Heartland Lockout: Another Reason for the Employee Free Choice Act

by James Parks, Oct 20, 2008

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka talks with locked-out workers at Heartland Human Services.

A look at what’s going on at the Heartland Human Services in Effingham, Ill., offers yet another example of why passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is needed to provide fairness in the workplace.

For more than two years, some 50 workers at Heartland, members of AFSCME Council 31, have been seeking a fair contract with decent pay and benefits. After they unconditionally ended a yearlong strike in June, management at Heartland, a nonprofit mental health counseling facility, locked them out.

Last week, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka joined the Heartland workers’ picket line to show solidarity and deliver a message to management that the union movement considers this fight a national symbol of the failure of American labor laws to protect the rights of workers.

Says Trumka:

I’ve seen a lot of labor conflicts all across the country and I can tell you that the behavior of Heartland management is worse than that of almost any big profit-driven company I’ve encountered. We are here to shine the bright light of justice on Heartland Human Services before the world. This fight for fairness is the essence of the labor movement’s struggle. These workers are an inspiration to us all.

Anders Lindall, a spokesman for District 31, says:

It is clear that Heartland doesn’t want anything but to get rid of this union and, as such, it is becoming a national symbol for the need for those legal reforms.

The Heartland employees, who provide mental health counseling for patients with addictions, formed a union in February 2006. After contract talks failed, they walked out in July 2007. When the workers ended the strike without conditions in June 2008, management locked them out.

AFSCME says that for months at a time during the strike and lockout, Heartland management refused to meet with the union or a federal mediator altogether. Management hired replacement workers and paid them more than these employees were paid for the same work.

Trumka, who delivered a $10,000 check from the AFL-CIO to the workers, said the lockout is “a classic example of what’s wrong with America’s labor laws:” He noted that under the Employee Free Choice Act, employers would face mandatory arbitration if they did not bargain seriously with workers’ unions. Sen. Barack Obama is a co-sponsor of the bill.

Trumka sums up the situation this way:

Sixteen months is a long time to have families disrupted. Enough is enough. America can do better than this. Illinois can do better than this and I know management can do better than this.

		Become a Fan on Facebook			Follow Us on Twitter			Subscribe to YouTube			Subscribe to Blog RSS

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (5)