Workers' Rights Rally

Late this summer the NLRB will make a decision on three cases that are collectively called "Kentucky River." These upcoming decisions are referred to as such because these decisions will clarify issues left open by the 2001 Supreme Court decision in NLRB v. Kentucky River Community Care, which made it easier for employers to argue that registered nurses are "supervisors" and therefore ineligible to join unions. The decisions made on these three cases will affect the way the term "supervisor" is interpreted by the Board. Unlike other employees, supervisors do not have protected rights under the National Labor Relations Act to form and join unions, and employers often try to classify workers as supervisors in order to deny them the individual right to union representation and to weaken the organizing efforts of their co-workers.

Immediately affected by the NLRB’s decision are nurses, including Oregon’s nurses. Nurses often rotate the duties of a "charge nurse," who may oversee the work of nurses’ aides or students. If the NLRB broadens the supervisor definition, someone who works as a charge nurse just one shift a week could lost all remaining legal protection of their right to join a union – even though that nurse is not a manager at all. However, the Kentucky River decisions will reach far beyond nurses. In fact, any higher skilled employee who directs the work of lower skilled workers is in real danger of being falsely categorized as management under a new interpretation of the law. Employers will be empowered to effectively shrink or wipe out existing bargaining units, and strip federal protection for the freedom to organize for many more non-union workers

If the unions were to be weakened, as will occur if it is decided to reclassify certain jobs as "supervisors," then our communities will suffer greatly. If nurses lose collective bargaining power, then there is nothing to stop an employer from systematically reducing wages and benefits in the future. This is a disturbing situation for nurses, but this will also degrade the health care for the entire community. An increased turnover in nursing staff will lead to less qualified nurses and therefore lower quality of care for all. However as we have described, the nurses are only the beginning, imagine similar turnovers and degradation of service in our police forces, airports, construction and other vital services. This has serious implications for all, not just those who are employed in these jobs. Jobs with Justice sees this as an outright attack on our communities and we must join together as a community of faith groups and laborers in order to make our voices heard about this disturbing situation.

Jobs with Justice invites you to attend a Worker’s Rights Rally on Thursday, July 13^th at 10:00am. The rally will be in the South Park Blocks at the intersection of SW Salmon and SW Park. The AFL-CIO, local unions, community groups, religious leaders and Governor Ted Kulongoski will join us at the event. The goal of this event is to gain media attention of this decision and its implication. We ask for your support to stand in solidarity and concern for the affected unions and workers as they give testimony on how affects this decision will affect their families and the greater community. Through this actions we intend to put pressure on the Board and especially Robert J. Battista, the chairman, to hear the workers’ side of this issue and to hold oral arguments. In the end, we want them to not deny any worker his or her right to join a union.