Shirley Brown
Resurrection Medical Center
Chicago
Hospital Housekeeper Struggles for Respect
Shirley Brown has been a housekeeper at the Westlake Hospital in Chicago for 10 years. During her tenure there, she has watched the Resurrection Health Care chain grow from a single community hospital to the largest Catholic health system in Illinois and the second largest health care provider in Chicago.
As Resurrection gets bigger, Brown grows more and more concerned about the way it treats its 10,000 workers.
Some four years ago, Brown decided she was ready for the kind of change a union can bring, so she talked to her co-workers about forming a union. They decided to join together because they felt disrespected by management, and they wanted fair work rules, better wages, better health benefits and a voice in workplace decisions.
But once Brown and her co-workers began to form their union, the hospital hired an anti-union consultant to implement a campaign of misinformation and scare tactics. According to Brown , over the years, management has subjected workers to closed-door meetings and questioned their support for the union. There have been mandatory meetings against the union where union supporters were not allowed to speak.
Many of Brown’s co-workers are afraid to talk about the union—even outside of work—for fear of losing their jobs. Despite the poisonous atmosphere created by the hospital, Brown continues to organize with the support of many community, religious and elected leaders, including Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
Brown and her co-workers look forward to the day when they can form their union free from fear and intimidation.
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