During picketing by Teamsters on strike against Airgas, company employees or contractors intentionally “released unknown hazardous gases into the atmosphere which formed a dense white cloud which enveloped the area of picketing and surrounded, engulfed and blanketed the employees” in Peoria and Oakland, N.J., according to union lawyers.
Ron Lake, President of Teamsters Local 701 in North Brunswick, N.J., said, “That this took place at two separate facilities within a two-day period suggests to me it was an intentional attack meant to intimidate and harm. Airgas crossed the line of moral decency, and our members will hold them accountable.”
In part, accountability is sought through a lawsuit filed by the Teamsters Local accusing the company of negligent battery, liability for dangerous activities, and other claims. The lawsuit accuses Airgas of battery, negligence, intentional tort, and strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities, seeking compensatory and punitive damages plus injunctive relief to prevent future incidents.
“Airgas is in the business of handling dangerous materials and knows exactly how harmful these chemicals can be,” said Teamsters International Vice President At-Large Juan Campos, Director of the Teamsters’ Tankhaul Division. “To weaponize that against workers is beyond reckless and inhumane. This case is about more than a labor dispute. It’s about stopping a corporation from physically assaulting people for standing up for their rights.”
Teamsters have been on strike at Airgas since June over a pay increase and Unfair Labor Practices and unions’ picket lines in Hawaii, New Jersey, and Ohio have been extended to 15 other facilities across 11 states.
Airgas has more than 1,400 U.S. branches across the U.S. — including one at 2706 SW Adams St. in Peoria, which manufacture and distribute industrial and medical gases.
Layoffs at OSF. OSF Healthcare in August laid off more than 100 employees, mostly in Champaign-Urbana, according to company filings at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The company reported 97 layoffs last month at the OSF Cardiovascular Institute and Medical Group in Urbana and the OSF Healthcare Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana, plus the OSF Healthcare Medical Group in Champaign. Also, OSF said it’s closing two on-call urgent care centers in Champaign, laying off an additional 24 workers in August.
Meanwhile, OSF HealthCare has filed an application to discontinue major services at its Urbana hospital after reporting more than $600 million in combined losses at its Urbana and Danville locations.
In a 71-page permit application submitted to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the health system outlines its plan to scale back Urbana’s hospital operations as part of a previously announced consolidation effort.
More than $361 million in losses are tied to the Urbana campus alone, OSF said, since acquiring it from Presence Health in 2017.
Peoria TV stations with spotty labor relations expanding. The two companies that own Peoria’s commercial television stations have been busy in business. WMBD-TV owner Nexstar — the country’s largest local-TV station owner, owning or operating 180 TV stations in 113 markets — has a campaign by workers trying to unionize with the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians / Communications of America (NABET-CWA) to address low wages and unsustainable working conditions.
Workers at stations in Roch-ester, N.Y.; Henderson, Ky.; and Denver, Colo., recently won union elections, joining broadcast employees at 35 other bargaining units at Nexstar.
“I personally wanted to organize because of the fact that my coworkers were hurting. Hurting mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially,” said Brody Shaffer, WEHT in Evansville, Ind.
Employees issued a report, “Breaking the Story: The Real Cost of Low Wages at America’s Largest Broadcaster.”
The wages reported indicate that Nexstar pays below its peers in the industry — an average of 22% less than the median, or midpoint, wage, and the AFL-CIO reported that 89% of Nexstar workers are paid less than a living wage for their market for a single person with one child.
In New York’s Monroe County, elected officials are boycotting Rochester’s WROC while NABET demonstrations continue.
Nexstar’s holdings also include WYZZ in Peoria, WGN in Chicago, WHBF in the Quad Cities, Rockford’s WQRF, and Springfield’s WCIA. WMBD engineers used to be members of Local 51 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Across the river, WEEK’s owner, Gray Media — whose newsroom workers used to be members of SAG-AFTRA — has agreed to buy stations in 10 markets from Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group for about $171 million. Gray will add stations such as Columbus-Tupelo, Miss., Terre Haute, Ind., and West Lafayette, Ind. They’ll join WBXC in Champaign-Urbana, WHOI in Peoria, Quincy’s WHBF, WREX in Rockford, and KWQC in the Quad Cities.
Gray expects to get regulatory approval and finalize the acquisition this year.
Illinois AG gets $600K settlement for misclassification. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul this week announced his office reaching a $600,000 settlement with Wonolo Inc., resolving allegations that the company misclassified workers who were placed in temporary labor positions via the company’s online platform.
“Regardless of the industry in which they are employed, all Illinois workers have the right to receive pay they are owed,” Raoul said. “My office will continue to investigate complaints of unlawful and Unfair Labor Practices and will not stop working to protect the rights of all Illinois workers.”
An investigation Raoul’s office conducted showed workers placed through Wonolo’s online platform were misclassified as independent contractors and paid a regular hourly rate without premiums for overtime hours. Some workers did not receive Illinois’ minimum wage.
The Illinois Minimum Wage Law requires employees to be paid Illinois’ minimum wage and an overtime premium of 150% of their regular hourly wages for each hour worked over 40 in a single workweek.
Raoul encourages workers who have concerns about wage and hour violations to call his Workplace Rights Hotline at 1-844-740-5076, or visit the office’s website to file a complaint online at https://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/File-A-Complaint/
Machinists strike St. Louis Boeing plants. Machinists at Boeing’s St. Louis factories rejected a contract offered by the aerospace giant last month, and about 3,200 workers walked out for the first time since 1996.
Union members had “overwhelmingly” rejected a previous contract offer on July 27, when the Machinists said it “fell short of addressing the priorities and sacrifices of the skilled IAM Union workforce.”
Brian Bryant, the union’s international president, said that IAM “will be there on the picket lines, ensuring Boeing hears the collective power of working people.”
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