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November 12, 2009
NEW BRITAIN — Calling last Friday’s Red Cross layoff “a bloodbath,” members of AFSCME Local 3145 said Wednesday that layoffs of Red Cross blood drive employees endanger the safety of the community.
Union members spoke during a press conference at Council 4 AFSCME union headquarters in New Britain. The conference came in the wake of Friday’s layoff of 22 workers in the Connecticut Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross — 19 are union members.
Local 3145 members have worked without a contract since April 26. Negotiations between the Red Cross and the union are scheduled to resume Sunday.
“Red Cross management is putting the community at risk by cutting the jobs of responsible, competent and caring employees,” said Christine Holschlag, a phlebotomist and local president. “We’re calling the Red Cross to discontinue practices that compromise security and safety of the blood supply and instead work with its front-line employees to identify creative solutions to improve conditions at the Red Cross.”
Holschlag said the union offered no alternatives such as furloughed days or voluntary layoffs.
“They were already laying people off while they were in discussion with us,” she said. “If production doesn’t pick up we’ve been told there will be further layoffs.”
Deena Staples, an apheresis technician, was among those laid off. She has worked for the Red Cross for more than 10 years.
“It breaks my heart to see that they are cutting front-line workers and undermining their first priority, which is to assure public safety,” Staples said. “We’re the professionals trusted by the public. We also organize blood drives. When the Red Cross cuts us, the public bleeds.”
Union members maintain the layoffs are part of a hard-line stance the Red Cross is taking with negotiations across the country, not a result of the drop in blood donations.
Donna M. Morrissey, director of communications for the American Red Cross Blood Services, said she looks forward to the negotiations. She insisted the Red Cross is committed to bargain with the union “in good faith to achieve a new agreement fair to all concerned. Our negotiations are made on the local level in the region because it better meets the local needs.”
Morrissey said the Red Cross adheres to regulations of the FDA as well as its own.
“We are nonprofit and humanitarian,” she said. “The safety of our donors is at the highest level of our commitment.”
Morrissey called Friday’s layoffs “purely a business decision based on our operations. Because of the decline in donations we could not maintain staff levels.”
One reason for the decline is the discontinuance of the Double Red Cell program that enables donatations of twice as many red cells during one visit while spending less time at the blood center. The Red Cross discontinued its Red Cell program which represents an annual loss of 18,000 red cell products.
“We hope to continue to collect double red cells and then adjust staff accordingly,” Morrissey said.
She explained that the Red Cross stopped the program because AFSCME had contacted the state Department of Health to raise concerns about non-licensed staff performing double red cell.
“We feel our non-licensed staff can perform this work safely,” she said.
“This is retribution,” said Larry Dorman, AFSCME Council 4 spokesman. “We went to the (state) with legitimate concerns for the public’s safety. And, this is our payoff.”
State Sen. Donald DeFronzo, D-New Britain, implored the Red Cross to take another look at this situation.
“This is a labor dispute not unlike those that occur in state agencies. This is a manageable issue. It serves no purpose to cut back on blood collection and lay off people. I hope management will reconsider the layoffs,” he said.
State Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, a registered nurse, said “by your licenses and by regulations what you do is the responsibility of people with professional training, not people without professional training just because an employer finds it cheaper.”
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