‘Slap in the face’: American Red Cross workers describe exploitative work conditions
Nearly minimum wage pay, chronic understaffing and
proposed healthcare cuts leave employees disgruntled
The Guardian
Michael Sainato
Tue 28 Dec 2021 05.00 EST
Workers at the American Red Cross charity
are speaking out about what they say is low pay, chronic understaffing, poor
working conditions throughout the pandemic and proposed cuts to their
healthcare.
“The morale is at an all time low in my 23 years of
history here,” said Darryl Ford, a collection technician at American Red Cross
in Warner Robins, Georgia, and president of local union branch USW L254.
He described Red Cross’ response to the pandemic as
business as usual, as the non-profit ramped up blood drives anywhere they were
able to hold them, since many typical blood drive sites closed when the
pandemic hit.
Ford also criticized the American Red Cross for doing
little to nothing to clarify to the public that the blood donation drives were
just testing for Covid-19 antibodies, not performing Covid-19 testing and
providing inadequate PPE to workers.
Due to the low pay, scheduling problems and working
conditions, Ford noted that American Red Cross in his region experienced
workers leaving throughout the pandemic.
“People are quitting,” added Ford. “It’s a slap in the
face to the employees for management to say ‘we’re going to cut your healthcare
and not pay you anything, while we’re going to work from home and be safe.’”
The Coalition of American Red Cross Unions, which
represents about 4,900 workers from 11 international unions at
American Red Cross across the US, is bargaining with
the American Red Cross over the national addendum to the unions’ contracts,
which expires on 31 March 2022.
The unions are pushing for wage increases, to preserve
existing healthcare plans and for solutions to address chronic staffing
shortages around the US.
The American Red Cross reported a revenue of more than $2.8bn in
the 2020 fiscal year and the CEO of the non-profit received a salary of more
than $700,000.
The majority of its revenue, approximately $1.73bn, went
toward biomedical services, the part of the organization that collects blood
donations and sells them to hospitals and healthcare providers. The American
Red Cross provides about 40% of
the nation’s blood supply.
Workers who collect and manage blood donations for the
non-profit continued working throughout the Covid-19 pandemic as essential
workers.
Alexis Zebrowski, a member of CWA Local 1118, worked as
an aide specialist at the branch in Albany, New York for one year before
quitting in November 2021 over the low pay around minimum wage, understaffing
and working conditions through the pandemic.
As an aide specialist, she collected platelet, plasma and
blood donations, conducted medical physicals of donors and took patient
histories and helped run blood donation drives, which she noted were
consistently understaffed and resulted in work shifts that went at least one
hour or longer past her scheduled ten-hour shift without being able to take
breaks.
“I can go work at any fast food restaurant and make more
money,” said Zebrowski. “I was sick of the pay and all the constant bargaining
and everything. The contracts still keep getting pushed out because they don’t
want to give us a raise or even acknowledge anything we do for the company.
It’s a slap in the face to work for the amount of money we are working for.”
She said the low pay and forced overtime led to worsening
understaffing through the pandemic, with management rushing new hires through
training and blaming existing staff when errors were made as a result.
“When we’re working, we’re expected to work at 100%, but
we never have 100% in return,” added Zebrowski. “We’re always forced to come
into work no matter what, sick or not, we were expected to be there. Otherwise,
we’d be fearing for our job because we’d be too worried about being written up
for attendance.”
Bobbie Terrell, a collections technician and member of
AFSCME Council 31 at a branch in Peoria, Illinois, criticized American Red
Cross for responding to chronic staffing shortages in her area by offering
$1,500 sign on bonuses for new hires and paying them higher wages, while the
only appreciation or benefit that longtime employees have received is pizza.
“The people they’ve hired since November are
significantly making more money than the staff who have been here for years,”
said Terrell. “That’s a major slap in the face to the current staff that have
worked through this whole pandemic and not been offered anything but pizza.”
She also expressed frustration with American Red Cross’s
proposal to cut the employees’ health insurance benefits, saying she is
concerned that cutting healthcare will worsen staffing problems. She also
criticized the organization for not paying workers to quarantine after being
exposed to donors or coworkers who test positive for Covid-19.
“Staff are being sent home for 10 to 14 days at a time,
unpaid,” added Terrell. “We’re on the frontlines doing the job for them of
collecting these life-saving products and basically they’re telling us that
it’s at our own risk.”
A spokesperson for American Red Cross claimed the
non-profit plans to offer wage increases and retention bonuses to existing
employees. But the spokesperson added that the group has not yet reached an
agreement with unions on the terms and how the raises will be implemented, in
addition to ongoing negotiations over healthcare.
They noted employees were provided with pay to quarantine
in Spring 2020 and from 21 November 2020 to 2 April 2021.
“Across the country, many employers are facing staffing
shortages as a result of pandemic employment trends and vaccination
requirements, which have exacerbated the challenges to recruit and retain
staff,” said the spokesperson. “Over the past few months, the Red Cross
actively recruited to fill vacancies on our biomedical services teams and have
made significant investments in additional resources and tools to seek out and
attract candidates, including new hire bonuses.”
The spokesperson added: “Our intention is to reach a fair
and amicable agreement with the Coalition of Red Cross Unions and all of our
local unions.”
Connecting the Dots:
Suzanne Nora
Johnson was a governor for the American
Red Cross and is a trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was
a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank) and
the Refugees International.
George Soros was
the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is
a director emeritus for Refugees International.
Steven E. Carr was
a director at Refugees International and a governor for
the American Red Cross.
Carol Ann Haake was
a director at Refugees International and a governor for
the American Red Cross.
Michael W. Hawkins is
a director at Refugees International and was a governor for
the American Red Cross.
Resources: Past
Research
Be Careful That Your
Donations Don’t End Up In The Wrong Hands (Past
Research on the American Red Cross)
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2022/10/be-careful-that-your-donations-dont-end.html
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