The heavy hands of out-of-state attorneys and a dominating national headquarters seem to be getting in the way of a settlement in the long-delayed unionization of Peoria’s Heart of America Red Cross Blood Services division. Local Red Cross administrators and civic leaders should reassert control of Peoria operations, negotiate a win-win package, and once more concentrate on the work that employees and managers – plus the public – appreciate.
After all, it was local workers who voted to unionize, and central Illinois donors and hospitals who are watching the rather embarrassing proceedings.
Personally, I’ve benefited from a Red Cross CPR class and donated blood and money to the Red Cross, but recent actions that some suspect did not originate with local management are troubling.
Representing the Red Cross, Wisconsin lawyer Michael Modl erroneously described planned leafleting by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) at a Dec. 21 blood drive at the Par-A-Dice casino as “picketing” and the event was cancelled. Modl asked AFSCME to refrain from its protected, concerted activities; AFSCME planned to distribute handbills thanking people for donating blood and updating them on Red Cross negotiations.
“The real reason for the Red Cross cancelling the blood drive [is] they are ashamed of their behavior towards their employees and the union, and do not want the donating public to find out about it,” said Kent Beaucamp, regional director of AFSCME Council 31.
Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the Red Cross broke federal law in eight Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) and federal Judge James Shadid issued an injunction that the Red Cross rescind changes in employees’ terms of employment and bargain in good faith. The NLRB said the Red Cross illegally changed wages, hours and working conditions following the June 1, 2007, representation election. Workers voted 112-48 in favor of unionizing, according to the certification – made on October 7, 2010, after Red Cross litigation delayed even counting ballots for more than three years.
The Red Cross nationally says that it treats all employees fairly.
“We value each of our highly trained blood services employees,” said Stephanie Millian, Red Cross director of biomedical communications.
In a statement offered when the NLRB filed suit against the Red Cross in August, the organization said it “strives to treat our unionized employees with fairness and respect.”
However, the national Red Cross has widespread problems with employees. Disputes have involved unions including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT); Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Communications Workers of America (CWA); Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU); United Auto Workers (UAW); United Steelworkers (USW); International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE); Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA); the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), and AFSCME, in St. Louis, plus Arizona, California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington state and West Virginia.
Hundreds of Unfair Labor Practice complaints have been issued against the Red Cross nationally since the mid-1990s, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service has been called in to facilitate bargaining about 150 times.
Some say the problems aren’t the fault of local leaders.
“Despite contentions by the American Red Cross that negotiations are handled on the local and regional level with workers and unions most affected, [lack of progress] suggests that the Red Cross national Human Resources Department is actually coordinating and directing the efforts to de-professionalize the workforce,” said author Philip Dine, who wrote a comprehensive 2009 report, “Labor Relations at the American Red Cross and Its Impact on Employee and Donor Safety.”
“Contract negotiations that used to be handled by regional or local officials are now run by the national Red Cross, coinciding with contentious negotiations.”
Jim Nowlan, a member of the Central Illinois Chapter Board of Directors, says he has noticed a trend toward consolidating away from local control.
“I’m on the board of the disaster side, not the blood-services side, but the Red Cross overall is experiencing what I’d call a centralization of authority to Washington [headquarters],” Nowlan said. “It seems like recent reorganization has taken some of the activities that used to be controlled locally and taken them up above even the regional level, to the division level or higher.”
St. Louis Red Cross worker Duane Jablonski, a 21-year Red Cross employee and a 30-year donor, says the organization used to take “incredibly good care of employees,” but that changed in the last 10 years or so. Jablonski said he’s “not a disgruntled employee; I’m definitely a dedicated employee” – but he says he’s seen the atmosphere change from “a pride thing to work for the Red Cross” to one where “they just use you up and throw you away.”
In Peoria, the ULPs range from not furnishing information as required and refusing to bargain in good faith in more than a dozen bargaining sessions, to illegally changing pay, pension contributions and health benefits, and improperly reclassifying bargaining-unit workers as supervisors. In Administrative Law Judge Arthur J. Amchan’s decision on the NLRB charges, he said the Red Cross must “cease and desist and take certain affirmative action designed to effectuate the policies of the [National Labor Relations] Act.”
Represented in negotiations by another Wisconsin attorney, Charles Pautsch, the Red Cross could appeal the order, further delaying an agreement.
“We’d like to resolve all the issues at the bargaining table rather than have a third party impose decisions,” said AFSCME Council 31 representative Tim Lavelle.
Besides the mandatory bargaining issues of wages, hours and working conditions, unanswered questions include the ULPs, a dispute about the Red Cross changing its past practice of 3 percent annual merit pay following a yearly evaluation, and the consequence of the Red Cross stopping its contributions to workers’ 401(k) plans.
“Our position is we can settle all this in negotiations,” Lavelle added.
Millian, the national Red Cross spokeswoman, said, “Whether we have reached tentative agreement on an item, or an issue is still being disputed, each is a local matter applicable to the local bargaining unit employees.”
If that’s so, it’s time for local leaders to negotiate.
Contact Bill at: bill.knight@hotmail.com