Picket signs cropping up as labor groups, individuals protest

The sight of picket signs became more common during September, as several demonstrations have been visible in or near Davis.

Last week, the California Nurses Association called on 23,000 members to strike for one day, from 7 a.m. last Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday. The strike affected about two dozen hospitals around Northern California, including several in the Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente systems.

Several times in recent weeks, protesters also have stood on the Pelz bicycle overcrossing over Interstate 80, connecting bike paths in East Davis and South Davis. The protesters have unfurled a large banner referring to the construction of the Mori Seiki machine tool manufacturing facility, near the northern end of the Pelz overcrossing.

The Enterprise was unsuccessful in contacting the protesters, whose appearances with the banner have been intermittent, but they appear to be affiliated with a labor group.

There also was a one-woman protest for at least a week in mid-September in front of Davis Healthcare Center (formerly Sierra Health Care) on Pole Line Road. Protester Bonnie Eisner said she had been let go from her job at the center after she raised concerns about staffing, working conditions and other matters with management and with a union rep.

Are there factors behind the recent uptick in local picketing? The Enterprise sought some insight from Marty West, professor emerita at the UC Davis School of Law, who taught courses covering employment discrimination, labor law and related issues during her 25 years as a full-time faculty member.

“Picketing is the oldest form of union protest,” West began, by way of context. “The picket sign has always been the labor movement’s traditional form of speech, something the labor movement has always used. Many of the fights during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s were fights about where the union could carry picket signs.

The labor movement has maintained that picket signs are protected as the union’s form of free speech. Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has limited the use of picket signs. For example, they ruled in the 1950s that labor unions couldn’t picket on private property, only on public property. And then they started limiting where on public property that labor could picket.”

West said picket signs are seen less often these days.

“As the labor movement has declined (in overall membership), the frequency of picket signs has declined,” she explained. “The fact that we haven’t seen as many picket signs in the last 10 or 15 years is a sign of the decline of the labor movement.

“Currently, only about 7 percent of private sector employees are represented by a union. In the public sector, about 35 percent of employees are represented by unions,” West continued. “But when you combine the two sectors, the labor movement represents only about 11 or 12 percent of all employees in the United States.

“If we are seeing more pickets now, it’s perhaps because of more active union activity in response to the incredible anti-union environment we are living in,” she said.

“The nurses went on strike last week, but only for one day. There are severe restrictions on health care employees going on strike. One-day strikes in the health care industry are not uncommon.”

West said it is unusual to have any strike at all these days, adding that the number of strikes nationwide has declined to the lowest point in decades.

The banner over the freeway referencing the Mori Seiki facility is an example of “area standards picketing,” West said. “Apparently, they are not trying to organize employees, they are trying to point out a non-union contract. In decades past, a labor union might have been organizing the employees and trying to shut down the construction site. As far as I know, they are not doing that.”

West added that the California Nurses Association  strike at some Kaiser hospitals was in sympathy with National Union of Healthcare Workers, a group that represents optical workers and behavioral health employees at Kaiser.

— Reach Jeff Hudson at jhudson@davisenterprise.net or (530) 747-8055.

Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=85708

Posted by Jeff Hudson on Sep 26 2011.
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