After Nearly 2-year Delay, Election Date Scheduled at Sutter Solano Medical Center
Workers supporting NUHW will challenge SEIU for representation
Vallejo, California — Sutter Solano Medical Center caregivers won a major victory today with the scheduling of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)-administered election between two rival unions, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). The election will cover over 200 service and technical employees and will take place at the hospital on January 7th, 2011.
A majority of Sutter Solano employees submitted petitions for an election with the NLRB in February of 2009. They have been waiting for close to two years for the opportunity to cast ballots to switch out of SEIU-UHW, the union that currently represents them, and into the recently-founded NUHW, as SEIU-UHW officials have filed frivolous legal objections with the NLRB to delay the election.
“SEIU delayed our election for almost two years, thinking we’d give up,” said Michelle Stover, a Sutter Solano employee in the Medical Records Department. “But we’re readier than ever to vote for NUHW! It’s time for us to regain control over our union, our contract, and our workplace.”
Sutter Solano Medical Center is one of several Sutter-owned hospitals whose workers petitioned for elections nearly two years ago. Workers at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and the multi-campus California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco have also been waiting since February 2009 for the NLRB to dismiss SEIU’s blocking charges and schedule elections.
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