Red Cross Blood Workers Reach Tentative Labor Pact For Philadelphia Area
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Unionized workers and the local chapter of the Red Cross blood donation program have reached a tentative contract agreement, ending months of acrimony that included a three-week strike earlier this year (see related story).
The approximately 250 technicians and nurses were voting all day today on the tentative agreement after an eleventh-hour negotiating session on Wednesday.
Jeanne Oterson, of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees Union, says the three-year proposal will keep blood donor operations moving.
"The negotiating committee met all day, until 10 o'clock last night, to come up with a tentative agreement that they do believe will establish safer and better policies for workers at blood drives at Red Cross," she said today.
Contract talks originally broke down in May, which resulted in that three-week strike. Then a 90-day cooling off period went into effect.
Dividing issues included maintaining existing schedules, work shifts, and working conditions (see related story).
Reported by Kim Glovas, KYW Newsradio 1060
