Posts tagged staffing
More SoCal hotel workers agree to new deal with Marriott, Hilton
December 18, 2023 // More than 1,700 housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers and front desk workers signed the deal, according to Unite Here Local 11, which said 20 high-end Southland hotels have now signed new contract agreements. Those employees work at the Irvine Marriott, W Hotel Westwood, SLS Beverly Hills, Westin LAX, Sheraton Grand DTLA, JW Marriott LA Live, Ritz-Carlton LA Live, Courtyard Marriott DTLA, Residence Inn DTLA and Hilton Irvine. - Language improvements, including historic Equal Justice language that, among other things, will help to provide access to union jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals and unprecedented protections for immigrant workers.
INDIANAPOLIS: Nurses at IU Health’s University and Methodist hospitals eye unionizing
December 11, 2023 // Other IU Health hospitals would not be part of the union. IU Health is currently in the process of expanding its downtown Indianapolis facilities – with the expectation that University and Methodist hospitals will eventually be consolidated sometime in 2027. “In the next five-plus years, or whenever that big building is done, we will be one hospital,” Armes said. Travel nurses would not be included in the union, but Armes said they have been supportive of their organizing. Bailey Pollard is another nurse working to unionize the two hospitals. He said nursing shortages are not a problem unique to IU Health.
Opinion: NLRB says ‘common law’ — and common sense — defines joint employers
December 5, 2023 // The mandate, to take effect Dec. 26, says when two employers — think a local McDonald’s franchise and McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago — control a worker’s toil, from wages and hours to duties and work rules to hiring and firing to uniforms and training, then both are responsible for obeying or breaking Labor law. And that means it should be easier for workers to organize and bargain without being bounced from pillar to post when it comes to whom to bargain with. Using that same “basic common sense” explanation, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called the new rule “an important win” for workers.
Bitter strike over as nurses, N.J. hospital reach tentative agreement after 120+ days
December 3, 2023 // For months, the union members went without paychecks and benefits, which the hospital had cut off in September. The two sides were at a standstill, and for a time, it was unclear how they would find a path forward. The strike drew national attention, as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) visited Rutgers University in October to hold a Senate committee hearing on the labor dispute and hospital staffing guidelines. At the event. Sanders expressed support for the nurses and the ratios they sought while lambasting hospital leaders for not appearing. The hospital — ranked the fifth best in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report — had maintained that strict staffing ratios would not allow it the necessary flexibility during times of high patient volume. But many nurses said they were working in untenable conditions, often forced to juggle five or six patients during a given shift, which they said impacted the patients’ well-being as well as the nurses’ ability to provide adequate care.
Southwest, American Airlines passengers face looming winter woes
November 28, 2023 // "We're behind the industry in every area you can think of in our contract. So we're asking for quite a bit. Obviously, wages, retirement, disability. One of the big pillars that other airlines didn't have a huge issue with, but we do, is our scheduling system," Santoro said.
If SEPTA Transit Police go on strike, who fills the void? What you need to know
November 21, 2023 // With a SEPTA strike, figures show more than 250 SEPTA police officers won't come to work. The officers cover SEPTA property across the city and into Delaware, Bucks, Chester and Montgomery Counties – as well as regional rail that reaches Trenton and Wilmington. At the massive 69th Street transportation hub, SEPTA police stay busy answering calls.
CVS, Walgreens pharmacists move to unionize
November 14, 2023 // The latest pharmacist walkout, originally dubbed “Pharmageddon” over fear of a widespread walkout with large ramifications, took place last week but ended up having minimal participation and impact. A Walgreens spokesperson told Reuters the protest closed only three pharmacies temporarily. CVS Chief Executive Karen Lynch told Reuters some workers called in sick at a few stores but there were no closures or disruption in service.
Pharmacy staff from CVS, Walgreens stores in US start three-day walkout
October 31, 2023 // Some employees at CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) and Walgreens Boots Alliance's (WBA.O) U.S. pharmacies launched a three-day walkout starting Monday to push the companies to improve working conditions and add more staff to their stores. The walkout, which has been dubbed "Pharmageddon" on social media platforms such as Meta's Facebook where it was largely planned, started on Monday and led to the closing of some stores in New York City, two organizers told Reuters. Shane Jerominski, a former Walgreens pharmacist and one of the organizers of the walkout, told Reuters that as many as 5,000 pharmacy workers would walk out across the three days, but said that the exact number of affected stores and participating staff was not clear due to the lack of a union.
Union workers reach a tentative deal with Kaiser Permanente after the largest-ever US health care strike
October 13, 2023 // “The frontline healthcare workers of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente,” the union coalition said on X. “We are thankful for the instrumental support of Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su.” The company also thanked Su its tweet about the deal. “We are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with the frontline health care workers of the union coalition. We are thankful for the instrumental involvement of Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Su,” it said in its tweet. The strike last week lasted only three days, the length of time it had been scheduled to run. But the coalition of unions was threatening an eight-day strike next month with even more workers walking out if a new deal was not reached by October 31.
San Francisco State University facing mass staffing cuts
October 6, 2023 // The move is part of a cost-savings measure by a system facing a troubling trend: Fewer San Franciscans are having children, meaning there are fewer young adults in California to attend the state universities. Kent Bravo, a spokesperson for San Francisco State, said the university had to deal with the reality of a shrinking student body: “We must rethink our operations to match current enrollment.” The faculty union, however, said the cuts are outsized and dramatic. “It’s very aggressive, and it’s out of scale,” said Brad Erickson, a full-time lecturer in the School of Liberal Studies, and president of the union’s San Francisco State chapter. He criticized the university for saying the cuts represented a “glide path” towards financial sustainability, and called the process “chaotic.”