Speaking Up for the Mentally Ill & Themselves
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
All they wanted was better living conditions for the mentally ill under their care, and some dignity for themselves as patient care workers. Faced with retaliation by management, however, more than 50 employees of the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center (BHC) here took to the streets last November to raise public awareness of their plight.
The employees — members of Missouri Council 72 — are just a few of the state's 5,000 direct care workers, employed by the state Department of Mental Health and Veterans Commission, who are seeking a first contract. Last July, as they prepared for those negotiations for the first time since collective bargaining became a legal right in 2001, the BHC workers began building support for improvements they planned to seek at the bargaining table.
They gave legislators tours of the facility and expressed their concerns about short-staffing, high turnover and employee safety in dealing with patients. One representative subsequently wrote a scathing letter to the governor demanding improvements.
In retaliation, management tried to deny workers access to union representation, which they have had for 25 years. Administrators demanded that shop stewards leave the grounds 15 minutes after the end of their shifts, refused to let them leave their stations to represent co-workers and denied them time to attend union meetings.
So the employees took to the streets, joined by members of the Workers' Rights Board of St. Louis Jobs With Justice. Together, the groups gained the notice of the news media and sympathy from the public. "It is our responsibility, as front-line state workers and union members, to bring quality-of-care problems to the attention of our supervisors, legislators and communities," direct care worker Keith Jackson, president of Local 2730, told a newspaper reporter.
The workers' dedication to their patients overwhelmed management's anti-union strategy and re-established union activity at the facility. In January, they again demon- strated their strength when 100 workers attended a bargaining session despite management's threat to cancel it if anyone other than the bargaining-team members showed up. Negotiations are continuing.
