Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York), September 2, 2007, Sunday

Copyright 2007 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

All Rights Reserved

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York)

September 2, 2007 Sunday

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1E

HEADLINE: Unions holding their own

BYLINE: Patrick Flanigan PFLANIGA@DemocratandChronicle.com

BODY:

Staff writer

Ronieka Burns is living the American dream, but it's not easy.

A single mother of a 10-year-old daughter, Burns earns $13.36 an hour performing such tasks as changing sheets and drawing blood as a health care technician at Strong Memorial Hospital. Balancing work and family is difficult, but Burns feels good about the path her life has taken.

The 26-year-old city resident is active in her church and the local NAACP and is studying to become a registered nurse. Her daughter, Jahmanique, is happy and doing well at School 9 on North Clinton Avenue.

It's a much different version of a story that's often told about young, unmarried mothers in America's cities. And Burns said the fact that she's part of a labor union is a major reason why.

Members of Service Employees International Union Local 1199 have provided stability that other people might get from friends or family when times are tough, Burns said. They're a safety net that helped her advance in seven years at Strong.

"They have my back," said Burns. "It's a lot of obstacles (in life), and the union gives you someone you can go to when you need help. When you're on the outside, you're on your own."

Much has changed with the U.S. economy and organized labor since 1894, when Congress established Labor Day as a national holiday to honor the contributions of workers. But the fundamental role of unions in Rochester and across the country has not changed from the days when labor fought to establish an eight-hour work day.

"The promise of America is equal opportunity for everyone. If you're honest and hard-working, you should be able to live in dignity," said Jim Bertolone, president of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation. "Labor is still trying to provide all workers with that opportunity to live in dignity."

Globalization is among the biggest changes labor has faced as manufacturing jobs traditionally the core of the organized work force have moved to other countries, said Ilene DeVault, a professor of labor history at Cornell University.

Even as they have fought against free-trade agreements, labor leaders have worked to find other sectors of the economy to represent. As a result, unions such as the United Auto Workers include service workers at Cornell.

"It used to mean something to say you were called the United Auto Workers," DeVault said. "But as heavy industry started closing down, the unions looked to the service industry."

This change has also led to union consolidations. The merger of the United Needlethreaders, Industrial and Textile Employees with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, for example, created UNITE HERE, the union currently trying to organize workers at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Rochester.

Bertolone said the shifting economy has changed the makeup of local unions, but the overall membership has remained steady in recent years.

The labor federation, a chapter of the AFL-CIO, represents about 100,000 workers in an 11-county region. Of those, about 65,000 are employed in Monroe County. Bertolone said those numbers haven't changed much in at least five years.

"What we're losing in manufacturing, we're making up in health care and education," he said.

But Bruce Popper, vice president of SEIU 1199, said growth is stunted by employers who thwart worker unionizing.

"We're growing, but not at the rate that we think is necessary," said Popper, who said the relatively low wages of many health-care workers underscore the need for stronger unions. "We're growing in an industry that is growing faster. ... The deck is stacked against workers."

Chuck Murphy, associate vice president of human resources at Strong, said his office has a good relationship with the SEIU, which represents about 1,400 workers at the University of Rochester's Medical Center and River Campus.

He said the university has worked with the union to win state grants for employee training and lobby against budget cuts that would hurt teaching hospitals.

Still, the university and hospital have a history of contentious contract negotiations with the SEIU. Like many employers, Strong administrators have philosophical disagreements with their unions, Murphy said.

"We certainly believe there is little need for a union here, but since it's here, we respect the work it does to represent its members," Murphy said. "That's a common-sense approach to doing business with unions. We each have a mission, and we each have to be respectful of the other side."

Like many union leaders, Popper is pinning his hopes for the future success of organized labor on a bill pending in Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act. It would toughen penalties for violating employee rights in unionizing, provide for arbitration of deadlocked negotiations on first contracts and let a union become employees' exclusive representative without an election if a majority authorizes it in writing. The bill has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate.

Jeff Cowie, who also teaches labor history at Cornell, said the measure appears to have little chance of passage in the near future. Until then, unions will struggle, he said.

"Unions are in the pre-New Deal days in terms of power and organization ability," he said. "It's the bad old days for unions."

PFLANIGA@DemocratandChronicle.com