Organizing

Victories for 2004

SEIU - The 180 workers, including nurses and technical workers at Aliquippa Community Hospital in Aliquippa, Pa., recently won a voice on the job with SEIU District 1199P. They chose their union by majority sign-up.

AFSCME - In Dona Ana County, N.M., nearly 200 juvenile/adult officers and others at the county jail formed unions with AFSCME Council 18. In Bridgeport, Conn., 35 supervisors from the housing authority chose Council 4 through a majority sign-up, in which workers win their union when a majority verifies the desire to join a union by signing authorization cards. In Chester, Deep River, Essex and Regional School District 4 in Connecticut, the majority of 24 school workers including secretaries, network technicians and registered nurses voted to join Council 4.

AFT - A strong majority of 553 professors at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., recently voted to form the United Faculty of Eastern Washington University. The union will be affiliated with AFT and the National Education Association, which campaigned together statewide to help faculty members win a voice on the job. The win came two years after workers and their unions successfully lobbied for a new state law that gave faculty members at four-year universities the right to bargain collectively. In the Chicago area, 161 members of the South Suburban College adjunct faculty voted this month to affiliate with the Illinois Federation of Teachers/AFT. The majority of 36 workers in Pipestone, Minn., on Nov. 10 voted to form the Education Minnesota Pipestone Area Educational Support Professionals, an AFT affiliate.

AFT - A VOICE WITH AFT--An overwhelming majority of 91 teachers and other workers at the Guttenberg (N.J.) School District voted for a voice on the job with the New Jersey State Federation of Teachers, an AFT affiliate. Forty midlevel supervisors at Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J., also voted for the union.

UFCW - DIGNITY WITH UFCW--Some 117 certified nursing assistants, dietary aides, housekeepers and maintenance workers at the Accord Health Services at Brandywine nursing home in Wilmington, Del., voted for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 on Oct. 29. Bargaining on a first contract begins this week, and workers are seeking job security, respect, better pay and affordable health care.

AFT - UNION AT COOPER UNION--The majority of 148 clerical and technical workers at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City voted Nov. 5 to join New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate. The majority of 33 teachers at the Triopia (Ill.) school district voted to join the Illinois Federation of Teachers Nov. 9.

IATSE - ANIMATED VICTORY--More than 220 employees of DPS Film Roman in North Hollywood, Calif., voted Oct. 29 for a voice at work with the Animation Guild, Local 839, Theatrical Stage Employees. DPS produces animation for the "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill" and "X-Men: Evolution" television shows. In another victory, about 50 workers at Fox Sports International voted Oct. 20 for IATSE. The new union members make up a master control operation that broadcasts international sporting events.

CWA - Joining the CWA Family - The majority of 90 paralegal, transportation aides and litigation aides at Children's Aid and Family Services offices throughout New Jersey voted to join Communications Workers of America Local 1037 Oct. 14. Employees of the nonprofit agency work beside unionized state workers in Department of Youth and Family Services offices. "I can see all around me the advantage of being part of a union," said Kerry Gennance, a paralegal. "Why wouldn't I want the same?"

IAM - Camping Out With NFFE/IAM - A majority of the 250 Forest Service workers at the Stanislaus National Forest in Northern California voted to join the National Federation of Federal Employees, an affiliate of the Machinists, earlier this year in two elections. Permanent and temporary workers are included in the unit, which is made up of firefighters, wildlife biologists, forestry technicians, maintenance workers, office staff and other workers.

AFT - NEW AFT WINS IN NEW MEXICO--The 216 workers at Belen (N.M.) Consolidated School District won a voice on the job Sept. 21 with the Belen Federation of School Employees, an AFT affiliate, when the school board voted to verify the union's status after a majority signed cards expressing the desire to join the union. Last year, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) signed a law reinstating public employees' right to form unions and bargain collectively and providing for majority verification so workers can win their union when a majority signs authorization cards indicating the desire to form a union. In Dulce, N.M., the majority of 56 teachers, counselors and librarians voted to join AFT Oct. 7.

AFT - SCHOOL'S IN--Some 153 workers in New York have joined AFT since the school year began, including 51 teacher's aides at North Bellmore Public Schools in Nassau County and 42 security guards at Smithtown Central School District in Suffolk County, who won voluntary recognition. At Roosevelt Charter School in Nassau County, 35 clerical and custodial workers, teachers, teaching assistants and teacher's aides won their union through a majority verification process (also called card-check), through which workers win their union when a majority signs authorization cards indicating the desire to join a union. Twenty-five Brittonkill teaching assistants in the Albany area won voluntary recognition. Meanwhile, in Missouri, the majority of 139 paraprofessionals and instructional assistants at the Wentzville School District voted for a voice on the job with AFT Sept. 14.

IATSE - IATSE MAKES THE SCENE--The 15 stagehands and projectionists as well as workers in charge of actors' wardrobes, makeup and hair with Black Walnut LLC, a scenery shop based in Garnerville, N.Y., are the newest members of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 645. In addition, the 12 theater workers at the University of Akron in Ohio voted unanimously to join IATSE on Sept. 10.

AFSCME - GETTING A HEAD START WITH AFSCME--Last month, 66 Head Start workers employed by the city of Rockford, Ill., won a voice on the job with AFSCME Council 31 after a successful majority verification process, as did 38 attorneys who work for the state of Illinois in the departments of Revenue and Professional Regulation.

SEIU - PROTECTING CHILDREN WITH SEIU--The majority of more than 250 child welfare workers in Western Massachusetts voted last month to join SEIU Local 509. The clinical case and family support workers are employed by the Massachusetts Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children and provide mental health counseling to children and families. Meanwhile, the majority of more than 230 nurse assistants, technicians and other support staff members at St. Francis Medical Center in Minneapolis overcame employer intimidation tactics and voted Sept. 30 to join SEIU Local 113. In New York, the majority of 120 workers at Westgate Nursing Home in Gates voted to join the Health Care and Human Service Union, SEIU District 1199NY, and a total of 70 school bus drivers and monitors in Rhinebeck and Catskill voted to join SEIU 200United recently.

AFT - Fifty-two city employees in Keene, N.H., voted to join the New Hampshire Federation of Teachers/AFT. The unit includes secretaries, mechanics, maintenance workers, parking enforcement officers and employees in the parks and recreation and public works departments.

SEIU - The majority of 230 hospital workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif., voted in August to join SEIU Local 250 in an effort to improve care at the facility by negotiating a union contract geared toward stemming staff turnover.

UFCW - Some 330 workers joined United Food and Commercial Workers in late August. The majority of 200 health care workers at Westminster Care and Rehabilitation Center in Orlando, Fla., voted to join Local 1625. More than 70 workers at Timberlake Healthcare in Farmerville, La., won a voice on the job with Local 455. Another 60 health care workers at the Northwest Nursing Home in Oklahoma City voted for Local 1000.

CWA - Some 250 workers in the New Mexico state General Services Department joined the New Mexico State Employee Alliance, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, through majority verification. The union has more than doubled its membership since Gov. Bill Richardson (D) reinstated public employee bargaining last year.

AFT - The 2,000 graduate employees at the University of Illinois Chicago campus are now members of a union after the university agreed last week to recognize the Graduate Employees Organization, an affiliate of hte Illinois Federation of Teachers/AFT. The workers chose the union in April under the state's majority verification law, in which workers win their union when a majority signs authorization cards indicating the desire to join a union.

NABET-CWA - A dozen technicians and studio workers at BronxNet voted for a voice at work with NABET-Communications Workers of America Local 5 this month. BronxNet is a cable access channel serving the Bronx, N.Y.

CWA - Using a majority verification process, some 1,000 state workers in New Mexico have joined the Communications Workers of America this year. The latest group to join includes the deputies of the Socorro County (N.M.) Sheriff's Department who chose the New Mexico Coalition of Public Safety Officers/CWA Local 7911 on July 28. In a majority verification process, workers win their union when a majority signs authorization cards indicating the desire to join a union. Gov. Bill Richardson (D) restored collective bargaining rights to public workers last year.

IAM - The 113 registered and licensed practical nurses, industrial hygienists and clerks at the U.S. Navy Fleet Industrial Service Center in Cherry Point, N.C., are members of Machinists Local 2297 after a 10-month battle with the U.S. Navy. The Federal Labor Relations Authority this month certified the union, which also represents workers at the Naval Air Depot in Cherry Point.

CWA - Some 179 sales, technical and administrative workers at 39 Cingular locations in Eastern Pennsylvania are the newest members of Communications Workers of America Local 13000. On July 23, the American Arbitration Association certified that a majority of workers signed cards expressing the desire to join the union. Cingular has an agreement with CWA to remain neutral during organizing campaigns and allow workers to choose a voice via card-check.

OPEIU - The majority of 14 clerical workers at DeLon auto dealerships in Salem, Ore., voted in May to join Office and Professional Employees Local 11.

CWA - Employees at Verizon Wireless are mobilizing to demand the company live up to its majority verification and neutrality agreement with CWA and the Electrical Workers. The agreement expires Aug. 17. Verizon Wireless has conducted an anti-union campaign, holding closed-door meetings and illegally firing union activists, the unions said.

AFSCME - Some 175 workers recently won a voice on the job with AFSCME. On June 3, the majority of 85 voters at Portland (Ore.) Area Early Head Start voted to join Council 75. In neighboring Washington, the majority of 46 administrators in the state Department of Social and Health Services voted to join Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28, as did 20 workers at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Wash. Other new AFSCME members include 24 workers from the Teays Valley Local School District who joined the Ohio Association of Public School Employees/Local 4.

NLRB STRIPS GRAD EMPLOYEE PROTECTIONS - In the latest in a series of decisions that threaten workers' freedom to form unions, Bush administration appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reversed a 2000 decision and ruled graduate employees at private universities are students, not workers, and are not entitled to the protections of federal labor law. The case arose when teaching assistants at Brown University in Providence, R.I., tried to form a union with UAW. The Republican NLRB majority "overturned precedent and ignored overwhelming evidence of the transformation of colleges and universities into large-scale employers of low-wage academic workers," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

IATSE - Some 133 workers joined the Theatrical Stage Employees recently, including the crews of two reality television series. Swan Productions, producers of "Swan," signed an agreement with IATSE in May to cover its 40 employees, and Bobwell Productions, which produces "Blind Date," signed a contract June 23 for its 25 postproduction workers. In Quebec, Ontario, Canada, the Labor Relations Commission granted bargaining rights to IATSE Local 523 for 68 workers at the Les Galeries de la Capitale movie theater. The theater challenged a July 2003 majority verification process. In a majority verification procedure, workers gain their union when a majority signs authorization cards in favor of union representation.

SEIU - More than 100 hospital aides and office and support staff at Tenet Healthcare's Daniel Freeman Marina hospital in Marina del Rey, Calif., voted recently to join SEIU Local 399.

AFM - The majority of 68 musicians in the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra voted to join the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada Local 285-403 in May.

CWA - Some 153 workers recently joined the Communications Workers of America, including 35 cafeteria, police dispatch and other Lower Alloways Creek, N.J., township workers and 34 attorneys, social workers and support staff members at Monroe County Legal Services in Rochester, N.Y. Other new CWA members include 31 registered nurses at Our Lady of Victory Hospital/Catholic Health System in Lackawanna, N.Y.; 22 employees at the Passaic County (N.J.) Supervisors of Elections; 16 employees at the West Orange (N.J.) Library; and 15 employees in the Atlantic City (N.J.) Facilities Management and Supported Employees Unit.

TNG-CWA - The 67 full-time faculty members at Point Park University in Pittsburgh have a voice on the job with the Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild, Local 38061, an affiliate of The Newspaper Guild/CWA. The ballots were cast last month but were impounded until the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rejected an election appeal by the university that contended the faculty were managers and not eligible to have a union.

AFSCME - Some 652 workers recently won a voice on the job with AFSCME. The 282 workers in the nonsupervisory bargaining unit at the Department of Information Services voted to join the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28, as did the 91 nonsupervisors in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Business Services Program and Public Affairs Office. On June 17, the majority of 121 Northampton (Pa.) County employees voted for Council 88. The workers hold primarily clerical and administrative posts in the county courts and in domestic relations, probation and district justice offices. Seventy-six supervisors in the Town of Danbury, Conn., joined Council 4, while the majority of 60 RNs and LPNs at Correctional Medical Services, a private firm that provides health care workers for jails and prisons, voted for District 1199J. And 22 workers at Guiding Hands in Gallia County are the newest members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, an AFSCME affiliate.

AFT - The majority of 47 lay faculty members at the LaSalle Institute, a Catholic school for boys in Troy, N.Y., voted in late May for a voice on the job with New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate.

SEIU - A total of 1,110 workers formed unions in recent weeks with SEIU. In Spokane, Wash., the majority of 625 RNs at Deaconess Medical Center voted for District 1199NW on June 3. Meanwhile, some 345 resident physicians at St. Vincent's Manhattan Hospital in New York City voted overwhelmingly May 21 to form a union with Local 1957/Committee of Interns and Residents. More than 140 staff members of the Chicago Board of Education's From Cradle to Classroom program won voluntary recognition from their employer June 7 and joined Local 73.

AFSCME - Clerical and administrative employees of Northampton County in Pennsylvania voted to join AFSCME recently. The 123 new union members work in county courts, domestic relations, probation and district justice offices.

CWA - Workers at Kaiser Permanente's human resource center in Oakland, Calif., voted May 4 to join Communications Workers of America Local 9415. The election was certified in June after an unsuccessful appeal by Kaiser Permanente to the National Labor Relations Board. The 178 workers are analysts, clerks and representatives who handle human resource-related questions from union-represented Kaiser Permanente employees. Meanwhile, 127 workers at three New Mexico state agencies won a voice on the job with the State Employee Alliance@CWA this spring. The majority verification victories--in which workers win their union when a majority sign authorization cards indicating the desire to join the union--came under the state's recent law allowing collective bargaining.

AFT - A strong majority of 563 full- and part-time faculty at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash., voted to join United Faculty of Central, a dual affiliate of AFT and the National Education Association. The workers are the state's first faculty union at a public four-year college or university under a state collective bargaining law passed in 2002, which requires these institutions to recognize a union if a majority of the faculty votes for union representation.

SEIU - Some 750 medical technicians at the University of Washington (UW) Medical Center, Haborview Medical Center and UW's Roosevelt Clinics voted in April to join SEIU Local 925.

AFT - The majority of 694 adjunct faculty members at four campuses of Pace University in New York voted May 18 to join New York State United Teacher-AFT.

SEIU - The majority of more than 300 business office clerical workers at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City voted for 1199 May 5.

AFT - A strong majority of 62 head teachers, assistant teachers and child care providers in the early childhood education department at the Betty and Milton Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill, N.J., voted April 23 to join AFT. "Being part of AFT will help all of us provide an even better learning environment for all of our students," said Cindy Pickus, a transitional kindergarten teacher.

AFT - A strong majority of 62 head teachers, assistant teachers and child care providers in the early childhood education department at the Betty and Milton Katz Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill, N.J., voted April 23 to join AFT. "Being part of AFT will help all of us provide an even better learning environment for all of our students," said Cindy Pickus, a transitional kindergarten teacher.

AFSCME - Last month, 65 Mercer County (N.J.) Library employees and 35 employees of the Mercer County Improvement Authority joined AFSCME Council 73, Local 2287, by a majority verification or card-check process in which an employer agrees to honor the workers' choice after a majority indicates the desire to form a union by signing authorization cards.

IFPTE - Concerned about potential outsourcing, promotion policies and benefits, the majority of 241 municipal employees who are members of the Association of Engineers and Architects (AEA) in San Jose, Calif., voted March 25 to affiliate with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21. More than 6,000 professional, technical, managerial, supervisory and administrative employees in municipalities and other public agencies throughout the Bay area already have a voice on the job with Local 21.

AFSCME - Some 1,390 workers voted to join AFSCME, including 486 administrative assistants working for the State of Illinois, who won a voice on the job with AFSCME Council 31 recently. They benefited from a change in state labor law, won by unions and signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), that allows state employees to win union recognition through a majority verification or card-check process in which an employer agrees to honor the workers' choice after a majority indicates the desire to form a union by signing authorization cards. The majority of 374 workers in the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission voted April 9 to make the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28 their union.

OPEIU - After two years of legal wrangling, 964 Prudential Insurance Company of America representatives in 34 states voted for Office and Professional Employees Local 153 on April 23.

MARKING WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY - Thousands of union members and their allies worldwide will mark Workers Memorial Day, April 28, with rallies, candlelight vigils, interfaith services and marches. Activists plan to expose the Bush administration's abysmal record on worker safety, which includes killing workplace ergonomics protections, withdrawing all new workplace safety and health rules and moving to slash the federal job safety budget. The International Labor Organization, an arm of the United Nations, plans to release a report showing that work kills more people than wars, with 2 million worker deaths a year, many of them preventable. "The Bush administration has turned its back on American workers and workplace safety," said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). "It's time--and past time--that the federal government enforced the right of every American to a safe, healthful workplace." For more information and to download materials, click on http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/safety/memorial/index.cfm .

AFT - More than 1,000 graduate employees at the University of Illinois, Chicago, want a voice on the job with the Graduate Employees Organization, part of the Illinois Federation of Teachers/AFT. They filed for recognition on April 5, becoming the largest group to assert their rights under the state's card-check law for public employees, which Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) signed last year.

AFT - In Osseo, Minn., 750 school workers voted to join Education Minnesota on March 25, forming Osseo Educational Paraprofessionals. Education Minnesota is the merged AFT and National Education Association state organization.

AFSCME - 146 workers in the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services and the Department of Ecology voted to join the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28 recently.

AFT - A majority of the 70 adjunct faculty members who teach for Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations at locations across the Empire State voted late last month for a voice on the job with New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate. Their local is the Cornell University Adjunct Faculty Federation, and their employer agreed to allow a neutral third party to count the ballots.

NABET-CWA - Managers at Power Up Staffing, a broadcast integration firm, voluntarily granted union recognition to 40 workers in New York City who want a voice on the job with NABET Local 51011, a Communications Workers of America affiliate. Also, 55 workers at Intellicoat Technologies' plant in Matthews, N.C., voted recently for CWA Local 3603. Intellicoat is a global leader in the manufacture of coated paper, film and specialty materials for imaging technology.

NABET-CWA - Managers at Power Up Staffing, a broadcast integration firm, voluntarily granted union recognition to 40 workers in New York City who want a voice on the job with NABET Local 51011, a Communications Workers of America affiliate. Also, 55 workers at Intellicoat Technologies' plant in Matthews, N.C., voted recently for CWA Local 3603. Intellicoat is a global leader in the manufacture of coated paper, film and specialty materials for imaging technology.

SEIU - SEIU welcomed 900 new members last month. Some 800 workers at two Tenet Healthcare facilities in Southern California voted for Local 399, including 500 certified nursing assistants, technologists and others at Encino-Tarzania Regional Medical Center and 300 at Los Alamitos Medical Center. Meanwhile, the 100 employees of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, voted Feb. 27 for Local 500. The employees work at offices in Washington, D.C., Texas and California.

UFCW - A total of 725 workers voted recently to join the United Food and Commercial Workers. In Washington state, 220 employees at Bellevue Community College voted overwhelmingly for Local 365/Washington Public Employees Association (WPEA) on Jan. 30. They were joined by 51 state lottery workers who voted for WPEA Feb. 17. Other workers who chose a union with UFCW include 142 caregivers and other staff at Cardinal McCloskey Services Inc. at 13 locations in Westchester, Rockland County and Bronx, N.Y.; 104 workers at Interstate Chemical in Hermitage, Pa.; 85 workers at the Tiffany Hall Nursing Home in Port St. Lucie, Fla.; 50 nursing home workers at Wynnwood Nursing Home in West Memphis, Ark.; 35 construction assistance workers at Moca Ready Mix Inc., in Moca, Puerto Rico; 30 highway and park department workers in Foxboro Township, Mass.; and eight production workers at ACS, LLC-Cooler in Yuma, Ariz.

UFCW - A total of 725 workers voted recently to join the United Food and Commercial Workers. In Washington state, 220 employees at Bellevue Community College voted overwhelmingly for Local 365/Washington Public Employees Association (WPEA) on Jan. 30. They were joined by 51 state lottery workers who voted for WPEA Feb. 17. Other workers who chose a union with UFCW include 142 caregivers and other staff at Cardinal McCloskey Services Inc. at 13 locations in Westchester, Rockland County and Bronx, N.Y.; 104 workers at Interstate Chemical in Hermitage, Pa.; 85 workers at the Tiffany Hall Nursing Home in Port St. Lucie, Fla.; 50 nursing home workers at Wynnwood Nursing Home in West Memphis, Ark.; 35 construction assistance workers at Moca Ready Mix Inc., in Moca, Puerto Rico; 30 highway and park department workers in Foxboro Township, Mass.; and eight production workers at ACS, LLC-Cooler in Yuma, Ariz.

AFT - The 618 workers at The Resource Center, which educates children with disabilities at 56 sites in Chautauqua County, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly March 8-9 for the New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate. On March 8, the 25 faculty members at Alliant International University's Los Angeles campus chose AFT.

SEIU - A total of 236 health care workers voted for SEIU recently. One hundred professionals at Miami's Pan American Hospital voted March 4 to join SEIU for a voice in improving patient care. Although the hospital's RNs, aides, medical technicians and other staff also voted in January to join SEIU, the hospital refuses to recognize the union. A unit of 90 aides and others at the Eagle Pond Nursing Home in Dennis, Mass., voted Feb. 27 for Local 2020, and 46 workers at Infinia Nursing Home in Owattona, Minn., voted Jan. 22 for Local 113.

AFT - Braving one of the worst March snow storms in history, the majority of 289 workers at the Research Foundation at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, N.Y., voted to join the Professional Staff Congress of New York State United Teachers, an AFT affiliate, on March 16.

AFSCME - More than 60 caregivers from The Protestant Guild for Human Services in Waltham, Mass., voted unanimously Feb. 19 to form a union with AFSCME Council 93. The guild is a nonprofit agency that serves individuals with special needs. And a majority of 30 direct care workers at Blithesome Inc., a group home in Detroit, voted to form a union with Council 25 on Feb. 12.

AFSCME - Some 482 workers gained a voice on the job with AFSCME. More than 300 Washington State Patrol employees, including office assistants, customer services specialists and others, voted to join the Washington Federation of State Employees/AFSCME Council 28 on March 17. Lakewood City, Ohio, managers voluntarily recognized the choice of 127 clerical and technical employees to join Council 8 on Feb. 27. And 55 Naugatuck, Conn., police voted for Council 15 on Feb. 19.

SEIU - The majority of 90 Head Start workers employed by the Quincy (Mass.) Community Action Program overcame strident employer opposition and voted March 22 to join SEIU Local 888. Quincy's mayor as well as Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy (D) and John Kerry (D) supported the effort. Also, 75 clerical workers at Miami's Pan American Hospital voted March 9 to join SEIU.

AFSCME - More than 1,800 direct-care workers, counselors, nurses and administrators with Northwestern Human Services (NHS) throughout Pennsylvania voted by a wide margin Feb. 24 for a voice on the job with AFSCME. NHS is the largest provider of mental health services in the state.

AFT - A total of 3,415 workers joined SEIU local unions last month to achieve a voice on the job. In New York, the 2,675 workers employed by Best Care voted to join SEIU District 1199NY. In California, 440 employees at Tenet Healthcare's Lakewood Regional Medical Center voted Feb. 19 to join Local 399. The employees include clinical lab scientists, pharmacists, radiology technologists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, certified nursing assistants, business office staff and others. In Illinois, a near-unanimous group of some 300 caregivers at Help at Home voted for Local 880.

AFT - AFT - The 73 part-time grant-funded administrative staff at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, voted Feb. 16 for AFT Local 6224, the Southwestern Illinois College Educational Employees. The union now represents some 400 workers at the college.

CWA - CWA - The 50 employees of Clean Water Action in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn., voted for the Minnesota Newspaper Guild Local 37002, a CWA affiliate, on Feb. 9.

CWA - CWA - After a card-check by the New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board on Feb. 3, 1,600 New Mexico state workers in the Health and Environment Departments won a voice on the job with CWA. Under card-check, an employer agrees to recognize the union after a majority of workers indicated a desire for union representation by signing authorization cards. In October 2003, workers in several other departments joined CWA, which now represents about 2,300 state workers.

Actors Equity - Actors' Equity stepped up its campaign against nonunion stage tours last week when it filed unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB against three companies for failing to provide requested information about their ties to non-Equity producers. The failure by the companies-Clear Channel Entertainment, the Nederlander Producing Co. of America and Dodger Stage Holding Theatricals Inc.-to provide the information Equity requested "begs the question, what are they hiding?" said Equity Executive Director Alan Eisenberg. With the number of nonunion tours quadrupling in the past decade, Equity has committed more than $1 million to fight for good union jobs.

SEIU - SEIU - The 45 LPNs at Wesley Gardens Nursing Home in Rochester, N.Y., voted to join SEIU District 1199 Upstate in late January.

AFT - AFT - Some 62 workers recently joined AFT. The 26 members of the Winnamucca City Employees Association voted Jan. 16 to affiliate with the Nevada Classified School Employees Association, AFT Local 6181. The 18 employees of the Early Childhood Assessment Team of the Special Education District of Lake County, Ill. voted Jan. 13 to affiliate with AFT Local 504, the Lake County Federation of Teachers. And 18 paraprofessionals at Lincoln Elementary School District in Illinois voted Jan. 15 for a voice on the job with AFT Local 943, the Southwest Suburban Teachers Union.

UFCW - UFCW - At the Cooperative de Ahorro y Credito Sabanena in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, 19 credit union workers voted unanimously Jan. 13 for a voice on the job with UFCW Local 481.

SEIU - SEIU - The majority of 175 registered nurses at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, voted Jan. 12 to join SEIU Local 199 for a stronger voice in patient care.

AFSCME - AFSCME - The majority of 120 white-collar workers employed by Dane County, Wis., voted to join AFSCME on Jan. 8. The workers include accountants, computer programmers and conservation specialists.

SEIU - SEIU - A total of 915 Head Start workers across the country gained a voice at work through SEIU over the last month. In Kern County, Calif., 360 Head Start employees voted Jan. 5 for Local 535.

AFSCME - AFSCME - Corrections officers represented by State of Nevada Employees Association/AFSCME Local 4041 have won meet-and-confer rights in the settlement of their First Amendment lawsuit against the state. By law, Nevada state employees cannot bargain collectively. The suit was filed after 12 union activists were suspended for speaking about the union. The settlement resolved some worker concerns by providing seniority rights, minimum staff requirements and training standards.