Red Cross strike targets staffing levels

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-redcross1may01,1,2752933.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

Red Cross strike targets staffing levels

Despite disagreements on labor, the union and nonprofit agree that the walkout will hurt only a little.
By Joe Mathews, Times Staff Writer
May 1, 2007

When about 270 nurses and medical technicians who collect blood in Southern California for the Red Cross walked off the job at midday Monday, the resulting strike was bloodless in more ways than one.

There were no threats or angry rhetoric by the workers' union, Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union, against Red Cross management, or vice versa. Most of the talk was about the humanitarian work of the Red Cross.

And there was no promise to bring blood collecting to a halt. The union promised to end the strike by Friday.

There wasn't even any grumbling about low wages or poor health benefits or retirement cuts — the marrow of every work stoppage in America. The Red Cross' offer of annual 3.5% wage increases over the next three years is fine, the striking blood collectors said.

And although the strike reflected differences between labor and management over how to staff blood collection sites from Ventura County to the Mexican border, Red Cross officials and union leaders offered the public basically the same message about the work stoppage: This will hurt only a little bit.


FULL story at link.