Red Cross workers join Teamsters, reach first deal in nation

1/23/2007, 10:54 a.m. ET
By CONNIE MABIN
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — ...

International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 507 in Cleveland said the contract was ratified by about 80 percent of those who voted, 146-15. The union covers about 200 blood collection workers and assistants with the Red Cross' mobile unit as well as about 30 Red Cross drivers in the Northern Ohio Blood Services division of the American Red Cross, which serves 19 Ohio counties.

The four-year agreement approved Sunday includes immediate bonuses, creates a seniority system and promises future pay raises. Specific details were not disclosed...

Al R. Mixon, Local 507 secretary-treasurer, said he was proud of the workers for hanging in despite nearly 2 1/2 years of legal battling at the National Labor Relations Board. The workers first organized in September 2004 but the Red Cross appealed to the board.

"In this harsh legal climate for organizing workers it is truly extraordinary everyone stayed unified," Mixon said...


Teamsters: http://www.teamster.org/

Maybe I missed something in the past few years, but both organizations have long had ties to the Republican Party. It shouldn't strike anyone as unusual.

I grant that I could be wrong about it, so if you know otherwise, please post.

--p!