Nurses' Strike Drags on in Appalachia
Labor strife is as familiar in these Appalachian hills as poverty and poor health. Blevin's own Harlan County, home to several century-old coal-mining communities, has a history of violent labor fights. Attempts to organize miners in the 1930s drew national attention to "Bloody Harlan."
The contract rejected by the nurses would have increased insurance
premiums for families, eliminated a policy of paying nurses 40 hours of pay for
36 hours of work and reduced holiday pay from double-time to time- and-a-half.
The pay range for ARH nurses is $47,000 to $65,000 - far above
the $39,000 median household income in Kentucky. In Appalachia, more than a
quarter of the population lives below the federal poverty level. Few other jobs,
beyond coal mining, offer better wages or compensation, Troske said.
It is shameless that workers should have to work 40 hours to get paid for 40 hours work instead of getting a bonus of 180 - 200 extra paid hours per year. That's like only getting up to 5 weeks of paid vacation while also getting paid to do your job. Besides, it's only a piddling free $6,500.00 per year. That hardly covers tips at the Huddle House and dry cleaning. How fair is that?
Don't even talk about only getting time and a half at holidays when you deserve double over time? You must be getting cheated. Everyone should get double time. The FLSA be damned. It is your right to get twice your normal pay just for hanging around.
I can't believe you have to pay more in health premiums like everyone else, except Congress, in the country. That's like making auto workers pay the higher cost of gas today! Or coal miners having to pay more for heat because they priced the cost of labor out of sight. On the other hand, though, there are those unfeeling people that might say that not only are you letting sick people and their families down, but you might also be one of the reasons you have to pay higher health premiums. Whatever.
Bloody Harlan's new call might be "Remember the bedpans". At $31.25 per hour, you better remember the bedpan. At $62.50 per hour, it better be as warm as a chestnut this holiday.
