SEIU Rallies Workers In Boston In Hospitals' Organizing Drive - 05/09/08

By Doug Cunningham

SEIU is fighting for thousands of Boston hospital workers who want a union to improve their working conditions, advocate for patients and secure good health care and retirement benefits. Mike Fadel is a Vice-President with 1199SEIU in Boston.

[Fadel]: “They're coming together to change that, to make life better for themselves, for their families, for their patients, and ultimately for the entire city. There's just a growing civic consensus among elected officials and community leaders that there's no reason for the hospitals to interfere with these caregivers' right to freely exercise their choice to form a union."

Hospital workers, SEIU, and the Boston Area Trades Council rallied and marched Thursday to support the union rights of tens of thousands of health care workers.

[Fadel 2]: “Essentially, they're calling for one thing, and that is for the hospital CEO's to agree to a free and fair election process so that those workers can join together freely of their own accord without management intimidation."