Convention Sets Course for Expanding Health Care Workers Council

Some 300 health care delegates traveled to Las Vegas last week to join representatives from locals across North America for the union’s triennial constitutional convention.

The convention addressed a wide range of business, from amendments to the union’s constitution to policy resolutions on collective bargaining, organizing, political action, health and safety, and many more.

Of particular concern to health care delegates was the issue of bolstering and expanding the Health Care Workers Council (HCWC).

Health care delegates gathered on Tuesday for a breakfast meeting to discuss the scope of the HCWC with the union leadership and staff. Delegates heard from Vice President Fred Redmond, who chairs the council, and considered Resolution 23, the policy resolution pertaining to health care workers.

“During the past months, we’ve received numerous resolutions regarding a more vibrant, expansive health care council. That’s what we’re going to do, because it’s the right thing to do -- to grow and share with one another and to coordinate strategy,” Redmond told the nearly 100 health care delegates who attended the breakfast.

The International Executive Board used the resolutions they received from the health care locals as the basis for the document ultimately put before the full convention, Redmond said.

The resulting resolution, which overwhelmingly passed, calls for all district directors to appoint district member coordinators to the council who will participate in quarterly conference calls and an annual meeting. It also commits the USW to holding a Health Care Sector Conference at least once every three years.

These changes will bolster the council’s ability to empower health care workers, build power, organize new facilities and lobby for legislation on health care related topics, Redmond said.

Health care delegates got the opportunity to speak from the convention floor in support of the health care resolution on Thursday morning, noting the challenges, like understaffing, workplace violence, and the race for corporate profits, that so many health care workers face.

“Just like in the steel industry, all our jobs in health care are constantly at risk for downsizing, outsourcing or having people replaced by computers or robots,” said Deanna Hughes of Local 9460 in Duluth, Minn., as she spoke in support of the resolution on the convention floor. “It is crucial for our future that the Health Care Workers Council be given the attention, support and resources that every council in the union deserves.”

Ray White, president of Local 1-207 in Edmonton, Alberta, also rose in support of the resolution. His local bargains 34 collective agreements, nine of them in health care. “In all other industries when we go to the bargaining table, we’re looking to better our wages and working conditions,” he said. “When we bargain in health care, these people are just asking for the resources to do their jobs properly.”

Passing the resolution paves the way for the HCWC to begin making the proposed changes in the coming months.

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