DPE: Programs & Publications: DPE and Professional Associations

Unions promote high standards and quality work, improve the status of the professions and strengthen them as providers of meaningful, rewarding careers. To bring that message to professionals, the Department has worked on common concerns with professional societies, including the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Library Association (ALA) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), among others.

Through work in committees and caucuses, DPE has assisted in the development of labor-oriented programs and policies. Below are recent examples.

Please click on any underlined item to see the conference materials or a source relating to the topic.

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION

Selections from Labor Caucus Sessions at the 2008 Annual Meeting:

GLOBALIZATION AND OUTSOURCING MEDICAL JOBS – October 27

International Migration of Health Care Workers: Impact and Implications, Joni Ketter, American Federation of Teachers
Health Tourism to India: Challenges Against Resource Competition to Sustaining a Viable Public Health infrastructure for the Local Populace, Jack Warren Salmon, Ph.D. and Meghana Aruru, MBA, University of Illinois
Medical Tourism: A Union Response, David Kins, United Steelworkers

SAFE RN STAFFING: NEW RESEARCH AND SOLUTIONS – October 27

Solving the Nursing Shortage: Best and Worst Practices, Practical Solutions, Helen Moss, University of Oregon
Nurse Staffing: Key to Good Patient, Nurse and Financial Outcomes, Lynn Unruh, Ph.D., RN, LHRM, University of Central Florida
RNs Working Together: Union Action to Solve the Safe Staffing Crisis, Ann Converso, RN, United American Nurses
California’s Safe Staffing Ratio Law: It’s More than Just the Numbers, Hedy Dumpel, RN, JD, California Nurses Association/National Nurse Organizing Committee

HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN ORGANIZING HEALTH CARE WORKERS – October 28

Health and Safety Issues Are Integral to Successful Organizing Drives, Stephen Mooser, MPH, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
Safe Patient Handling Addressed by Unions in Contracts and Collective Bargaining, Ann Converso, RN, United American Nurses
Looking Beyond Safety and Health in Organizing Women, Carolyn Jacobson, Coalition of Labor Union Women

Selections from Labor Caucus Sessions at the 2006 Annual Meeting:

LABOR RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS -- November 6

Union Status & Employment-Based Health Care, Emily Ihara, Ph.D., George Mason University

LABOR, THE WAR IN IRAQ AND PUBLIC HEALTH, November 7

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

AFL-CIO-American Library Association Joint Committee on Library Services to Labor Groups:

RACE, POVERTY AND AGING BABY BOOMERS, June 25, 2006

· Human Rights for Hurricane Survivors, Monique Harden, Esq., Co-Director, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights

· The Graying of the U.S. Population: Projected Impacts on the Size of the Older Population and Their Consequences for Adult Education, Libraries, and Workforce Development Policy, Andrew Sum, Ph.D., Director of Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

This session was a Library Journal pick for the ALA Annual Conference in 2006.

American Library Association-Allied Professional Association Committee on the Salary and Status of Library Workers:

AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE OPTIONS, June 26, 2006

Access to Health Insurance/s for Care, Jim Brown, Director of the Health Insurance Resource Center, Actors’ Fund of America

A RESOLUTION ON SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM TO FORM UNIONS: THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT was adopted by ALA-APA, June 27, 2006
(http://www.ala-apa.org/about/20052006ACCouncilactions.html). DPE worked closely with the ALA-APA Committee on the Salary and Status of Library Workers toward the adoption of this resolution.