—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

Georgia: City workers rally, win support for union recognition

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — “We want to feel appreciated. It’s time for a change,” Quakita Lane, who works in the water and sewers department, told some 100 workers and others at a Feb. 23 rally in support of the fight by city workers to win recognition of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees here. About a dozen of her co-workers also attended.

“I started as a temp in 2008 and only got full-time two years ago,” Frederick Davis, a building and grounds landscaper, told the Militant. “They claimed there was never enough money in the budget.”

More than 75 percent of the workers have signed cards for the union, AFSCME Local 1644 President Tracey Thornhill said in a statement. He said workers had faced “years of workplace indignations, favoritism and unsafe working conditions.”

School bus drivers, postal workers, transport workers and others, including Lisa Potash, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Atlanta, came to lend their support.

William Bradley and four of his coworkers from the Bon Apetit food service at Emory University came to the rally. They have also been working to organize a union. “We want people to feel the solidarity,” he told the Militant.

— Janice Lynn

Nurses in Silver Spring, Md., fight for adequate staffing, union

SILVER SPRING, Md. — More than 120 nurses and supporters rallied in front of the Holy Cross Hospital here Feb. 13 to support a drive to be represented by the National Nurses United union. Among those attending in solidarity were members of the International Association of Machinists, the Laborers International Union, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

Two of the central issues are patient safety and adequate staffing, nurses involved in the organizing effort say.

“Over the last few months, HCH management has been diverting patient-care dollars to pay anti-union consultants who are interfering with patient care, and harassing and intimidating our coworkers,” said a flyer published by National Nurses United on the day of the rally. “RNs [Registered Nurses] sent a clear message to Holy Cross Hospital management: We will not back down until our patients
are safe.”

— Tom Headley