a1464: Voodoo-Union (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By KEN THOMAS

   MIAMI, March 25 (AP) -- Union lawyers denounced a nursing home's claim
that a series of voodoo signs may have scared the facility's large
Haitian-American work force into voting to organize.
   "It's a standard delay tactic," said Monica Russo, Local 1199 of the
Service Employees union.
   Workers at Mount Sinai-St. Francis Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
voted 49-37 to unionize on Feb. 28, complaining of low wages, unaffordable
health insurance, and mistreatment by management.
   The National Labor Relations Board is holding a hearing this week as the
center tries to get the vote thrown out. Testimony was expected to continue
Tuesday.
   Employees testifying Monday described an atmosphere of fear of voodoo at
the 150-bed nonprofit facility in suburban Miami Shores. They said they saw
lines of pennies, half-empty water cups and a union supporter twisting
black beads in her hands before the vote.
   "If there was a group of people afraid of voodoo, your mind could be
swayed," dietary aide Barbra White Bynum testified.
   Bynum said a co-worker warned her about the consequences if workers
failed to approve the union.
   "She said we have tried two times to get the union here, and if the
Haitians don't vote the union in, something bad is going to happen to
them," said Bynum, who voted against the union.
   Lula Torina McClain-Barrett, another dietary aide, said she became
worried after finding half-filled cups of water placed on cabinets and rows
of three pennies in drawers that held sheets. She said someone who knew
about voodoo warned her not to touch the pennies.
   "After she told me they could be evil, I left them alone,"
McClain-Barrett said.
   Voodoo evolved in the 17th century among African slaves brought to the
Caribbean. Followers believe in a supreme god and a world of mighty spirits
who link humans with the divine.