>From the Girl in the Photo at Dearborn, Michigan
I am an organizer with SEIU 1199 WOK who was at the protest in Dearborn. I am from a union family. My dad is a nurse, and an SEIU member. I have seen my picture posted on the internet today, and used against me, my union and the people I care about. I want to tell you my story.
I have worked on the campaign to help CHP workers win fair organizing rules from their boss since I started working at the local in June, 2005. Knowing what it meant for the caregivers, housekeeping staff, maintenance workers, and all the other people I know who have been fighting for their union for three years – to watch that all go up in smoke due to the unprincipled union-busting of Rose Ann Demoro's CNA was just beyond upsetting. I drove up to Dearborn, Michigan to protest the fact that an organization that says it's committed to union democracy was honoring the architect of this union-busting as the keynote speaker at their banquet. And I wanted the real union people at the Labor Notes conference to hear what happened in Ohio, not the barrage of lies the California Nurses Association keeps putting out everywhere.
On the bus on the way to the rally, bus captains read a set of ground rules stressing our total commitment to non-violence. I planned on walking into the meeting room and protesting the CNA's union busting in Ohio. Our group included many women and a lot of people brought their children. None of us imagined we would be assaulted by the men at the Labor Notes conference!
Once I was off the bus, we marched up to the locked glass doors and chanted. My sign was pressed up against the glass and I was watching a group of people with Labor Notes name tags pool together to watch us. We were all pressed up there for about a minute when someone opened the doors. I entered through the second set of doors and was heading toward the banquet room. Our plan, and my own goal, was to march peacefully into the board room and support our CHP Sisters as they spoke and handed out literature about their stolen right to vote for their union.
However, the CNA's supporters in the room ran out to confront us and used physical force to prevent our group from entering the ballroom and voicing our dissent. After only a few feet I found myself dodging out of the way of getting tackled. They started to attack us. I ran past about three men who tried to stop me by tackling me. I was about 10 feet away from the ballroom room door at the point that I was slammed into the ground. A man twice my size tackled me (a football tackle) and used his weight to hold me on the ground to prevent me from reaching the door. My head slammed into the floor and I could hardly breathe from the impact. I am only 115 pounds so to have a man twice my size tackle me like a linebacker was something I never expected. Frank Hornick, another 1199 WOK staffer, came to my aid. The widely circulated photo of Frank (http://labornotes.org/files/images/seiuprotest.280.jpg) was taken moments before he helped me – what you can't see in the picture was me on the floor being pinned down in front of Frank. Then all I could see were the shoes of the man that was trying to hold Frank back from freeing me. Frank pushed the guy off of me and I was able to take two steps forward until I was thrown on the ground again. Another man grabbed the hood of my sweatshirt and ripped me down on the carpet. My skull hit the ground before my feet did. I couldn't breathe again.
The neck of my sweatshirt was used to ground me. It was strangling me. He had a Labor Notes badge on, which is all I could see from the ground. My throat ached, and my necklace cut my neck. My hand was gashed and bleeding. I just remember pain after that. An organizer (and former member), Pam Callaham, pulled me back up off the ground by holding on to both of my shoulders. Once I was up again it only took a couple steps to be at the door.
Two days after this happened, I feel like I was run over by a truck. I still want to speak out about the CNA's union-busting. I won't be scared off by these thugs. I still want the Labor Note people to know who they invited to speak to them. Rose Ann Demoro – the union-buster.
But talk about adding insult to injury. Right now, I just want to scream. A photograph of me being assaulted by them, and yelling out in pain has been posted on the web by CNA bloggers as fake evidence of OUR treatment of women! I believe it was taken in the moment the Labor Notes or CNA man grabbed my hood. He's behind me in the picture. (He did it from behind, I never saw his face, just his badge.)
They put the picture here, along with the photo of Frank trying to get to me while I am laying on the ground. http://www.flickr.com/photos/17855870@N05/241134810
So, that's the story of the girl in the photo. Hurt or not -- I will not be silenced by the California Nurses, Labor Notes or anyone else.
Rachael A. Holland Organizer, SEIU/District 1199 WV/OH/KY
