When the supervisors of the Mt. Sinai/St. Francis Nursing Home in Miami spied on workers giving out union leaflets during their organizing campaign, it was an employer intimidation tactic familiar to union leaders. Management followed up by firing two workers and disciplining two others leading the effort—an illegal action 25 percent of private-sector employers take during union organizing efforts, according to Cornell University Professor Kate Bronfenbrenner.

But then administrators accused SEIU 1199FL activists of using “voodoo” to intimidate the mostly Haitian American workforce into voting for the union. “That was a new low,” says U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), then a state legislator supporting the workers.

Meek, along with other elected officials and community and religious leaders, helped the workers beat back management’s culturally insensitive attack. Nursing home administrators made the allegations about voodoo in an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to the National Labor Relations Board after the 105 workers won their union election in February 2002. Meek joined a spirited march to the facility and communicated with management, telling them their allegations were damaging community relations. By bringing together religious, community and political leaders, union activists in Miami assisted the nursing home workers—many of whom earned such low wages they qualified for public assistance and couldn’t afford health insurance—win a strong contract this winter, complete with a sizable wage increase, two additional sick days, alternate weekends off and job security.

Like their counterparts in Miami, union leaders in Milwaukee are mobilizing similar communitywide support to help asbestos removal workers win safety improvements on the job and better wages in an industrywide unionization campaign spearheaded by the Laborers.

Union activists must be strategically savvy, patient and tenacious when helping workers form unions—and these are the same qualities they need when mobilizing community support. “People have to view this as long-term relationship building even though we’re in an era of instant gratification,” says Monica Russo, president of SEIU 1199FL. Meek says unions and elected officials “need to have a year-round relationship,” communicating regularly about the issues that affect union members, not just during the campaign season.

To strengthen the community connections that helped the nursing home workers win, union activists worked with members of South Florida Jobs with Justice to hold a workers’ rights board hearing. The board of clergy, elected officials, community leaders—including actor Danny Glover, long active in supporting the rights of Haitians—listened to workers explain the obstacles they face when forming unions. During organizing campaigns, “You think you’re alone,” says Veronica Belhomme, a certified nursing assistant at Mt. Sinai/St. Francis who testified at the hearing. Seeing community support “gives you the power to go on and fight harder.”

Members of the clergy not only served on the board but also visited fired workers at their homes, offering moral support. Union leaders surveyed members about their congregational affiliations and mobilized them to speak from their pulpits. “When the worker is part of a congregation, that’s when you see real action,” says John Ise, executive director of the South Florida Jobs with Justice group.

Through their community coalition, the nursing home workers are advocating the rights of Haitian refugees, living wage ordinances and legislation mandating smaller class sizes in public schools. In turn, several community groups involved with the Mt. Sinai/St. Francis campaign now are supporting workers at Point Blank, a nearby bulletproof vest manufacturing firm, who are trying to form a union with UNITE. “Forming strategic alliances with the community is a way of life,” says Russo. “The line between labor and the community is eliminated.”

Unions + community = Voice@Work

Once hailed as a miracle fiber to prevent devastating structure fires, asbestos now is acknowledged as a significant health hazard. In Milwaukee, as in other major cities, immigrants from Latin America do much of the hazardous asbestos-removal work. Yet many nonunion contractors don’t provide the workers with even the most basic safety protections such as showers, masks and other protective equipment. These contractors often stiff the workers on pay and rarely provide health or pension benefits.

Seeking a voice at work, the workers turned to LIUNA. By mobilizing religious and community allies, LIUNA activists found a winning combination: Improve conditions on the job by pushing elected officials to choose responsible contractors and reach out to workers through immigrant rights groups and faith-based coalitions. This strategy worked. Before the organizing campaign began in March 2002, union members removed 5 percent of the asbestos in the city. Today, that figure is 70 percent.

	Rallying together: Community and religious allies join LIUNA activists, helping asbestos-removal workers win rights on the job.

“This is a gutsy campaign,” says Frances Bartelt, director of the Wisconsin Committee on Occupational Safety and Health ­(WisCOSH), whose leaders wrote letters to hospital and school administrators that hired asbestos removal contractors with unsavory safety records and convinced Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee to switch companies. Elected officials kicked an unscrupulous contractor off a major public works project at the Milwaukee Auditorium, while members of the board of the Milwaukee Area Technical College agreed to employ only asbestos contractors that provide a grievance procedure to resolve employee workplace issues.

Along with the Milwaukee County Labor Council, Milwaukee Jobs with Justice and LIUNA Local 113, WisCOSH provides the campaign with a network of informed, motivated activists who picket unscrupulous contractors’ worksites and attend rallies, including one last summer with LIUNA President Terence O’Sullivan.

Because many asbestos-removal workers are immigrants, some of whom may be undocumented, they are uniquely vulnerable. While most workers in organizing campaigns face intimidation and harassment, undocumented workers also fear being deported. LIUNA leaders are working with a local immigrant rights group, Voces de la Frontera, which educates immigrant workers about their rights and about unions.

Like immigrant rights groups, faith-based coalitions also help link unions and ­workers. To identify asbestos workers, the Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH) distributes bilingual surveys at predominantly Latino churches about congregants’ jobs. “These workers are worried about their green card status,” says Dennis Lowder, chair of MICAH’s labor committee. “They are more comfortable if they are contacted through their church and by someone who speaks Spanish,” he says. Steve Cagle, organizer for the LIUNA Great Lakes Regional Organizing Committee, says “it helps build trust” when workers hear about the campaign from their churches.

Once involved in the campaign, members of the clergy literally practice what they preach. MICAH leaders sent a letter to their 46 member congregations asking them to contract only with asbestos removal contractors “whose workers are allowed to work safely, are paid fair wages and have a voice on the job.” A list of contractors who met those criteria was included with the letter—and some congregations switched companies, says Lowder.

Rev. John Celichowski convinced parish leaders to hire a union contractor for a huge renovation project at his church, St. Benedict the Moor. Some were concerned at first that using a union firm might cost more, he says. “I told them, ‘To the extent that it may be more expensive, it assures us that the company will make sure workers are adequately protected and paid decently for their work,’” says Celichowski. “Once you give people that information, it is not so hard to convince them.” @