National labor and civil rights leader William (Bill) Lucy joined Resurrection Health Care employees, members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and community allies at a May 23rd rally to demand that West Suburban Hospital halt discrimination against minority employees.  After the rally, Lucy and representatives of the participating community organizations marched to the hospital to deliver a letter to West Suburban CEO Jay Kreuzer demanding an end to the discriminatory practices.  While a delegation went inside to deliver the letter, other participants lined Austin Boulevard in front of the hospital with signs reading "Justice at RHC", eliciting a tremendous amount of support from passing drivers. 

African American and Latino employees of the Environmental Services Department at West Suburban Hospital report that the department’s manager has discriminated against them in pay, work assignments, vacation time, work rules, and subjected them to racially disparaging remarks. 
  
“It is really disturbing to learn that in a religious institution that professes to honor the dignity of all, some workers are being treated differently because of the color of their skin,” Lucy told the rally.

Lucy is founder of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) and International Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), as well as a member of the national AFL-CIO executive council and the first African-American elected president of Public Services International, the world's largest labor federation. Lucy worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike and was instrumental in the anti-apartheid movement that eventually freed Nelson Mandela and led to the first democratic elections in South Africa.

“The work of the housekeeping staff is essential for the hospital to deliver quality care.  Whether it be thoroughly cleaning an operating room between uses, safely disposing of infectious waste, or moving heavy equipment, they are performing important jobs.  And the color of their skin, where they or their parents were born, or their culture does not – and must not – affect how they’re compensated and how they’re treated,” Lucy said.