OPEIU International President Michael Goodwin and NY State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes Join OPEIU Local 212 Bargaining Committee in Negotiations with HealthNow New York, Inc.

Next Bargaining Session to be Held June 8 at 8:30 a.m.

BUFFALO, N.Y., June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, International President Michael Goodwin and New York StateAFL-CIO President Denis Hughes will join OPEIU Local 212's bargaining committee when it resumes negotiations with HealthNow New York, Inc., dba Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Western New York (BCBS of WNY) on June 8, 2011.

The agreement covering the 390 workers represented by Local 212 working at HealthNow NY, Inc. expired at 11:59 p.m. on April 25, 2011.  The parties had been meeting to negotiate a successor agreement since February.

Workers have been locked out since the contract expired, and the company plans to subcontract this work out of the region.

"Denis and I are joining the negotiating committee in order to express our dissatisfaction that a company that gets a substantial portion of its support from workers in the labor movement would lock employees out of work," said Goodwin.

"Our members recognize that the attack on working families and the middle class is in full swing and our management has joined the battle to steamroll over union members to get whatever they want, but our members refuse to accept having our jobs outsourced and dehumanized, so we will stand strong in protest of this lockout," said Local 212 President Caroline Muszynski.  "If we aren't working and being paid, we lose our ability to pay our bills and provide for our families. If we don't have money to spend we can't help our local businesses and neighbors keep their jobs, so everyone loses," she continued.  

Local 212 members provide customer service, process claims, reproduce documents and do other clerical and support work.  

ABOUT OPEIU

The Office and Professional Employees International Union represents more than 125,000 members in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. OPEIU represents employees and independent contractors in banking and credit unions, insurance, higher education, shipping, hospitals, medical clinics, utilities, transportation, hotels, administrative offices and more.

Professional organizations and Guilds affiliated with OPEIU are a diverse group that includes physicians, pharmacists, chiropractors, appraisers, podiatrists, clinical social workers, hypnotists, teachers and helicopter pilots.

SOURCE Office and Professional Employees International Union, AFL-CIO (OPEIU)