Narrow and Contested Victory for NUHW in California

In a narrow victory, on Friday, caregivers at Santa Rosa Memorial hospital, led by former SEIU member Sal Roselli, voted to join (NUHW) the National Union of Healthcare Workers, possibly ending a six-year struggle.

                                                Sal Roselli

The six year fight was not only between the workers and management, but was marked by protracted legal battles between SEIU and NUHW. The fight between the two million strong SEIU and the almost non-existent NUHW  drew national attention last year after political leaders and religious leaders rallied with caregivers at the motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, the founding order of St. Joseph Health System, which owns Memorial.

After several years and under growing pressure from the community, the hospital agreed to negotiate with workers’ representatives to establish ground rules for a free and fair union election.

It was a narrow victory, but after six years and massive efforts by SEIU the win was telling. The vote was 283 for NUHW, 263 for No Union, and 13 for SEIU.

On Friday night SEIU, as of 7:00 p.m. was trying to stop the labor board from certifying the results. In question were Seventeen ballots cast by workers not on the board’s list of eligible voters.

SEIU wants those ballots counted in case the “No Union” would be enough to trigger a runoff. 263 against, add 17, if all the votes were for “No Union”, you get 280, I am not sure how this would still not be a loss for SEIU.

If there are any labor law readers out there, please comment on how this would work.

April 2009. A majority of Memorial caregivers petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for an election to join NUHW. The election was delayed more than five months to resolve “blocking charges” filed by SEIU. Thelabor board denied the charges and SEIU then gained a spot on the ballot.

The rival Unions could not reach an agreement on ground rules which delayed negotiations. During the delay, hospital management mounted an aggressive, and possibly illegal anti-union campaign.

Religious leaders, the North Bay Labor Council, and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich asked SEIU to negotiate ground rules, but were rebuffed.
 
NUHW has filed labor Board charges against both the hospital and SEIU. SEIU has counter charges still pending against NUHW. This won't be over quickly as SEIU sees this loss as the first dominoe in a long line.


SEIU gauged the lack of support for wearing the purple correctly and sent employees mailers and visited them constantly at home and at work, urging them not to vote for NUHW, claiming the rival Union was not in their best interest.


If this election victory for NUHW with 600 workers is certified it will have little effect on SEIU, but if next month when more than 2,300 Kaiser Permanente professionals in Southern California vote whether they want to remain with SEIU or quit and join NUHW, SEIU loses it opens the door to further pending elections that could potentially affect elections affecting up to 100,000 workers at facilities across California.

It seems such a waste of resources. We are Union members and we should have been able to negotiate something that did not lead to this internal warfare. SEIU is having continuing success in California taking on the government over furloughs, shut down days, and lay offs. Just think how much more could have been done if we could remain united.



Enter your Email





Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Related articles by Zemanta

• Matthew Kaminski: California Labor Wars (online.wsj.com)
• SEIU tantrums in San Francisco (michellemalkin.com)
• Unions Battle Over Health Workers (online.wsj.com)