Teamster strike may cause blood shortage
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
By: Tom MacDonald
tmacdonald@whyy.org
Philadelphia blood banks and blood donation services are short on supply because of a strike among members of the union that transports the blood. Members of Teamsters Local 929 walked off the job at the American Red Cross Penn-Jersey Blood services region, citing problems with working conditions.
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Anthony Tornetta is Regional Communications Manager of the Red Cross. He says the walkout was unexpected.
Tornetta: We were very surprised when the union issued a strike notice after just one month of negotiations. In an effort to resolve the matter prior to the union's strike deadline, we the Red Cross gave the union a fair and competitive final contract offer which we had hoped would be ratified by the union members.
Tornetta says some blood drives could be canceled while the strike continues. Disaster services and other non-blood related Red Cross services are not affected by the work stoppage.