Workers of the world, forgive me

For those who like their irony applied with a trowel, here's a news item emailed to me by the Working Families Network:

More than 800 nurses at the Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) hospitals are fighting for the communities they serve—even as ARH tries to crush their spirit through intimidation and threats.

Legendary labor leader John L. Lewis started these hospitals to help sick miners. Now, the ARH nurses—members of the United American Nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia—are on strike because their managers’ policies are endangering patient care.

Lesson to be drawn from the weakening of unions over the last 50 years: Even those who do learn from history are sometimes doomed to repeat it anyway.

More on the strike and the issues surrounding it here, here, and here.