a1443: union vote gets hearing--vodou claims upset workers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

 Posted on Mon, Mar. 25, 2002

Disputed union vote gets hearing
Vodou claims upset workers
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@herald.com

Workers at a Miami Shores nursing facility are outraged
over allegations that their bosses are trying to undermine
a union vote by claiming they were engaging in ``vodou
tactics.''

It's a sensitive issue at a facility where most of the
workers are Haitian.

''This is a despicable tactic with no regard to the
culture, religion or heritage of the workers who provide a
vital service to our community,'' local Service Employees
International Union President Monica Russo said Friday.

Today, it will all come to a head when both sides appear
before the labor relations board in downtown Miami.

Administrators at Mt. Sinai/St. Francis Nursing and
Rehabilitation Center, 201 NE 112th St., are not willing to
discuss the specifics of the complaints they filed with the
National Labor Relations Board over the recent vote by the
center's employees to form a union.

They'll only admit to filing a string of objections to the
Feb. 28 vote in which a majority of the nursing center's
105 workers chose to form a union.

`UNION RHETORIC'

''That's typical union rhetoric,'' Mt. Sinai labor attorney
Susan Compton said of Russo's statement. ``We believe it
was not a fair and free vote.''

Compton would not comment on whether her company complained
of union organizers trying to scare employees into voting
pro-union by using any form of vodou -- an especially
offensive suggestion in the Haitian community.

According to Russo, some of the center's allegations are
that union organizers placed symbols and signs around
voting booths, and that coins were placed in the street
nearby.

Employees at two Haitian artifact shops near Little Haiti
said they're not aware of any symbolism in placing coins in
the street.

Fighting back, Russo and the union have filed two
complaints with the labor board in the past two weeks
alleging that two workers at Mt. Sinai have been fired
because of pro-union stances.

Board attorney Jennifer Burgess-Solomon said the firings
were not public record.

10-YEAR FIGHT

The fight at Mt. Sinai to organize actually began a decade
ago. Two other attempts to organize at the facility that
offers care mostly for the elderly have failed. Finally
last month, workers voted to form a union by the slimmest
of margins.

Last month, 95 of the 105 eligible voters at Mt. Sinai
voted. Nine ballots were challenged. Of the remaining 86
ballots, 57 percent favored a union.

One of those who voted in favor was Enide Dorismond, 51,
who until last week cared for 10 full-time patients at Mt.
Sinai, and was paid $7.36 per hour, with some benefits such
as limited health and dental insurance.

Last Wednesday, while Russo and others with union were
rallying outside the Miami Shores facility, Dorismond was
fired.

The union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint
about the firing of Dorismond and fellow employee Rose
Marie Noel. Both say they endorsed the idea of forming a
union because Mt. Sinai pays so little and asks so much of
its employees.

''I feel so sick because I know I did a good job,'' said
Dorismond. ``They said I didn't respect the residents. That
I didn't feed the residents. Someone took my badge and I
just started crying.''



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