In 2007 alone, more than 29,000 workers were fired or disciplined for union activity. Trisha Miechur, a Certified Nurse Assistant at a ManorCare nursing home in Easton, PA, is one of those workers.
Fed up with the short staffing and high turnover that was affecting the level of patient care in the nursing home, Trish started talking to her coworkers about forming a union. "I thought that if we were united, we would finally have a voice in the decisions that affected us and our residents," writes Miehchur in an op-ed for The Morning Call. "You would think that in America, workers are free to decide for themselves about forming a union; but I can tell you, it's anything but a free choice."
The truth is that companies routinely fire or threaten employees who sign cards calling for union elections. Corporations almost always choose delay tactics that force workers to go through elections that can take months, sometimes years and in 40 percent of cases where an election has been requested, the election isn't even held because of interference from the employer.
Trisha describes the illegal interrogation, threats, and retaliation she suffered at the hands of her ManorCare employers in their attempts to stifle union activity:
While we were trying to form our union, we were repeatedly taken away from our residents to go to meetings with management. ....At one point I was given a final written warning because management accused me of asking residents and family members to sign letters to state legislators about the quality of care at our nursing home. The warning said I was being disloyal and that if my behavior continued, I would be ''subject to termination."After that, I was scared whenever I walked into work. But I also knew that I was right to stand up for myself and my residents.In the summer of 2007, Trisha and her coworkers--like other Carlyle-ManorCare workers nationwide--had been struggling to form a union for more than a year. After filing Federal charges against Carlyle-ManorCare, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled nine months later that Manor Care violated the law for threatening Trisha and writing her up. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
This ''remedy'' Trisha describes, now only requires that Manor Care post a notice of their violations and to remove the final written warning they gave Trisha from her file. Even though it's barely even a slap on the wrist, Manor Care didn't see it that way and are now appealing the decision.
What happened to Trisha and other Manor Care caregivers isn't uncommon. Ninety-one percent of employers hold intimidating one-on-one meetings with workers; 49 percent threaten to close the workplace; 30 percent illegally fire workers for supporting a union.
The current process is tilted heavily in favor of corporations-- but it doesn't have to be this way. Congress can fix this broken system by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. This legislation would also strengthen penalties if corporations that break the law.
"If my coworkers and I had this choice, we would already have a union and be steps closer to improving our jobs and the care we provide our residents," says Trisha. Read the full editorial here.
