Posts tagged social workers
LA County workers’ union sets strike for Oct. 10, while county calls it ‘unwarranted’
September 26, 2024 // A union representing 55,000 Los Angeles County workers announced on Tuesday, Sept. 24 that it has authorized a strike set for Oct. 10, unless county management comes back to the negotiating table. About 1,000 members of the SEIU 721 union came to the Board of Supervisors meeting to inform the county of its decision. Workers that would be affected by a strike are from numerous county departments, including: Children & Family Services, Mental Health, Public Health, Public Social Services, Parks & Recreation, Beaches & Harbors, LA County Library, Clerk/Registrar-Recorder, County Coroner and Unincorporated Street Services.
State of the unions: 8 facts you need to know about unions in Colorado
August 8, 2024 // Colorado is a modified “right to work” state because, under the state’s Labor Peace Act, workplaces with unions may hold a second election to become an all-union workplace. If at least 75% of eligible workers approve its Labor Peace Act election, the workplace becomes all-union, meaning every worker must join the union and pay dues. The act was passed in 1943 as a compromise between unions and business owners. In 2023 and 2024 to date, nine Labor Peace Act elections have been held — six won and three lost, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute.
Planned Parenthood Northern California workers move to unionize
January 25, 2024 // Planned Parenthood Northern California workers announced their unionization efforts today at all of the nonprofit’s 18 regional locations, including a San Francisco health center at 1522 Bush St. A “supermajority” of the organization’s hundreds of clinicians, nurses, social workers, administrative and support staff voiced their support for the forthcoming union, PPNorCal United, through union authorization cards, according to Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which PPNorCal United intends to join. Chelsea Fink, a communications specialist with SEIU 1021, said the union drive grew rapidly over the past two months, fueled by the short staffing and scheduling issues that have plagued Planned Parenthood since the Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion rights in June 2022.
California Planned Parenthood employees unionize, say they’re overworked as abortions increase
September 19, 2023 // The union could be one of the largest representing Planned Parenthood workers in the country. “I think this sends a ripple to not only other Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country, but other nonprofit health care organizations, that this is possible, this is coming,” he said. “This is the rebirth of the labor movement. It’s not just a hot labor summer. This is here to last.”
Behavioral health workers at Legacy Health’s Unity Center seek to unionize
July 20, 2023 // The move comes even as Legacy Health is facing a “financial crisis,” a top executive recently told The Oregonian/OregonLive, with losses of $10 million a month forcing it to sell off its laboratory services unit. While the number of employees involved is small, the filing is significant because Legacy has been the slowest health system in the state to unionize. For years, only nurses at Legacy’s Silverton hospital belonged to the nurses union. In 2019, nurses at Unity voted to approve the union after the health system fought the organizing campaign. Earlier this year nurses at Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center followed suit. Separately, Legacy has accused the state of pressuring it to unionize while slapping the system with hefty fines for violating the state's meal break rules.
Oakland teachers union opens vote on strike authorization
April 25, 2023 // There is general agreement that teachers are not paid enough. But at the offices of parent advocacy group The Oakland REACH, founder Lakisha Young said while she supports better salaries for educators, it should not be at the expense of the students. "Now we're being asked to sign on to an action that is disruptive to our children, just in support of teachers. And it's like, no, we can support teachers and not support a teacher strike," said Young. "It's what's been put on the table and maybe we need to create a new playbook behind this. Because this has become excessive." Another REACH member, Lupe Canchola, said, like a lot of parents, she will be hard-pressed to find a place for her child if the schools close. She said, in the past, she always supported the teachers' work actions.
Maryland public defenders overwhelmingly vote to unionize
December 20, 2022 // Employees at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to unionize, the culmination of a more than two-year organizing effort that required a change in state law. One unit consisting of administrative and support staff voted 45-1 to make the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Maryland Council 3 its exclusive bargaining representative. Meanwhile, another unit covering assistant public defenders, intake staff, social workers and investigators voted 233-8 in favor of a union.
Hundreds of Howard University hospital workers plan to strike over low wages
April 6, 2022 // Hundreds of workers at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., say they are planning a one-day strike next week over complaints of low wages.
Proviso Teachers Strike For First Time In Two Decades
March 7, 2022 // Proviso teachers have been working without a contract since last June. The average teacher salary in D209 is around $76,000 — nearly 30% lower than the roughly $87,000 average of high school districts in the Chicago area, according to an analysis of state data provided by teachers. The average teaching experience in the district is roughly 13 years and about three quarters of teachers in D209 have a master’s degree.
‘Our Patience Has Run Out’ — Proviso Teachers Union Sets Feb. 18 Strike Date
February 16, 2022 // As of the 2020-21 school year, the average teacher salary over the last five years in D209 was $75,698, well below Morton District 201 ($83,323), Leyden District 212 ($96,416) and Oak Park and River Forest District 200 ($104,887).