"What do we want?" ---"Contract!"
"When do we want it?"---"Now!"

On January 18th, SEIU healthcare bargaining committee members from 17 CHW hospitals around the state met in Oakland at Local 250 headquarters before setting off by bus for CHW headquarters in San Francisco. Our goal: to deliver a letter to Lloyd Dean, CHW CEO, letting him know that we're dissatisfied with the progress of union contract negotiations.

As it is, there's nothing much to be gained for CHW by bargaining with us. When we get a contract, they'll have to pay us more and we'll have a voice in decisions that up to now have been orders. So, we need to give CHW some incentive to bargain with us!

On January 18th, we disrupted their work day with hundreds of union activists shouting slogans, beating drums, and generally letting the neighborhood know we were there with a grievance. As with many neighborhood disturbances, the police were called, but since they're union, too, it felt like moral support.

Next step: A vote on informational picketing at each of our hospitals!
---Ellen Dillinger, 1/27/02.

i always hope our pages convey the sense of the day's action, including the fun of working together for worthy goals. if you were not there on the 18th consider joining us for one of the informational pickets.
our contracts reflect the strength of our unions, and our unions' strength comes from an informed and united membership.
photographs...ellen dillinger and myself.
--- dick, 012702