On February 28 nursing assistants and housekeeping, dietary, and laundry workers voted 49-37 in favor of joining the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199 Florida. Within days, Mount Sinai management appealed the election to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), charging that union supporters used what were described as voodoo scare tactics against other workers. These included leaving half-filled cups of water around, pennies on the floor, and black beads and lavender perfume.

When the NLRB ruled on May 17 against Mount Sinai’s challenge of the union elections, the company filed a 76-page appeal, insisting once again that voodoo was used to influence the elections.

The company’s claims are "nonsense" said Evelyn Fontaine, a registered nurse. "We can’t let them get away with labeling Haitians this way." Fontaine pointed to the long history of struggle against discrimination that has been perpetuated through use of racist images of Haitians and their culture.

At one time there was a media campaign claiming that all Haitians carried the AIDS virus, which led to a ban on Haitians donating blood, Fontaine recalled. "But we protested and stopped that label."

Like nursing students and many other workers at the rally, Fontaine heard about the protest over Creole-language radio programs earlier in the day and decided to come by after work. A couple of dozen members of SEIU 1199 Florida from other nursing homes in the area also turned out to show their support, explaining that they had waged a fight similar to that at Mount Sinai over the past few years in order to win union contracts.

Many also came to the rally to demand freedom for some 200 Haitian asylum seekers unjustly imprisoned at the Krome detention center and Turner Guilford Knight (TGK) Correctional Center, a maximum security prison. Their jailing has sparked protests and wide publicity in the south Florida media. Haitian women jailed at TGK released a letter stating, "We did not commit any crime, and we are being treated like criminals. We cannot even go outside to take a breath of fresh air."

Previously the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) would free asylum seekers prior to a final ruling, if they showed there was a credible fear of persecution if returned to their homeland. Only after a legal challenge did the INS admit the reason for this change in policy and unjust imprisonment: the immigration cops want to deter more Haitians from trying to come to the United States by giving harsh treatment to those who do make it here.

Signs at the June 20 rally included calls to "End racist treatment of Haitian refugees." Fred Frost, president of the south Florida Central Labor Council, told the protesters that the national AFL-CIO had passed a resolution that day calling for the release of the imprisoned Haitian refugees.

After a rally at the Griffing Adult Center, protesters marched to the Mount Sinai facility in Miami Shores, chanting "No justice, no peace" and "Shame! shame!" at the nursing home bosses. Despite a steady rain the marchers’ spirits remained high, making clear their determination to continue the fight until the nursing home workers win union recognition and a contract.  
 
 
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