Americans Drown in Debt While Some Profit….And Other HPAE News
July 14, 2016
Americans Drown in Debt While Some Profit
While the booming debt collection industry typically reaps a 20 percent return on investment, Americans are drowning in debt from medical bills, student loans, mortgages, credit cards and car loans. One in ten working Americans between the ages of 35 and 44 are getting their wages garnished because of debt. And the pile-up of debt is causing many Americans to slip further and further into economic uncertainty and distress.
Inspira RNs Ratify Contract Settlements
Registered Nurses at Inspira Health Network voted to approve new three-year contracts which cover 1,300 nurses across four hospitals in the health system. Nurses represented by HPAE Locals 5131 and 5621 voted throughout the day on July 7 in favor of the contract settlements. The contracts include improved language on staffing, an agreement to maintain employment levels for Inspira-Woodbury nurses as Inspira builds a new hospital in Gloucester County, and annual across the board and step wage increases.
Support the Striking Trump Taj Mahal Workers
More than 1,000 of our UNITE HERE Local 54 brothers and sisters are on strike at the Trump Taj Mahal. These workers, and the community, are under siege by billionaire Carl Icahn, who took away their half-hour paid meal break after stripping them of health care and pension benefits. A rally will be held in Atlantic City on Thursday, July 21 to support the striking workers
Learn more about the rally and sign a petition to support the striking workers.
Unions Petition OSHA for Workplace Violence Prevention Standard
A coalition of labor unions have submitted a petition to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a comprehensive workplace violence prevention standard to protect healthcare and social service workers. HPAE Vice President Bernie Gerard noted that “current voluntary guidelines for violence prevention in healthcare have clearly not stemmed the rising tide of assaults on nurses and healthcare workers….That’s why HPAE joined with other national unions in petitioning OSHA for a clear standard. If we had an enforceable standard in place, instead of the long, drawn-out expensive appeals and delays by facilities like Bergen Regional Medical Center we would have been able to fix the problems and make our workplace safer.”
This Week in U.S. Labor History
A half-million steelworkers begin what is to become a 116-day strike that shutters nearly every steel mill in the country. Management wanted to dump contract language limiting its ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery that would result in reduced hours or fewer employees – July 15, 1959
Read about other important struggles and events in U.S. labor history which occurred from July 11 to July 17, provided by Union Communication Services (UCS).
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