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Vol. 77/No. 17      May 6, 2013

 
On the Picket Line
 
Nurses at Mass. hospital hold 24-hour strike over short staffing
 QUINCY, Mass. — Nurses at Quincy Medical Center, an acute care hospital here, walked off the job for 24 hours April 11 to protest layoffs.

“We are out here for one day to make it safe in there everyday,” Paula Ryan, a nurse and chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association bargaining committee at the hospital, told a rally of 300 striking nurses and their supporters that day.

The 200 nurses at the hospital have been working without a contract since March 31, 2010. Steward Health Care System bought the hospital after previous owners declared bankruptcy in 2011.

Over the past year Steward has eliminated 30 nurse positions through attrition, according to the Nurses Association. In addition, the hospital administrators announced in February that they were shutting down a 40-bed surgical floor and laying off another 30 nurses.

“This hospital is chronically understaffed,” nurse Stacey McEachern told the Militant.

In an April 19 phone interview, Steward Health Care spokesperson Christopher Murphy disputed charges of understaffing, saying the number of nurses was reduced to match a declining number of patients. “The dispute is over compensation,” he said.

Nurse Joanne Hart told the rally that at a recent negotiating meeting the company’s PowerPoint presentation ended with a slide saying, “Steward Health Care: Doing more with less.”

Joining the rally were members of SEIU Local 1199, UNITE HERE Local 26, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, firefighters from Quincy and Boston, and nurses from other area hospitals.

— Ted Leonard and Sarah Ullman


Thousands of teachers protest across New Zealand
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — More than 2,000 teachers and school aides, and supporters, marched and rallied here April 13 in a nationwide day of action called by their union, the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa, which is in wage negotiations with the government. Thousands more marched in other cities and towns.

Chanting, whistling and singing as they marched up Auckland’s main street, demonstrators waved placards protesting a range of the government’s education policies. Many teachers are also upset with a new computerized pay system reportedly so full of glitches that some have not been paid for months.

Many teachers are concerned that “National Standards” in reading, writing and math begun in 2008 will be used to introduce performance pay. “We’re just trying to look after our jobs,” teacher Ahi Pere said at the demonstration. “If you’re not up to standard, you’ll get warnings which will affect your registration, and you could be out of the profession very quickly.”

Teachers at public schools have been working without a contract since September last year.

— Felicity Coggan


Dockworkers in Hong Kong win support for strike
Into their fourth week on strike, some 500 dockworkers employed by contractors at Hongkong International Terminals continue to win support among working people for a 20 percent wage raise and better work conditions. In the U.S. both the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and International Longshoremen’s Association have issued calls on their websites for solidarity.

After rejecting the employers’ 7 percent wage raise offer, hundreds of dockworkers marched April 17 to the company’s headquarters, setting up pickets both there and at the port terminal.

Global Stevedoring Service, one of the contractors with three-quarters of its workers on strike, announced it is shutting down June 30. Workers have told the media that they’re determined to go on with the strike.

—Brian Williams

 
 
 
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