Tennessee VW workers say no, but Pennsylvanians vote yes for unionization of a Tennessee Company...

[mrmpa]

Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Medical staff at jail votes to unionize
February 14, 2014 11:39 PM

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Medical staff at jail votes to unionize

By Kaitlynn Riely / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Shortly after voting to unionize, members of the Allegheny County Jail medical staff were feeling "pretty jubilant" Friday afternoon, said Randa Ruge, an organizer with the United Steelworkers.

"The next step is getting to the bargaining table and getting Corizon to bargain in good faith and get some changes made in the health system at the jail," said Ms. Ruge, naming staffing issues and health and safety as areas the union planned to address.

The employees, who include physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and psychiatric nurses, voted unanimously that they wanted to be in the same bargaining unit together.

They voted, 64-7, to be represented by the United Steelworkers. One vote in favor of unionization was challenged, that of Sister Barbara Finch, a nurse who was fired earlier this month.

The United Steelworkers have said that she was fired because she was spearheading union organizing. Corizon Health Inc., the firm that runs the jail health system, has said she was let go because her security clearances were revoked.

Corizon, a national healthcare provider based in Tennessee, took over management of the jail's health services in September. Allegheny County signed a contract with Corizon last summer for $11.5 million a year.

Corizon, which in the first few months of its contract seemed to have problems getting medication to inmates on time, earlier this week received a letter from Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, who said she had "grave and serious concerns" about health care and working conditions at the jail.

Ms. Ruge has said that, in the months after Corizon took over, jail employees approached the United Steelworkers union about unionizing, saying they had staffing issues and other concerns.

Corizon, in a statement emailed by a spokeswoman to reporters earlier this week, said "when the union petition first came to light, we told our employees that it was their choice and we would honor their decision."

"We have positive relationships with our employees at our union and non-union facilities," Corizon spokeswoman Susan Morgenstern said in her emailed statement, which she referred to when asked for a comment Friday. "Our position will always be to respect the employees' choice."

Ms. Ruge said the Steelworkers plan to send Corizon a letter Monday notifying the company that they are prepared to bargain, a process that she said is hopeful will yield a contract within the next four months.


Kaitlynn riely: [e-mail] or 412-263-1707 First Published February 14, 2014 4:52 PM


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/02/14/Medical-workers-vote-overwhelmingly-to-unionize-at-Allegheny-County-Jail/stories/201402140172#ixzz2tMb83bpr


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[blue neen]

1. Yep.

They overwhelmingly voted in favor of unionizing!

[awoke_in_2003]

2. Tennessee auto workers...

prove to be brainwashed idiots.

[valerief]

3. Either that or they had guns to their heads. There could be no other explanation for voting against

unionization.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. Probably a little of both...

waving a job over someone's head is about as effective as using a gun.

[Enthusiast]

9. The explanation is over one hundred years of anti-union propaganda.

People in the South have been systematically taught that unions are just about the worst possible thing.

[lostincalifornia]

10. Of course there is. The South in general has shown a pattern of voting against their own

interests

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"

How many time do they need to be fooled?

[OnlinePoker]

5. Not necessarily

They earn more at VW in Tennessee without a union than their unionized counterparts in Detroit. Perhaps they couldn't see a benefit of being in a union and paying union dues if that is the case. The company would have liked the union because it would allow them to set up works councils, cooperative groups that work well in Germany but are banned in the U.S. unless there is a union in the plant. In any event, it's the workers who would be effected by the decision who have made their choice and to call them brainwashed idiots assumes you know better than they do what is right for them. I'm pretty sure they would have cast their vote based on all the information available and if the union didn't make a strong enough case for certification, they will have to try harder next time.

[busterbrown]

6. Disagree! ...

People who live in Red States continually vote against their own interests. They are consistently suckered punched by their elected reps. who consistently remind that Obama, Unions, Democrats and Liberals are tearing this country down and they consistently acquiesce.

idiots might not be the best word to describe these plant workers.. however I do believe they are not voting in their best interests on this matter..

[former9thward]

8. It is an internet tradition to call your opponents "idiots" and far worse.

Of course in real life if those posters called them that word they would not have teeth. But you can be brave when you hide behind a keyboard.

[lostincalifornia]

11. So? In general people do NOT insult other people in person. This is a forum of progressives which

which share common ideals.

and yes, they are IDIOTS when they collect Social Security and Medicare, and then bash people living off the government. I know of no other way to describe it.

and though someone may not use the word IDIOT to them in person, They would have no problem pointing out their hypocrisy to them in person

of course the mindset that they "would have no teeth", implying they would beat the shit out of them, doesn't reflect very well on THOSE IDIOTS in my view.

and you want to know WHY they would be idiots? Because they would have committed a felony based on what they perceive as an insult

[former9thward]

13. Adults do not insult each other in person.

Only when hiding behind a keyboard. Name an elected Democrat, progressive or otherwise, who talks to his opponents they way people name call on the internet. None of them do it.

[lostincalifornia]

15. I have heard progressives call Obama a "con" man, and other insults in a public forum. republicans

are notorious for insulting the President and Democrats constantly in public

I am sure that when some progressives called the President a "War Criminal", and "worse than bush", if that wasn't an insult I don't know what is.

Perhaps you should look historically at the insults that have been made in public through different media forms on all sides.

And as far as just the premise that "adults do not insult each other in person". They do it every day. Not only in political environments, but work environments, and even social environments. Insults get thrown back and forth by people all the time. They don't hold to your high standards

[former9thward]

17. No, elected officials do not do that person to person.

I said name one elected Democrat who does. You could not.

[lostincalifornia]

21. Pete Stark. He called rep nancy johnson (R-Conn) a "whore for the insurance industry", in a private

conversation.

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-11/news/mn-41280_1_pete-stark

There are others.

[24601]

18. Like in the 2008 primaries when Senator Obama told Senator Clinton that she was "likable enough."

As Richardson Cohen (WaPo) reported,

"...Barack Obama's patronizing dismissal of Clinton in the final debate of the New Hampshire campaign. After Clinton had good-naturedly responded to a question about what is sometimes called her "personality deficit" -- "Well, that hurts my feelings" -- she went on to concede that Obama is "very likeable." Obama responded with a curt "You're likeable enough, Hillary."

"It was an ugly moment that showed a side of Obama we had not seen and it might not have been characteristic. But it made for vivid TV, a High-Definition Truth, and probably more than a few women recoiled from it."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/youre_likable_enough_costs_oba.html

[former9thward]

19. You equate that with internet name calling?

Try again.

[24601]

20. You ask a good question that deserves a direct answer. I consider it worse because of

the context in which it was said and the extent of the expected publicity. While pretending to say one thing, Senator Obama was in effect telling a large debate audience (that was going to a much wider repeated air play) that Senator Clinton was in fact unlikable. It was not about her policies, positions or qualifications but was a direct attack on her as a person.

Internet name calling isn't even news. Personal attacks by presidential candidates is news and anyone believing that he didn't know what he was saying is underestimating his methodology and political calculus.

[swilton]

14. Related to this is the

explanation that the Red States are also Calvanistic/Southern Baptist more than any other section of the country. This form of religious philosophy supports the notion of social Darwinism - the wealthy are the elite because God has chosen them so. I wish I had the link but there was an excellent piece in Truthout on the Southern Baptists, the Red States and anti-unionism

[warrant46]

7. SCUM BAG Corker gets his Snout in the Fray

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (Reuters)

Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga who helped win the VW plant, said on Wednesday after the first day of voting that VW would expand the factory if the union was rejected.

"Needless to say, I am thrilled," Corker said in a statement after the results were disclosed.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix hailed the outcome: "If UAW union officials cannot win when the odds are so stacked in their favor, perhaps they should re-evaluate the product they are selling to workers."

An announcement of whether a new seven-passenger crossover vehicle will be produced in Chattanooga or in Mexico could come as early as next week, VW sources told Reuters.

[gerogie2]

12. To Celebrate the occasion VW...

I'm sure that VW will cut the wages of the work force and increase the workers payments for health care.

[Union Scribe]

16. Congrats to them

Solidarity!