Katrina Evacuees Cross CPMC Hospital Picket Line (CA)

[struggle4progress]

CBS5) SAN FRANCISCO A seventh day of picketing at three California Pacific Medical Center campuses produced no resolution but plenty of tension as Hurricane Katrina evacuees crossed the picket line to serve as replacement workers.

The hiring of 11 temporary workers who were forced to evacuate the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina has complicated the labor dispute.

"I feel bad because they need work and because they're in that position," said striking nurse Della Reed. "They're thinking that this is the best thing for them to do." <snip>

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_262150736.html

[bluestateguy]

1. No excuses

I still say that's a scumbag thing to do. They are playing right into hands of employers who want a race to the bottom in wages and benefits for workers. You go through a legitimate temp agency, you pump gas, work at Denny's, whatever, YOU DON'T CROSS A PICKETT LINE AS A SCAB WORKER.

I would never help an evacuee who crossed a pickett line.

[BayCityProgressive]

2. I agree.

[tx_dem41]

14. Yes, I'm sure they're quite worried about the globalization/outsourcing...

issue right now. They're houses were flooded, family ripped apart, hungry/thirsty for days, moved 2000 miles away....what else do they have to worry about than the macro-economy? :eyes:

And face it, you would never help an evacuee in the first place. Anybody that calls a jobless evacuee a scumbag from the comfort of their little anonymous computer without knowing the person, has lost any sense of humanity anyway. So, cut the charade, and accept what politics has made you.

[TX-RAT]

29. scumbag ? scab?

Yea that one kinds bothers me also. Not the kind of compassion one usually see's here. Sounds like they should have brought them to TX instead.

[mike_c]

15. agreed, 100 percent....

Scabbing is wrong, for whatever reason.

[Piperay]

21. I agree too

if they are going to come here to CA they need to respect the union workers of CA.

[0007]

30. Right on!

[Rose Siding]

3. Oh crap

They could be displacing workers who have helped them :(

[TankLV]

4. No good deed goes unpunished!

[newswolf56]

5. Before we denounce these scabs, we should first make sure...

they aren't compelled by federal regulations to take the jobs.

Since they're evacuees, they're already under federal control, and if they have signed up for any sort of welfare -- flood relief, emergency aid, food stamps, whatever -- they're literally slaves. Including the fact that under welfare regulations, recipients are compelled to accept ANY job at ANY wage -- including work as strike-breakers -- or their stipends are cut off immediately.

Since the story reports that these scabs are RNs -- therefore quite probably union members themselves -- they are probably working under federal compulsion: yes more of the fascist savagery of the Bush Administration (but also a mandatory work requirement first imposed by the Clinton Administration as part of "welfare reform").

[Rose Siding]

6. The govt couldn't have compelled work this quickly

And the gig is for just 7 days. I'm skeptical that the feds could have gotten this together already. They're still focused on messing up housing.

[mike_c]

16. I'm sorry-- scabbing is simply wrong....

Some things you don't do even if the gov't tells you to.

[Gman]

7. They probably were told they had to do it

in order to keep what they are getting. Wouldn't put it past the company and the anti-labor right wingers that run the show. So take it with a grain of salt.

[cyr330]

8. Even "substandard" wages are better than they're used to

I worked as an RN in New Orleans for 10 years. The salary was horrible, and the working conditions were even worse. Why did I stay? I didn't know better at the time. The nurses with whom I worked were all anti-union. They were constitutionally incapable of understanding how a union might benefit them.

When there were nursing strikes around the country, these same nurses were always quick to sign on as scabs to break the strikes and make easy money. They were unwilling to fight for their own rights in the work place, and yet they had no qualms about undermining others in the country who had the gumption to put their money where their mouths are.

I feel for those who have suffered from the hurricane, but that doesn't make it right when they act as scabs here in San Francisco. Nobody is forcing them to work here, and there are plenty of "real" jobs in the country without having to resort to these kinds of disgraceful behavior. They should be ashamed.

[newswolf56]

10. I believe you: the same sort of attitudes (radically reinforced...

by Fundamentalist Christian bigotry) kept unions out of the Southern textile mills. Some populations (especially in the South) really are hopelessly reactionary: precisely the same people you find under the sheets and pillowcases at Ku Klux Klan rallies. Nothing you can do but write them off -- and resoundingly denounce them when they show their faces in public, whether as cross-burners or strike-breakers.

Even so, expect many more displaced persons to be employed as strike-breakers -- the direct consequence of the compulsory slave-labor powers that welfare regulations give to the viciously anti-Labor Bush Administration.

[Mithheru]

9. I never could and still don't understand strikes.

Especially in this condition our country and economy is, why would anyone want to strike? I'm quite sure these people aren't getting paid while they're striking. How are they supporting themselves?

Also, if my union ever chose to strike I WOULD NOT go with them. My job is far more important to me than some benefits. And my client (I'm an in-home care-giver) is far more important than some benefits. I'm not going to stand there holding a sign chanting stuff while my client has to fend for himself and quite possibly do himself serious harm.

Not like I chose to join the union anyhow; they just casually decided that I have to join and started taking out the dues from my check without really saying anything to me other than a letter in the mail.

As for those people that crossed the picket line, I have this to say: Go get em. If those people on the line aren't too concerned about their jobs then someone who is should have them.

*puts on his flame-retardent bathrobe and runs and hides from the coming on-slaught*

[VTMechEngr]

11. I'd hide in a deep deep hole.

Forget flames, your gonna get smart bombed. :spank:

I disagree with your opinion, but you have the right to hold it.
Good luck.

[loudsue]

12. You never could and still don't understand strikes?

So.....what did you do in school? Sleep? Did you never learn your history? Do you have ANY idea what life in America would be like without the labor unions, and the very brave people who DIED giving birth to the labor unions, so that all American workers would have:

Jobs that pay a living wage
8-hour work days
40-hour work weeks
vacation (even some PAID vacation)
decent working conditions
laws that said small children couldn't be used as slaves
benefits
over-time pay

All of those benefits are GOING AWAY, because the REPUBLICANS want them to go away. They want to return to the days of the robber barons, who formerly paid people wooden nickels, that could only be used at the "company store" to buy things. They could NEVER "save" money, or better themselves...they were indebted to those they worked for...they owed the "company store" MORE than they made in wages.

Unions, like any other huge political force, needed (and still need) to be reformed in many of the ways that they became corrupted. But labor unions, as a whole, are the heroes of this country, and are the reason that America had the opportunity to prosper for so many years.

Unfortunately, we're now going back to the days of the robber barons. Why???

BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE SLEPT THROUGH THEIR HISTORY CLASSES...AND THEY STARTED VOTING REPUBLICAN!!! NOW, REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO DO AWAY WITH HISTORY CLASSES!!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[CottonBear]

13. I hope that you're wearing asbestos underwear.

Why are you posting on a Democratic message board if you don't support unions? I'm just curious as to why you're so hostile towards unions.

We have minimum wages, worker safety standards, 40 hour weeks and company sponsored health care plans because of the union and labor movements.

[mike_c]

17. so you'll accept the benefits your union fights for...

...but you won't support their efforts on your behalf? You'll accept the general benefits the labor movement has bled for-- literally-- like weekends, standard workdays, and living wages, but you don't support the people who've struggled for GENERATIONS to maintain YOUR quality of life? It's really hard for me to remain civil at this point, so I'll stop. That's incredibly selfish. :grr:

edited to improve civility....

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. bbby bye

[saigon68]

24. I guess working for $5.35 an hour is your idea of a "living wage" ?

The big corporations would pay $2.25 an hour if they could get away with it---

OOPS I GUESS THEY ARE PAYING 15 Cents an hour in BANGLEDESH to children to SEW SHIRTS FOR WALMART.

[Binka]

25. "I never could and still don't understand idiots."

Especially in this condition our country and economy is, why would anyone want to be an idiot? I'm quite sure these people aren't thinking while they're being an idiot. How are they supporting their brains?

Also, if my head ever chose to think I WOULD NOT go with it. My head up my ass is far more important to me than some truth. And my denial (I'm an in-home denialist) is far more important than some benefits I might gain by thinking for myself. I'm not going to stand there holding a sign chanting stuff while my denial has to fend for itself and quite possibly do itself serious harm.

Not like I chose to join the human race anyhow; they just casually decided that I have to join and started taking out the dues from my check without really saying anything to me other than a letter in the mail.

As for those people that hang their empty head (LIKE ME) on the clothes line, I have this to say: Go get em. If those OTHER people who aren't on the line and who aren't too concerned about enjoying the view of a head inserted in a stinky rectum then someone who is an IDIOT should take their place.

*puts on my flame-retardent retard suit and runs and hides. Just like my fearless leader W.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

26. Welcome to DU!

And I'll play devil's advocate regarding your situation specifically. The fact that your client is dependent on you obviously does factor into you not having time to picket somewhere.

I'd also like to plead with DUers to take it down a notch. For example, I saw a recent thread where a pro-life Dem was attacked for his/her position (even though their position seemed sincere).

Since we have differing opinions on a wide variety of issues, we shouldn't jump down the throat of anyone who disagrees with the majority of us on occasion. There's a name for people like that: Republicans.

And I know we are better than that.

[bleedingheart]

27. unless you work in a closed shop, you would have signed to

have them deduct union dues from your pay.

I suggest you read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and you will see the reason for strikes hasn't changed much in 100 years.

[progressivebydesign]

18. Hmm.. working as a replacement worker vs. losing everything.

Sorry... I think it's completely outrageous to call them scumbags. Some pro-union people here need to get off their high-horse and come back to reality. I support unions, but not to the exclusion of every other human condition out there. You don't know their story. I would never condemn anyone for what they are doing... for God's sake.. they've lost fucking everything and now people here are calling them names because they need work? Fuck that. Unions are good for a lot of things, but they aren't God, they're a business.

[mike_c]

19. all scabs "need work"-- they get it by preying upon strikers...

...seeking better working conditions. Scabs everywhere are people who take the jobs of striking workers. That sucks, for whatever reason.

[hippywife]

28. Actually, the corporations

prey upon the strikers once again by using people in desperate straits against the strikers. It's the way it's always been done in industrialized America.

[struggle4progress]

20. You're the only one who has used the word "scumbag," and it ...

.. doesn't appear in the story. So your remark "I think it's completely outrageous to call them scumbags" is misleading, at best ...

[Codeine]

23. Hurricane or no...

scabs should have their heads busted.