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Beyond Chron: NUHW Wins Landslide Victory Over SEIU at Kaiser

In a stunning rebuke to SEIU, nurses and health care professionals at Kaiser Hospital voted overwhelmingly yesterday to leave SEIU and join NUHW. Nurses favored NUHW over SEIU 746-36 (95%), one health professional unit went for NUHW 189-26 (86%), and the other went for NUHW 717-192 (78%). The landslide victories likely foreshadow the complete shift of SEIU’s Kaiser workforce to NUHW when the rest of the bargaining units vote in June. Leila Valdivia, a Kaiser nurse who strongly backed NUHW, described the victory as being “like a big weight came off our shoulders. We gave SEIU a real spanking, and people were crying and hugging after the votes were announced.” NUHW’s Barbara Lewis, who coordinated the union’s Kaiser campaign, described the win as “a tribute to rank and file leadership that was heavily invested in a member-driven union. The workers organized around this vision, and sought a union that the workers would control, which was NUHW.”

In These Times: Will NUHW Election Win Spark Larger Exodus From SEIU?

A year ago, Service Employees union (SEIU) president Andy Stern took control of the 150,000-member California healthcare workers local, putting United Healthcare Workers West (UHW) into trusteeship. The ousted president, Sal Rosselli, and many other officials, staff, stewards and members then launched a new union, National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and filed many petitions to decertify UHW/SEIU and replace it with the new union.

But on the eve of the trusteeship anniversary, NUHW yesterday won a strikingly lopsided victory among 2,300 workers in three highly skilled units at dozens of Kaiser Permanente facilities in southern California. As reported on this site yesterday, registered nurses voted 746-36, psychiatric and social workers 717-192, and healthcare professionals (like dietitians) 189-26—all for NUHW over SEIU-UHW.

San Diego Union Tribune: Area Kaiser workers vote for new union

By Keith Darcé

Kaiser Permanente workers in San Diego County and other parts of Southern California have struck a blow against the Service Employees International Union by voting to leave the powerful organization and join a competing labor group headed by former SEIU leaders.

Results of the voting were announced yesterday, nearly a year after executives of SEIU offices in California were ousted by the union giant’s national president in a power struggle. The deposed leaders quickly formed a rival group, the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Photos: Kaiser workers win big

Dozens of Kaiser and hospital workers came to the Los Angeles labor board office to watch the ballot count and celebrate our victory together. Click here to watch the slideshow in a full-screen window.

KAISER WORKERS WIN BIG: 1,652 to 257

2,300 Kaiser professionals in Southern California have joined NUHW in a landslide election victory. NUHW statement | Year One report Los Angeles Times In These Times Sacramento Business Journal Labor Notes Beyond Chron San Diego Union Tribune