Author Archive

Daily Trojan: Controversy growing at USC Hospital

By LAURA CUEVA

Students and faculty members are protesting the university’s decision to hire a controversial employment consulting firm that many think will influence the votes of USC University Hospital labor workers, who are scheduled to vote on whether to switch labor unions or forgo a union altogether in mid-May.

NUHW RNs at Kaiser make more progress on staffing issues

Leila Valdivia, RN, Kaiser LAMC“We’ve gotten more done with NUHW and Kaiser in 2 months than we ever got done with SEIU and the LMP in the last 2 years.” On March 25, 2010, NUHW Stewards from Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center met with Debra Grant, Chief Nursing Executive, and received concrete commitments to improve […]

In These Times: SEIU vs. NUHW week one: plaintiffs make case, without evidence

By Carl Finamore

Is it unlawful for locally elected union leaders to vigorously defend their members even when in sharp conflict with the international union? This is the real issue posed. Allegations of fiduciary malfeasance only shroud widely differing concepts of union democracy. In that sense, this is fundamentally a political trial and not about misappropriation of funds.

It all started a few years ago, when UHW expressed disagreement with the international union’s proposal to unilaterally remove 65,000 long-term healthcare workers from the local without the approval of these affected workers.

Opposition began to fester because SEIU President Andy Stern sought to transfer these UHW members into a local headed by his close ally, Tyrone Freeman, who was widely thought to be corrupt and ineffective at improving workers’ wages and benefits. (Freeman is now under criminal investigation by federal authorities and has been removed from office.)

Recorder: Bad blood boils in union battle

Trial pits rebels against the SEIU

In the coming days, one of President Obama’s closest labor allies could take the stand in a fierce trial pitting the Service Employees International Union against a rebel breakaway.

But there’s a bit of a backstory between SEIU and the lawyer who would cross-examine SEIU President Andrew Stern.

Daniel Siegel, a politically active attorney with Siegel & Yee in Oakland, represents the National Union of Healthcare Workers. NUHW split off from SEIU last year, the culmination of a public struggle between Stern and NUHW President Sal Rosselli. Rosselli savaged Stem’s leadership, while Stern accused Rosselli’s local of financial improprieties, eventually imposing a trusteeship.

Beyond Chron: defying health care advocates, SEIU-UHW backs Sutter’s CPMC Mega-Hospital

By Randy Shaw

Breaking with a large coalition of community groups and citywide health care advocates, SEIU-UHW has agreed to publicly support Sutter Health’s controversial 550-bed CPMC mega-hospital planned for San Francisco. The proposed project has aroused widespread opposition among citywide health care advocates, as it is linked with Sutter’s plan to reduce acute care beds by 60% at its St. Luke’s Hospital in the city’s heavily Latino Mission District. This has spawned a broad “Coalition for Health Planning — San Francisco” to address principles of health justice and equity in the city.

In addition, a broad “Good Neighbor Coalition” (GNC) of groups including St. Anthony’s Foundation Medical Clinic, Meals on Wheels, and the Housing and Urban Health division of the city’s Department of Public Health have spent months preparing a Community Benefits Agreement to address the impacts of Sutter’s proposal. The GNC seeks to ensure that the project does not negatively impact the surrounding community, and “that medical services provided are accessible, affordable, and equitably distributed.” But even before negotiations could begin, SEIU-UHW cut its own deal with Sutter on March 11, 2010, unconditionally backing the project.