The Militant - November 28, 2005 -- On the Picket Line

Vol. 69/No. 46 November 28, 2005

On the Picket Line

California nurses win victory
for improved patient care
SAN FRANCISCO—The California Nurses Association has succeeded in defending an improvement in the ratio of nurses to patients in state medical units. After a year of union protests, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and hospital owners have given up their fight to suspend a 1999 law requiring a ratio of one nurse for each five patients starting this year. The battle began in November 2004 when Schwarzenegger ordered that this change be put off until 2008. In response, thousands of nurses mobilized in highly visible actions, protesting at the governor’s public appearances throughout the state and across the country.

In March of 2005 a Sacramento County Superior Court judge ruled that Schwarzenegger had no authority to suspend the law. The governor, along with the California Hospital Association, responded by appealing this and later court rulings, seeking to have the suspension of the law reinstated. On November 10, Schwarzenegger finally threw in the towel and withdrew his appeal.

—Betsey Stone

After nine-week strike
hospital workers ratify contract
SAN FRANCISCO—After nine weeks on the picket lines, 800 hospital workers employed by the California Pacific Medical Center ratified a new contract November 11 by a 97 percent margin. The unionists, members of Service Employees International Union United Health-Care Workers-West, won a 16 percent wage increase over four years, rules that help guarantee the union’s right to organize new members, and a training fund. Hundreds of workers celebrated their victory with live music, food, and drink in the Mission District here November 13.

—Laura Anderson

Cleaners at UK Parliament
walk out in London
LONDON—Cleaners at the Houses of Parliament in London walked out November 9 in their second one-day strike for better wages, sick pay, and holidays. The 140 members of the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) are demanding a pay increase from £5.20 per hour to £6.70 (£1=US$1.74), and a holiday increase to 20 days plus statutory public holidays. Most of the workers are immigrants from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

The TGWU has launched a union recognition campaign for cleaners in the city, targeting employers who use Mitie Cleaning, Empire Services, and other contract agencies. The Parliamentary Authorities have refused to meet with the cleaners to settle their dispute.

On the same day cleaners organised by the Bondgenoten FNV union in Amsterdam and Eindhoven in the Netherlands took to the streets demanding a minimum wage of 10 euros per hour.

—Celia Pugh

Teaching assistants at NYU
strike for union recognition
NEW YORK—Teaching assistants at New York University walked out November 9 demanding the university administration negotiate with their union. The 1,000-member Graduate Student Organizing Committee is an affiliate of United Auto Workers Local 2110. On the first day of the strike hundreds picketed in front of the campus library, which includes administration offices. Pickets have since spread out to a number of campus buildings.

The students won a union contract in 2002, the first such pact won by teaching assistants at a private university. In 2004, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students “have a predominately academic, rather than economic, relationship with their school” and are therefore not considered employees. This reversed an earlier ruling in favor of the collective bargaining rights of students employed by their school.

—Paul Pederson

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