CLEVELAND, Ohio -- More than 200 Teamsters who work as blood collection workers and mobile unit assistants for the American Red Cross in Northern Ohio announced Thursday that they intend to strike Feb. 14 over concerns about donor safety.
The workers, represented by Teamsters Local 507 in Cleveland, say they have been trying to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement for months, but the Red Cross is insisting on cutting health-care benefits and reducing staff to unsafe levels, the union claims. The local represents workers in a 19-county region.
"Our concern is donor safety," said Albert Mixon, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 507. "Teamsters have served our great community for years as steadfast workers at Red Cross. We are operating blood drives at high schools, community centers and hospitals every day. But now Red Cross' blood services division wants to cut staffing levels to the point where donors should be concerned for their safety."
The jobs of Teamsters who work as blood collection and mobile unit assistants have become increasingly difficult with continued staffing cuts, they say, and the Red Cross is seeking even steeper staffing cuts to what they describe as dangerous levels. Additionally, the organization is seeking reductions in workers' health-care benefits, claiming the reductions are necessary to keep profits flowing.
"Red Cross needs to respect donors before dollars," said Safeyyah Edwards, a Red Cross instructor on blood collection who has worked there for the past 10 years. "They tell us the cuts are necessary to keep improving their profit margin. But we question why profits should come before donor safety."
The local is urging donors to consider other blood collection agencies in the Cleveland area should the strike take place.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.