hospital News AFTER $R +ING S DEATH h7E WILL RAISE HIGH THE BANNER OF STRUGGLE IN THE lGHT AGAINST POVERTY

DISCRIMINATION IGNORANCE HATE AND WAR v At this writing, downstate New York members were PREPARING TO ENTER WHAT MAY BE SOME OF OUR TOUGHEST NEGOTIATIONS IN RECENT MEMORY WITH THE ,EAGUE OF 6OLUNTARY (OSPITALS AND .URSING (OMES 4HEY WILL BE A REAL TEST OF OUR LATE 0RES $AVIS CHALLENGE n ESPECIALLY WITH TODAY S VAST INEQUALITY BETWEEN THE WEALTHY AND THE WORKING CLASS AND THE VICIOUS ANTI UNION ATMOSPHERE BEING SUPPORTED BY THE FAR RIGHT "UT MEMBERS UNDERSTAND THAT THE ,EAGUE NEGOTIATIONS ARE NOT ONLY A lGHT FOR BENElTS THEY ARE ALSO THE STANDARD BEARING STRUGGLE FOR OUR 5NION AND IN SOME WAY A lGHT FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL THE NATION S WORKERS h7E HAVE TO KEEP EDUCATING OURSELVES AND EACH OTHER AND TEACHING OUR MEMBERS v SAYS 2OSEMARY #URLEY A SECRETARY AT 3OUTHSIDE (OSPITAL IN "AY 3HORE .9 h7E HAVE TO KEEP BUILDING UP OUR INSTITUTIONS AND GIVING EACH OTHER SUPPORT 4HEY RE GOING TO PLAY MIND TRICKS AND TRY TO SCARE US

BUT THIS IS ABOUT SOLIDARITY v 4HIS ISSUE FEATURES MEMBERS WHO ARE RAISING HIGH THE BANNER OF STRUGGLE n ORGANIZING WORKERS lGHTING FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND SPEAKING OUT AGAINST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION 4HEY ARE FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF 0RES -ANDELA AND $R +ING

(UNDREDS OF MEMBERS HAVE LEARNED TO KEEP THEMSELVES AND OTHERS SAFE ON THE JOB THROUGH OUR HEALTH AND SAFETY PROGRAM

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THE LAST WORD: SOLIDARITY

,INGUIST .OAM #HOMSKY DISCUSSES COLLECTIVE ACTION AND CLASS WARFARE Our Life And Times, January/February 2014 Vol 32, No 1 Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 310 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 Telephone (212) 582-1890 www.1199seiu.org PRESIDENT

George Gresham SECRETARY TREASURER

Maria Castaneda EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENTS

Norma Amsterdam Yvonne Armstrong Lisa Brown-Beloch Angela Doyle George Kennedy Steve Kramer Joyce Neil John Reid Bruce Richard Mike Rifkin Monica Russo Rona Shapiro Neva Shillingford Milly Silva Veronica Turner Laurie Vallone Estela Vazquez

ACTING EDITOR

Patricia Kenney DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Jim Tynan PHOTOGRAPHER

Belinda Gallegos ART DIRECTION

& DESIGN Maiarelli Studio COVER PHOTOGRAPH

Dan Miller CONTRIBUTORS

Mindy Berman Peter J. Drumsta JJ Johnson Our Life And Times is published six times a year- January/ February, March/ April, May/June, July/ August, September/ October, November/ December – for $15.00 per year by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East, 310 W.43 St, New York, NY 10036.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: send address changes to Our Life And Times, 301 W.43 St., New York, NY 10036.

LUBA LUKOVA

@1199seiu www.facebook.com/SEIU www.1199seiu.org *ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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THE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Letters

George Gresham SPECIAL THANKS TO TUF have been a Union member since 2002 when I started as an X-ray technologist.

Thanks to 1199 I attained my Bachelor’s Degree on a parttime status. It took me about five years. I am very well-versed on what it takes to receive a voucher from 1199SEIU’s Training and Upgrading Fund. I have dealt with the main office in midtown Manhattan and the Bronx.

In 2011 I decided to return to school after having twin boys. Upon my decision to return to school, I planned to take the initial workshop at the Westchester County office. God always places angels in my path.

At this office I met Maribel Texidor. She had just returned from maternity leave and again I cannot express how blessed I was to meet her. She made everything easy to understand and was completely thorough. Even when I could imagine she was overwhelmed she managed to be completely helpful.

Knowledgeable, understanding, kind, compassionate, and thorough are just some of the positive qualities I can list about her. People like me who work fulltime and have families need to encounter more people like her.

I will finish my Master’s Degree next semester by the grace of God and with the help of Maribel. There are not enough words to express how I truly appreciate this woman, and I want everyone to know about her. She has made every semester a smooth and simple transition, and even when there was a wrinkle, she always manages to smooth it out. I hope this letter conveys how I admire and respect Ms. Texidor.

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IRIS CORTES Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert Einstein Division Bronx, NY KEEP ST. LUKE’S CORNWALL ER FULL-TIME othing is more important than the health and safety of our children, our families and our community. That’s why the proposal by executives at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital to make our emergency room in Cornwall, NY part-time is unacceptable. It’s also why I’ve joined with the dedicated healthcare workers of 1199SEIU and community leaders to provide a voice for keeping St. Luke’s Cornwall

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emergency room open full-time for our community.

Because the hospital administration refuses to hold public hearings on this issue, I joined with state Senator Bill Larkin to hold our own public hearing, inviting officials from the state Department of Health (DOH) and St. Luke’s Cornwall to participate (unfortunately, the hospital refused to attend). We even gathered some 3,000 petitions calling for the hospital to keep the emergency room open full-time and delivered them to a D.O.H. meeting in Albany.

1199SEIU members, the community, and I are continuing to fight St. Luke’s Cornwall’s irresponsible and dangerous proposal at the DOH-level. I am also drafting legislation that will make the review process for downgrading emergency rooms much stricter and more rigorous than currently exists. Likewise, I have legislation that will prohibit hospital executives from giving themselves bonuses when they pursue ER downgrades.

Thank you to 1199SEIU members for the relentless fight we’ve waged so far. We need to continue to support full-time emergency rooms for all fulltime communities and prevent St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital from shutting down our ER for 12 hours each day. The reality is that people still get sick after 10 p.m. and accidents still occur before 10 a.m. When these emergencies happen, our community relies on healthcare workers at our emergency room for immediate, critical and often life-saving care. By bringing stakeholders together – community members, union and civic leaders, emergency responders, hospital staff and elected officials – we can continue to provide a much-needed voice for the health and wellbeing of our families and our community.

JAMES SKOUFIS Member of NYS Assembly 99AD, mid-Hudson Valley Let’s Hear From You Our Life And Times welcomes your letters. Please email them to PatriciaK@1199.org or snail mail them to Patricia Kenney, 1199SEIU OLAT, 330 West 42nd St., 7th floor, New York, NY 10036. Please include your telephone number and place of work. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.

*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

There Is a War on Working People We are living a tale of two countries.

Politicians love to tell the fairy tale about the United States being “one country, indivisible,� that whatever our differences, we are all Americans and that’s what counts.

It sounds nice, but try explaining what a homecare worker living in a fourth-floor Flatbush walkup has in common with the hedge-fund CEO living in an Upper East Side town house (when he’s not at one of his homes in London, Hawaii, the Caribbean or in the Hamptons).

Two years ago, the Occupy movement shook up our country’s political culture. Television talking heads like to declare Occupy a failure because it left no ongoing organizational structure. But the movement changed the national conversation from hand-wringing over the false issue of “deficits� to recognition of income inequality as toxic to our nation’s well-being. The 1% and The 99% have now become commonplace in our language.

Occupy Wall Street was busted up by then-Mayor multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg and what he called “my own army�—the NYPD. But two years later, Bill de Blasio, Tish James and Melissa Mark-Viverito—all familiar faces at Occupy Wall Street rallies—are now (respectively) New York City’s Mayor, Public Advocate and City Council Speaker This is a great achievement, but the challenges for working people remain huge and never-ending. De Blasio’s “Tale of Two Cities� is more broadly a “Tale of Two Countries.� The widening gap between rich and poor—between the ultra-rich and the rest of us—raises a valid question: Are we really one country indivisible when millions of us can’t pay for bare necessities while billionaires, respecting no flag, park their money off shore to evade taxes, and invest abroad to take advantage of starvation wages?

Or when politicians vote to end food stamps for millions of folks who will go hungry without them and to end unemployment insurance for those without jobs for six months (an estimated five million workers this year)?

In 2012, the average CEO pay was $12.3 million—354 times the pay of the average American worker, and the disparity is growing. Between 1978 and 2011, average CEO compensation increased by 727%; during the same period, average worker pay increased by only 5.7%.

But when homecare workers and low-wage retail and service sector workers organize to join unions, demand paid family leave or a livable minimum wage, the corporations and their proxies in the media and public office complain about “class warfare� and “redistribution of wealth.�

As if there hasn’t been a decades-long one-sided class war against workers.

In politics, thanks to the right wing U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the bedrock democratic concept of one person, one vote has become one dollar, one vote. Corporations and billionaires now flood the electoral system and lobby Congress and legislatures in a form of legalized bribery. In the 2012 election cycle, the far-right billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch spent some $400 million. No worker or union or even group of unions can hope to match that amount of cash.

The Kochs are the largest funders of the Tea Party. David is on the board of trustees of New York Presbyterian Hospital. How did this man who finances the rightwing assault on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid become a trustee of one of the country’s best hospitals?

It helped that he gave Presby $100 million to build a new pavilion in his name on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which is perhaps the U.S. neighborhood least in need of a new medical facility. (It already houses Cornell-Weill, Sloan-Kettering, Mt. Sinai and Lenox Hill hospitals.) In the meantime, New York City has lost several hospitals in underserved communities, and other institutions, like Interfaith and Long Island College Hospitals, are on life-support.

These are the difficult circumstances in which we 1199ers live today.

For working folks, life is a constant struggle. The brilliant examples of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pres. Nelson Mandela shown in this issue give testimony to how it is possible to achieve victories against seemingly impossible odds. This is also the story of the sisters and brothers who built our union, and of you today who fight in our institutions and our communities to build a better life for working people.

“Now Is Not the Time for

Reluctance�

Members ready themselves for League contract negotiations.

Late last year, the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Nursing Homes notified 1199SEIU that it wanted to re-open its collective bargaining agreement with the Union.

The League (which represents some 109 hospitals and nursing homes throughout downstate New York) claimed extreme financial hardship and wanted to drastically cut contributions to the 1199SEIU Benefit Fund.

After months of talks, 1199SEIU and the League have agreed to extend the current contract from April 30 until July 15. The terms of the extension preserve the level of employer contributions to the Pension Fund through 2014 and guarantee an October wage increase. But the threat to members’ health benefits is still very real; the contribution rate to the National Benefit Fund is set to drop from about 28% to 23.5% in August.

So while the contract extension gives 1199 members critical preparation time, it’s likely we’re headed for some of the toughest contract negotiations in recent memory, says Rosemary Curley, a secretary at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, NY. “We know why this is a re-opener; it’s to attack our benefits,� says Curley, who has worked at Southside for 45 years. “We’re one of the last men standing with our kind of healthcare benefits and that’s something that makes our members really proud.�

This attack by the League comes at a time when many of the largest health systems are taking in billions.

And under Obamacare they stand to take in even more from the growing number of insured patients covered by federally subsidized plans and through Medicare and Medicaid. Yet even with a lot of the richest hospitals getting richer and the rise in their costs slowed markedly under the new healthcare law, the League and its institutions have made it clear that they intend to shift their costs onto the backs of workers in the form of premiums, co-payments and deductibles. “Now is not the time for reluctance,� says Delegate Marie James, a secretary NYU Langone Medical Center. “I’m trying to get our chapter meetings going and get our town hall meeting up and running,� she says. “If we let them do this, for me personally the costs of healthcare will go through the roof. It will set me back a long way. There are four people in my

Above: Tens of thousands of members marched across 42nd St. in Manhattan, demanding a fair League contract during 1998 negotiations. Right: 1199SEIU Pres.

George Gresham addresses the Union’s 2009 League negotiating committee. family and it will have a great financial impact.�

At press time preparations were under way to elect negotiating committee members, organize a contract committee each institution and recruit vital Contract Captains, who’ll keep members informed about developments and mobilizations. “We have to keep educating ourselves and each other and teaching our members,� says Curley. “We have to keep building up our institutions and giving each other support. They’re going to play mind tricks and try to scare us, but this is about solidarity.�

For more information on how to get involved in the League contract campaign or on becoming a Contract Captain speak to your organizer or delegate.

“They’re going to play mind tricks and try to scare us, but this is about solidarity.� — Rosemary Curley, secretary, Southside Hospital, Bay Shore, NY *ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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Contract Campaigns In the Regions Members throughout the 1199SEIU regions are in various stages of contract campaigns against managements that are emboldened by the wave of anti-union sentiment across the nation.

In the Maryland-DC region, members recently won major contract gains at Georgetown University and Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, including shift differential pay between $2.50 and $3.50 an hour. Conversely, RN and service members at the MD-DC region’s Dimensions Health Systems are locked in long battle with management.

Negotiations for some 1,700 members began on May 30 last year, one month after the expiration of the contract.

Since then, management has gone from stonewalling to demanding takebacks.

Dimensions also hired the Chicago law firm Drinker, Biddle & Reath, known for its hostility to unions. But members refuse to be intimidated.

Together the RNs, techs and service workers circulated a petition with more than 1,000 signatures demanding a fair contract, and walked in on the bosses. Union leadership has reached out to elected officials and other allies for help in winning a fair contract.

This year also promises to be a busy one for 1199ers in New Jersey, as contracts expire in several nursing homes. 1199ers play a critical role in providing essential care for thousands of elderly and disabled patients across the state, and as the state’s population ages, acuity in nursing homes rises. “Providing quality care to sicker residents is hard work and requires that we spend more time with each person,� says Nevonne Tyndall, a CNA at Morris Hills Center in Morristown. “That’s why it’s so important to have manageable workloads.�

Romeo Rodriguez, a dietary aide at Jersey City’s Harborview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, is ready to unite with co-workers.

He cautions: “We know that we can’t expect to win the improvements we need unless we’re ready to fight for them.

That’s why we all need to stick together and make sure the employers know that we’re ready to do whatever it takes to protect our jobs.�

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*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

1199SEIU’s unprecedented media campaign for League negotiations includes these ads featuring members talking about the union’s values and the critical role of 1199ers in the healthcare system.

powerful and effective modern leader. I left feeling motivated and excited to take up that banner and stand for positive change in my workplace and community.�

While many remember Dr. King as a voice for racial equality, in 1967 and 1968 he began to speak more and more of the “two Americas� – the extremely wealthy and those struggling to make ends meet. He called for a “revolution of values� and implored that, “We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘personoriented’ society.� He called for a “Poor People’s Campaign� that would set up an encampment in Washington, D.C. and demand an “Economic Bill of Rights�.

ROBERT KIRKHAM PHOTO

Above: Dr. King at Nov. 1967’s National Labor Leadership Assembly For Peace, where he delivered a searing speech on the domestic costs of the war in Vietnam.

Right: Buffalo Women’s and Children’s Hospital RN India Walton at the Western NY Dr. King Day Celebration held in 1199SEIU’s Buffalo offices.

“I Am Proud That We Are Leaders in the

Struggle for Justice�

Members celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

“I believe that the creation of decent paying jobs is one of the most significant tools we have that will change the condition in our community.� — India Walton, RN, Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born Jan. 15, 1929, and was assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis while supporting lowwage sanitation workers in a labor struggle. On March 10, just a few weeks before his death, Dr. King spoke before an animated crowd of union healthcare workers in New York City and declared, “1199 represents the authentic conscience of the labor movement.�

Though Dr. King never got the opportunity to fully realize his dream or carry out his campaign for economic justice, 1199SEIU members continue his work and on his birthday and on the Jan. 20 national holiday celebrating his life held remembrances throughout the regions of the Union.

In Buffalo, in a Western New York remembrance celebration, 1199SEIU members joined with more than a hundred people to honor Dr. King. The event, sponsored by the Area Labor Federation, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, included a showing of “The March to Washington,� a 1964 film about the 1963 civil rights March on Washington.

India Walton, an RN at Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and 1199SEIU delegate, said, “During a bus trip to Washington, D.C. this summer I found out that the labor movement was and still is a catalyst for the civil rights movement. Naturally this piqued my interest and made me want to be more involved in my union. I believe that the creation of decent paying jobs is one of the most significant tools we have that will change the condition in our community. My involvement with 1199 and CBTU allow me to be a part of the solution.� “The MLK program this year was excellent,� she said. “I enjoyed seeing so many people of diverse ethnic and occupational backgrounds come together to celebrate the legacy of such a

Dr. King’s words may have never been more true than today.

The gulf between the 1% of the population who hold the majority of the nation’s wealth and the 99% who do not has grown much wider in the last 50 years. The richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. The working class is being decimated. While the stock market soars and billionaires amass more wealth, working people find it difficult to pay for basic necessities, to send their kids to college and to retire with dignity. Over 46 million Americans now live in poverty, including 20% of all children.

Alan Young, a delegate at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY, attended the institution’s Dr. King Day celebration. “This holiday is important for many reasons,� he said. “Dr. King’s message about the importance of having strong unions helps uplift us. And that seems to me to be more relevant today than ever before. As 1199SEIU members, I am proud that we are leaders in the struggle for justice.� “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve,� Dr. King said, and in that vein, the Greater Syracuse Labor Council and the United Way of Central New York sponsored its 14th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Food and Clothing Drive. 1199SEIU members in Syracuse, who support the event every year, set up boxes in the facilities where they work and collected donations of new and used clothing and non-perishable food items, all to be delivered to not-for profit organizations that help families in need.

At NY Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on Jan. 15, 1199ers and members of the New York State Nurses Association gathered for a joint meeting to discuss how the lessons of Dr. King can be used to build solidarity and strengthen their chapters. The event included live music and readings from excerpts of Dr. King’s speeches by Presby food service workers Priscilla Pena and Fatima Small, environmental services worker Roberto Delgado, and RN Thomas Clarke.

*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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In4HERegions

HUDSON VALLEY

Community Fights for 24-Hour ER AT 3T ,UKE S #ORNWALL 1199SEIU members are expressing both concern and outrage at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital (SLCH) in New York State’s mid-Hudson Valley and they are doing everything possible to protest the administration’s plan to reduce by half the hours of operation of the Emergency Room on the hospital’s Cornwall campus.

The hospital also has a campus nine miles away in Newburgh. That nine-mile span is rural, and often a treacherous stretch during upstate New York’s temperamental winters.

Jennifer Marray, a radiological technologist at the Newburgh campus, is part of a group of 1199SEIU members and area residents who have been making their voices heard by attending and speaking at community forums and meetings of the NYS Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC), as well as lobbying state and federal elected officials. “I don’t think everyone, including some legislators, understood the potentially disastrous consequences of this move before we started to speak out. Our group includes EMS workers, community members of all ages, and our Assemblyman James Skoufis (D-99) has been wonderful in leading the way,� says Marray. “The fact is that most emergencies can’t simply wait until the morning. That’s why they are called emergencies and that’s why public health law takes emergency care so seriously. The hospital’s proposal to keep open the Cornwall ER only from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. is dangerous and irresponsible. We told the Health Planning Council, the body that has the power to accept or deny the hospital’s proposal, that any policy that allows the hospital to make

this change would be unjustified.�

Closing the ER overnight means that patients in need of emergency care, whether traveling in an ambulance or in a personal vehicle, will be diverted to another hospital.

For the rural Cornwall area, travel time to any other hospital would be increased, possibly delaying lifesaving treatment for patients with symptoms of stroke, cardiac arrest, asthma or a number of other serious health problems. The trip to the hospital is even more risky on less traveled roads and in inclement weather. Timely treatment can make the difference between life and death, or months of rehabilitative services.

Marray notes that closing the ER on the Cornwall campus will place an additional burden on an already crowded ER on the SLCH Newburgh campus. In a memo to the Health Planning Council, 1199SEIU members wrote, “Keep in mind that the ER at Cornwall is vital to both the voluntary EMS and Orange County Emergency Management systems. The healthcare professionals who provide these services have testified to this point many times in the past few months. The Cornwall ER is located close to Stewart Airport and the intersection of I 87 and I 84, making it the facility that would provide emergency services in the event of a catastrophic event. While it is not pleasant to think of those circumstances, we all know too well that they happen and it is the responsibility of public health officials to ensure that the appropriate services are available 24 hours every day.�

Additional community forums and lobby visits are planned in the coming months.

Members from St. Luke’s Cornwall met with NYS Sen. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-18) to discuss keeping their ER open 24 hours a day.

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*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

Farewell to 1199SEIU Champion Bill Lynch Members, staff and a host of invited guests gathered at 11999SEIU’s Manhattan headquarters Dec. 5 to pay tribute to the late Bill Lynch, a longtime friend, advisor and ally of the Union who passed away from kidney failure Aug. 9 at the age of 72.

Lynch, often referred to as the “rumpled genius,� planned the welcome ceremony for Pres.

Nelson Mandela’s 1990 visit to New York and was credited with leading Mayor David Dinkins’ historic 1989 victory in the New York City Mayoral race. Dinkins was among those in attendance at the event. “I was never one who said ‘when I grow up I’m going to be mayor’, that was never me,� he said. “I don’t want to sound like I was dragged, but I was persuaded by Bill that I had an obligation to try.�

During the event 1199SEIU George Gresham announced the passing of Pres. Nelson Mandela. In earlier remarks Gresham praised Lynch’s guidance and wisdom. “Bill always encouraged us to stand up for what’s right and taught us how to win,� said Gresham.

Bill Lynch at his annual holiday party in 2005.

In4HERegions

MD-DC

Maryland AG Backs Protections for UMMC Workers

1199SEIU is supporting new legislation to ensure labor protections for caregivers at Baltimore’s University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). The Equality for Maryland Caregivers Act of 2014 will extend to caregivers at UMMC the same rights other Maryland workers enjoy.

Employees at UMMC — the University of Maryland Medical System’s flagship hospital in Baltimore — are right now denied basic labor rights guaranteed to the vast majority of workers. A quirk

in the hospital’s founding charter puts UMMC employees in a legal limbo where neither the federal nor state labor board has the authority to protect them.

The proposed law, updated from a similar bill introduced last year, will ensure fairness for employees at UMMC, who can’t currently seek help from either the state or federal labor board if they have a workplace issue. If passed, the new law would extend to UMMC employees the same labor rights and protections that apply to employees at all other hospitals

under National Labor Relations Act, including the right to self-organize, to join a union, to engage in collective bargaining and to engage in other activities for mutual aid or protection.

This legislation follows a 19page opinion released last November

by Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler supporting labor protections for UMMC workers. Gansler found that the Maryland General Assembly has the authority to enact legislation subjecting UMMC to Maryland’s collective bargaining laws.

UNION CONDEMNS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC’S RIGHTS VIOLATIONS The 1199SEIU Executive Council passed in late October a resolution that calls on the Dominican Republic’s government to reverse a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Tribunal that strips citizenship from the children of undocumented immigrants. The decision came after government reviewed birth records

going back as far as 1929. The government estimate of those affected is as many as 24,000 people, but human rights groups expect the number to be as high as 200,000 and point out that the majority of those targeted by the decision are Haitian. The 1199SEIU resolution calls upon the Dominican government to

“end immediately the human rights violation.

We call on the government of the Dominican Republic to adhere to the Declaration of Human Rights and ask that the implementation of the Constitutional Tribunal be immediately stopped.� The Dominican government is also facing additional international pressure to

end the policy, and in January Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro led an initiative that brought both nations together for discussions about the ruling. Above is Jim Tynan ’s photo of Haitians taken in a Dominican deportation camp in 1992.

*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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“The Medical Center’s employees are not currently covered by either the NRLA or Maryland’s collective bargaining statute,” the Attorney General’s opinion concluded.

“However, because the Medical Center is a State entity for at least some purposes and remains a creature of statute within the ultimate control of the State, the General Assembly has the authority to enact legislation that would subject the Medical Center to Maryland collective bargaining law.”

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*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

In4HERegions

“It was horrible.

When people went to the doctor they weren’t treated like 1199ers.� — Maureen Browne,

housekeeper, Brookdale Medical Center

Victorious members at Brookdale Medical Center celebrate the long-awaited return of their 1199SEIU benefits.

NEW YORK CITY

Unity is Key IN "ROOKDALE 6ICTORY Some 3,000 doggedly determined members at Brookdale Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY kept the faith for two-and-a half years and in January won back their coverage under the 1199SEIU National Benefit Fund (NBF). Members also won reinstatement under other 1199SEIU funds, including the 1199SEIU Child Care Fund and the Training and Upgrading Fund. “This is more than just a victory for the members at Brookdale. It is a victory for the whole Union,� says RN

Adly Casseus. “It really shows us how in unity there is strength. We really did stick together over these two-anda-half years. We never gave up.�

Brookdale members lost their NBF coverage in May 2011 when Medisys, the hospital’s former operator, fell behind on Fund payments. Members contend that Medisys ran a once-thriving institution into the ground as the company ignored the collective bargaining agreement and made a unilateral decision to abandon the NBF. Medisys adopted an expensive

and inferior Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for Brookdale’s workers. “It was horrible. When people went to the doctor they weren’t treated like 1199ers,� says housekeeping delegate Maureen Browne. “I had a member who had to pay $1800 for her daughter’s braces. We had members who couldn’t afford to go to the dentist until they saved up and could pay the bill up front. And members with chronic illnesses like diabetes or who need a nebulizer found it very hard to receive treatment under that Blue

Cross plan.�

But Brookdale members weren’t going quietly, and immediately held a three-day sit-in. They took over the hospital’s main lobby to protest their treatment by Medisys and its destructive management of the hospital. In November, 2011—just before Thanksgiving—they held an “Occupy Brookdale� rally to demand the ouster of Medisys, the preservation of vital services at Brookdale, and the restoration of their 1199SEIU benefits.

For two-and-a half years Brookdale workers picketed, lobbied, held town hall meetings and organized, pressuring legislators to find a new operator for the financially distressed hospital. Last year the efforts paid off. Medisys was out.

New York State’s Department of Health brought in restructuring expert Mark Toli to oversee operations at Brookdale. After a year of cooperative work with the membership, 1199ers were reinstated to the 1199SEIU Benefit Funds as of Jan. 1, 2014. “We never lost sight of our goal or of our objective,� says occupational therapist Yves Roseus. “This is a good example of a delegate body that might argue about little things, but with big things we always press forward. It was a collective effort. We knew we could make it happen. One of the greatest moments was when I told my 12-yearold son that we’d won and he raised his fist and shouted ‘Yes!’ “I honestly didn’t think he even knew what our health benefits were.�

NEW YORK CITY

Immigration Discrimination &IGHT AT .9 0RESBYTERIAN One hundred 1199SEIU and New 9ORK 3TATE .URSES !SSOCIATION MEM BERS GATHERED IN THE LOBBY OF .9 0RESBYTERIAN (OSPITAL IN .EW 9ORK #ITY $EC

FOR A DISCUSSION OF THE ONGOING STRUGGLE FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS IN THE 5NITED 3TATES AND AN IMPROMPTU DEMONSTRATION PROTESTING .9 0RESBYTERIAN MANAGEMENT S RECENT SCRUTINY OF THE IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTATION OF THOUSANDS OF .9 0RESBYTERIAN CAREGIVERS !CCORDING TO MANAGE MENT THE DOCUMENTS HAD BEEN LOST OR DAMAGED IN A mOOD h) WOULD BET THAT OUR DISCIPLINE PAPERWORK WASN T LOST BUT THEY RE SAYING OUR IMMIGRATION

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.93.! !REA $IRECTOR FOR THE "RONX AND -ANHATTAN

SAID MOVE h5NION OFlCIALS WERE NEVER INFORMED v This type of intimidation creates an anxious, TENSE WORK ENVIRONMENT THAT IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO DELIVERING TOP QUALITY PATIENT CARE 0RESBYTERIAN IS JUST ONE SITE IN A NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT OF HOSTILITY TOWARD IMMIGRANTS THAT THE RIGHT WING IS FOSTERING 4HANKS TO LAWS IN STATES ALL DRAFTED BY THE +OCH BROTHER FUNDED !MERICAN ,EGISLATIVE %XCHANGE #OUNCIL !,%# MILLIONS OF IMMIGRANTS LIVE WITH THE

CONSTANT FEAR OF ARREST AND DEPORTATION $AVID +OCH IS A BOARD MEMBER AT .9 0RESBYTERIAN AND RECENTLY GAVE THE HOSPITAL MILLION “I feel discriminated against,� says food service DELEGATE -ARTA 2EYES h7HAT ELSE DID THEY LOSE -Y CREDIT REPORT -Y BACHELOR S DEGREE .OBODY EXPLAINS ANYTHING TO US /NLY (OMELAND 3ECURITY IS SUPPOSED TO BE ASKING FOR THESE THINGS 4HEY HAVE THIS NON NEGOTIABLE ATTITUDE ) BELIEVE THIS IS A STRATEGY TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER US AND MAKE US FEEL HELPLESS BUT IT S NOT GOING TO WORK 9OU CAN T THREATEN PEOPLE S FAMILIES AND THEIR ABILITY TO BRING HOME BREAD FOR VERY LONG v *ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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NEW YORK

Columbia SSA #ONTRACT 6ICTORY In New York City, 1199SEIU-represented members of Columbia University’s Support Staff Association settled a three-year contract in December that includes bonuses of 3.5%, wage increases of 5% and greatly improved longevity pay. But they are most pleased and proud of what they didn’t lose; the agreement preserves workers’ healthcare benefits with no premiums.

The contract covers 1,000 members of 1199SEIU who provide support to Columbia University Medical School’s research physicians through technical, laboratory, clerical, clinical and library services.

Negotiations with Columbia began in July. The wealthy university insisted that workers pick up part of the cost of their health benefits.

Union members stood firm against the premiums. In November, members voted in favor of a strike if Columbia refused to bargain in good faith. Workers turned up the heat a bit with an info picket and rally. On Nov. 20 scores of Columbia workers and other 1199ers

braved blustery winter winds to send Columbia a message about fairness. “We had a really good turnout.

People were really concerned about the healthcare issue,� said instrument maker Dennis Keaveney, a negotiating committee co-chairman. “People didn’t want any change in that and it was the area we had the most pushback on. It was the most challenging thing, but once we got that settled everything else really moved.�

Negotiating committee member Consuelo Mora McLoughlin, a senior research worker, praised the committee’s solidarity and focus in achieving their goal. “We went in there knowing no matter what we are not going to get charged for our health insurance.

And we held fast to that principle,� says McLoughlin. “We felt empowered in a real way during these negotiations,� she adds. “That was 1199 unity leading the way. There was no way we would have been able to achieve what we did without 1199 showing us the way.�

“There was no way we would have been able to achieve what we did without 1199 showing us the way.� — Consuelo Mora McLoughlin, Columbia University senior research worker

A Nov. 20 info picket at Columbia University Medical School was the tipping point to restart contract talks.

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*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

MASSACHUSETTS

Steward Healthcare #ONTRACT 6ICTORY h)T S GREAT TO HAVE A VOICE AND PROTECTIONS v SAYS $ONNA "RYCE AFTER SHE AND HER 3%)5 CO WORKERS AT 3TEWARD (EALTH #ARE THE LARGEST COMMUNITY HOSPITAL NETWORK IN -ASSACHUSETTS VOTED TO RATIFY A YEAR CONTRACT AFTER BARGAINING SESSIONS 4HE AGREEMENT COVERS HEALTHCARE WORKERS WHO ARE SERVICE CLERICAL AND TECHNICAL EMPLOYEES AT EIGHT HOSPITALS INCLUDING 3T %LIZABETH S -EDICAL #ENTER IN "RIGHTON 'OOD 3AMARITAN -EDICAL #ENTER IN "ROCKTON #ARNEY (OSPITAL IN $ORCHESTER 1UINCY -EDICAL #ENTER .ORWOOD (OSPITAL (OLY &AMILY (OSPITAL IN -ETHUEN -ERRIMACK 6ALLEY (OSPITAL IN (AVERHILL AND -ORTON (OSPITAL IN 4AUNTON 7ORKERS AT THE INSTITUTIONS VOTED TO JOIN 3%)5 IN ROLLING ELECTIONS BETWEEN AND IN WHAT WAS THE LARGEST SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZING DRIVE

BY A -ASSACHUSETTS LABOR UNION SINCE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HOMECARE WORKERS VOTED TO JOIN 3%)5 IN h7ITH OUR UNION WE ARE MOVING FORWARD AND WE ARE ON A GOOD PATH WITH THIS NEW CONTRACT v EXPLAINS "RYCE A UNIT SECRETARY AT -ORTON (OSPITAL THE FACILITY WHERE WORKERS MOST RECENTLY VOTED TO JOIN THE UNION 4HE CONTRACT INCLUDES GUARANTEED RAISES EACH YEAR FOR THE LIFE OF THE CONTRACT AND CONTINUES THE STANDARD SET IN THE PRIOR MASTER CONTRACT OF ENSURING ALL LOWER WAGE WORKERS IN THE BARGAINING UNIT RECEIVE AT LEAST A LIVING WAGE !LSO NOTABLE IS THAT THE AGREEMENT PROVIDES QUALITY AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE AND A NUMBER OF IMPROVED JOB SECURITY PROVISIONS INCLUDING CORPORATE SUCCESSOR LANGUAGE THAT WOULD KEEP THE TERMS OF THE CONTRACT IN EFFECT IN THE EVENT OF A SALE OR MERGER OF THE SYSTEM OR INDIVIDUAL HOSPITALS 2ODNEY -OHAMMED A BIO MEDICAL TECHNICIAN AT 'OOD 3AMARITAN -EDICAL #ENTER IN "ROCKTON THINKS THE BARGAINING COMMITTEE DID A FABULOUS JOB NEGOTIATING THE CONTRACT h7ITH JOB SECURITY PAY INCREASES AND AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE COVERAGE WE HAVE A GREAT CONTRACT v HE SAYS )N ADDITION TO THE ECONOMIC BENElTS LABOR MANAGEMENT PROJECTS AIMED AT IMPROVING PATIENT CARE AND WORKER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES WILL CONTINUE INCLUDING THE JOINTLY ADMINISTERED 3%)5 4RAINING 5PGRADING &UND WHICH CREATES CAREER PATHWAYS FOR MEMBERS THROUGH EDUCATION AND TUITION BENElTS

Steward Healthcare negotiating committee members settled a contract that covers 5,000 members in eight hospitals.

“With our union, we are moving forward and we are on a good path with this new contract� — Donna Bryce, unit secretary, Morton Hospital, Taunton, MA

Nelso

Nelson Mandela was welcomed to New York City with a celebration at Riverside Church during his final visit to the U.S. in 2005.

The Boys Choir of Harlem sang at his request.

*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

12

1199SEIU Mourns

son Mandela “He understood that ideas cannot be contained by prison walls ‌â€?

With these words of tribute to Nelson Mandela, President Obama expressed both the monumental scope of Mandela’s achievements and his towering legacy to all mankind.

1199SEIU members along with the world deeply mourned the passing of the South African leader Dec. 5 at the age of 95. While a delegation from the Union attended his funeral in Johannesburg, the connection with Mandela and stories of his struggle were much more than news reports from a distant land for 1199SEIU members and he is often referred to as Madiba, his South African clan name.

Union members were arrested during anti-apartheid demonstrations, and welcomed Mandela to America after he was freed. Healthcare workers from 1199SEIU and South Africa exchange visits – and one of our own – former Exec. VP Patrick Gaspard — is now the U.S. Ambassador there.

Fred Hicks, a transporter at Silverlake Specialized Care Center on Staten Island, NY, was part of the 1199SEIU delegation that attended Mandela’s funeral. “I was so proud and honored to be there. Men like Gandhi, Dr. King and Mandela are very rare,� he says. “Mandela stood up after being jailed and he talked about reconciliation. He put his country and his people before himself. To forget what happened to him and put it all aside is a very great thing,� says Hicks. “He was also a worker. He was a man who stood for equality, honesty, justice and fairness – everything that is good in the struggle – he fought for those things.�

Mandela’s incredible journey from prison to presidency inspired the world and made history. But his triumph is also a template for all progressive movements – proving that justice can be delayed, but never denied, no matter how powerful the oppressor. “His movement brought people up and opened their eyes,� says Hicks. “He showed them that they could fight for themselves and for the betterment of generations to come.�

Photo: Jim Tynan 13

*ANUARY &EBRUARY 9EAR S %ND s /UR ,IFE s /UR !ND,IFE 4IMES !ND 4IMES

Our Proud History of

Workplace Safety Activism “We started as a small group and grew into a team of advocates for our co-workers and workplace.�

“Everything that I learn, like the importance of air quality for asthma sufferers, I take back to my home and to my patients. I think the class is a must.� — Audia Williams, homecare member

1199SEIU Health and Safety Program graduates from last fall, with retired program leader Jean Turner-Kelly (front and center), show off their certificates.

Healthcare workers suffer injuries at a far greater rate than workers in any other industry.

This has been confirmed in various studies and reports, including a 2010 report by the progressive Public Citizen.

The situation would be far worse without the work of 1199SEIU and its allies in the workers’ safety community. Since the 1980s, 1199SEIU has been on the forefront of the movement to make our workplace safer for its members and for workers across the nation.

In the mid-1980s, Local 1199’s Safety and Health Program (S&H) came under the umbrella of the national 1199 Union’s S&H program headed by Laura Job. With the victory of the progressive Union slate in 1986, an 1199SEIU Safety and Health Program was established under the leadership of Debbie King, who was followed shortly thereafter by Lenora Colbert. Colbert headed the program until 2006.

Several years after Colbert’s retirement, Jean Turner-Kelly, who had worked in the program under Colbert, assumed leadership.

Turner-Kelly retired at the end of 2013, but her work and that of her predecessors will continue. “We pledge to carry out the work of Miss Turner-Kelly,� said Justice Nortey, a medical assistant at the Manhattan Physician’s Group, at a November graduation ceremony for Turner-Kelly’s last

S&H graduation class. “Jean gave us every help we needed from the beginning of the classes to the end,� added Nortey. “We started as a small group and grew into a team of advocates for our co-workers and workplace.�

Nortey is just one of the hundreds of workplace activists and leaders who have been profoundly influenced by what they learned in the Safety and Health Program.

safety. It has worked closely with SEIU – its national union – and organizations such as the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH). Working with its partners, the Union has won major victories for 9/11 victims and on issues such as safe staffing, safe-needle legislation, computer ergonomic standards, patient-lifting standards and workplace violence, and others.

“Members who go through the program go back to their workplaces and help form Safety and Health committees,� Turner-Kelly says. “But others go much further.

Many become activists such as Union Delegates and negotiating committee members. Some take what they’ve learned into their community-based organizations. And some even run for public office.�

1199SEIU VP Aida Morales is a program alumna, as is NY City Councilmember Annabel Palma, a Democrat from the Bronx.

Graduates of the program say they not only learned how to monitor the safety of their workplace, but also general problem solving and how to run meetings and make presentations. They form the workplace safety committees and help ensure workplace safety language in their contracts.

1199SEIU through its safety and health work has established a reputation as a frontline advocate for workplace and community

Staff and members have taken their campaigns to the legislative halls of Albany and Washington.

They also monitor the votes of legislators, noting those who have blocked environmental and workplace safety measures and funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In the late 1990s, the program shifted its focus to training members who in turn train their co-workers. “I’m going to do my best to get what I learned to other homecare members,� says Audia Williams, a Manhattan People Care homecare member and a graduate of the last Safety and Health class. “Before the class, I never read labels carefully and was not aware of what was in the cleaning products I used,� Williams says. “What I’ve learned helps me and also helps the patients I care for. Everything that I learn, like the importance of air quality for asthma sufferers, I take back to my home and to my patients. I think the class is a must.�

*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

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The Last Word: SOLIDARITY 4HIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE SECOND EDITION OF $R .OAM #HOMSKY S BOOK h/CCUPY #LASS 7AR 2EBELLION AND 3OLIDARITY v PGS :UCOTTI 0ARK 0RESS #HOMSKY INTERVIEWED HERE BY JOURNALIST #HRIS 3TEELE DISCUSSES THE UNPRECEDENTED INEQUITIES FACING THE WORKING CLASS AND HOW COLLECTIVE ACTION CAN OVERCOME THEM #HOMSKY

IS CURRENTLY A 0ROFESSOR %MERITUS IN ,INGUISTICS AT THE -ASSACHUSETTS )NSTITUTE OF 4ECHNOLOGY (E S THE AUTHOR OF MORE THAN BOOKS AND ONE OF THE NATION S FOREMOST SCHOLARS AND PROGRESSIVE THINKERS

CS: An article that recently came out in Rolling Stone, titled “Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail,� by Matt Taibbi, asserts that the government is afraid to prosecute powerful bankers, such as those running HSBC. What is your view on the current state of class war in the U.S.?

NC: Well, there’s always a class war going on. The United States, to an unusual extent, is a business-run society, more so than others. The business classes are very class-conscious— they’re constantly fighting a bitter class war to improve their power and diminish opposition. Occasionally this is recognized. We don’t use the term “working class� here because it’s a taboo term. You’re supposed to say “middle class,� because it helps diminish the understanding that there’s a class war going on.

It’s true that there was a one-sided class war, and that’s because the other side hadn’t chosen to participate, so the union leadership had for years pursued a policy of making a compact with the corporations, in which their workers— say the autoworkers—would get certain benefits like fairly decent wages, health benefits and so on. But it wouldn’t engage the general class structure.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons why Canada has a national health program and the United States doesn’t. The same unions on the other side of the border were calling for health care for everybody. Here they were calling for health care for themselves and they got it. Of course, it’s a compact with corporations that the corporations can break anytime they want, and by the 1970s they were planning to break it and we’ve seen what has happened since.

The case of labor is crucial, because it is the base of organization of any popular opposition to the rule of capital, and so it has to be dismantled. There’s a tax on labor all the time. During the 1920s, the labor movement was virtually smashed by (Pres.) Wilson’s Red Scare and other things. In the 1930s, it reconstituted and was the driving force of the New Deal, with the CIO organizing and so on. By the late 1930s, the business classes were organizing to try to react to this. They began, but couldn’t do much during the war, because things were on hold, but immediately after the war it picked up with the Taft-Hartley Act and huge propaganda campaigns, which had massive effect. Over the years, the effort to undermine the unions and labor generally succeeded. By now, privatesector unionization is very low, partly because, since Reagan, government has pretty much told employers, “You know you can violate the laws, and we’re not going to do anything about it.� Under Clinton, NAFTA offered a method for employers to illegally undermine labor organizing by threatening to move enterprises to Mexico. A number of illegal operations by employers

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*ANUARY &EBRUARY s /UR ,IFE !ND 4IMES

shot up at that time. What’s left are private-sector unions, and they’re under bipartisan attack.

They’ve been protected somewhat because the federal laws did function for the public-sector unions, but now they’re under bipartisan attack. When Obama declares a pay freeze for federal workers, that’s actually a tax on federal workers.

It comes to the same thing, and, of course, this is right at the time we say that we can’t raise taxes on the very rich.

Take the last tax agreement where the Republicans claimed, “We already gave up tax increases.� Take a look at what happened. Raising the payroll tax, which is a tax on working people, is much more of a tax increase than raising taxes on the super-rich, but that passed quietly because we don’t look at those things.

The same is happening across the board. There are major efforts being made to dismantle Social Security, the public schools, the post office— anything that benefits the population has to be dismantled. Efforts against the U.S. Postal Service are particularly surreal. I’m old enough to remember the Great Depression, a time when the country was quite poor but there were still postal deliveries. Today, post offices, Social Security, and public schools all have to be dismantled because they are seen as being based on a principle that is regarded as extremely dangerous.

If you care about other people, that’s now a very dangerous idea. If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That’s not going to happen if you care only about yourself. Maybe you can become rich, but you don’t care whether other people’s kids can go to school, or can afford food to eat, or things like that. In the United States, that’s called “libertarian� for some wild reason. I mean, it’s actually highly authoritarian, but that doctrine is extremely important for power systems as a way of atomizing and undermining the public.

That’s why unions had the slogan, “solidarity,� even though they may not have lived up to it. And that’s what really counts: solidarity, mutual aid, care for one another and so on. And it’s really important for power systems to undermine that ideologically, so huge efforts go into it. Even trying to stimulate consumerism is an effort to undermine it. Having a market society automatically carries with it an undermining of solidarity.

CS: Can you give some insight on how the labor movement could rebuild in the United States?

NC: Well, it’s been done before. Each time labor has been attacked—and as I said, in the 1920s the labor movement was practically destroyed—popular efforts were able to reconstitute it.

That can happen again. It’s not going to be easy. There are institutional barriers, ideological barriers, and cultural barriers. One big problem

is that the white working class has been pretty much abandoned by the political system. The Democrats don’t even try to organize them anymore.

The Republicans claim to do it; they get most of the vote, but they do it on non-economic issues, on non-labor issues. They often try to mobilize them on the grounds of issues steeped in racism and sexism and so on, and here the liberal policies of the 1960s had a harmful effect because of some of the ways in which they were carried out.

There are some pretty good studies of this. Take busing to integrate schools.

In principle, it made some sense, if you wanted to try to overcome segregated schools. Obviously, it didn’t work.

Schools are probably more segregated now for all kinds of reasons, but the way it was originally done undermined class solidarity.

The same has been true of women’s rights. But when you have a working class that’s under real pressure, you know people are going to say that rights are being undermined, that jobs are being undermined. Maybe the one thing that the white working man can hang onto is that he runs his home? Now that that’s being taken away and nothing is being offered, he’s not part of the program of advancing women’s rights.

That’s fine for college professors, but it has a different effect in working-class areas. It doesn’t have to be that way. It depends on how it’s done, and it was done in a way that simply undermined natural solidarity. There are a lot of factors that play into it, but by this point it’s going to be pretty hard to organize the working class on the grounds that should really concern them: common solidarity, common welfare.

In some ways, it shouldn’t be too hard, because these attitudes are really prized by most of the population. If you look at Tea Party members, the kind that say, “Get the government off my back, I want a small government� and so on, when their attitudes are studied, it turns out that they’re mostly social democratic.

You know, people are human after all.

So yes, you want more money for health, for help, for people who need it and so on and so forth, but “I don’t want the government, get that off my back� and related attitudes are tricky to overcome.

CS: As far as a free, democracycentered society, self-organization seems possible on small scales. Do you think it is possible on a larger scale and with human rights and quality of life as a standard?

NC: Well, there are a lot of things that are possible. I have visited some examples that are pretty large scale, in fact, very large scale. Take Spain, which is in a huge economic crisis.

But one part of Spain is doing okay— that’s the Mondragón collective. It’s a big conglomerate involving banks, industry, housing, all sorts of things. It’s worker owned, not worker managed, so partial industrial democracy, but

“If you care about other people, that’s now a very dangerous idea. If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority.� — Noam Chomsky

it exists in a capitalist economy, so it’s doing all kinds of ugly things like exploiting foreign labor and so on.

But economically and socially, it’s flourishing as compared with the rest of the society and other societies. It is very large, and that can be done anywhere. It certainly can be done here.

In fact, there are tentative explorations of contacts between the Mondragón and the United Steelworkers, one of the more progressive unions, to think about developing comparable structures here, and it’s being done to an extent.

Actually, there’s a famous sort of paradox posed by David Hume centuries ago. Hume is one of the founders of classical liberalism. He’s an important political philosopher. He said that if you take a look at societies around the world—any of them—power is in the hands of the governed, those who are being ruled. Hume asked, why don’t they use that power and overthrow the masters and take control? He says, the answer has to be that, in all societies, the most brutal, the most free, the governed can be controlled by control of opinion.

If you can control their attitudes and beliefs and separate them from one another and so on, then they won’t rise up and overthrow you.

Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

Photo: Jim Tynan