I've known Giulana Milanese, an organizer for the CNA (met her after she left the CPUSA for the CofC/CCDS) for over a decade. Great organizer, wonderful person. Warm, smart, savvy. And she's never said I was a red-baiter. Hmm., wonder why? Plus, she works well with Michael Lighty, from DSA, another CNA staffer. As does Carl Bloice, from the CCDS, formerly in the CPUSA. Michael Pugliese
>--- Original Message --- >From: Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: 3/20/02 1:38:11 PM > >Steelworkers, California Nurses Launch New Union to Boost Organizing >Nationwide >http://www.bna.com/ > >SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The California Nurses Association and the United >Steelworkers are launching a new union to organize health care workers >across the United States, leaders of the two organizations told BNA >March 11. > >The union will work to organize nurses and other health care workers, >mainly in states where the Steelworkers union already has a strong >presence, USW President Leo Gerard said. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, >Illinois, and northern Indiana are likely targets of the organizing >efforts. > >The new organization does not yet have a name, but will be a separate >union with links to both CNA and USW, Gerard and CNA Executive Director >Rose Ann DeMoro said. > >The launch of the new union expands an alliance that CNA and USW formed >one year ago, which has provided a structure for them to work together >to organize health care workers. Under the alliance, CNA organizes >registered nurses and USW organizes ancillary health care and service >workers (15 LRW 307, 3/15/01). > >Few health care workers in the Midwest and steel-producing states are >represented by unions, Gerard said. Many of those workers come from >families that have worked in the steel industry. "There is not a lot of >health organizing going on there," he said. > >Gerard, in Sacramento to speak to 350 nurses attending a CNA conference, >told BNA that USW and CNA signed the addendum to their alliance >agreement March 11, signaling the beginning of the launch. > >In the year that the alliance has been in place, CNA negotiated a >contract for 125 nurses at a hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area that >gives the nurses retirement benefits under the USW pension trust (15 LRW >924, 8/2/01). CNA will be seeking the same pension benefits in upcoming >contract negotiations this year on behalf of 20,000 nurses who work at >Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc., Sutter Health, or Catholic >Healthcare West, DeMoro said. > >
