Author Archive

Workers at four more SoCal hospitals file petitions to join NUHW

Bob Hardebeck, Surgical Tech at Garden Grove Hospital “When SEIU agreed to subcontracting in 2007, we had to fight both SEIU and the employer for a year to protect our jobs and have a voice in our own contract. That’s why it’s so important for healthcare workers ourselves to control negotiations with our employers. In […]

SEIU forfeits first NLRB contest to NUHW

In the first contest between SEIU and the National Union of Healthcare Workers overseen by the NLRB, SEIU has abandoned its effort after failing to win any support among environmental services workers at Los Alamitos Hospital.

Employees of Los Alamitos Hospital subcontractor Hospital Housekeeping Systems (HHS) had never been part of a union before they filed petitions to join NUHW in March. Now that SEIU has withdrawn their effort to divide HHS employees, the workers will vote to choose between NUHW and “No Union” on Sept. 28.

Open letter to Leon Chow from community leader Warren Mar

Warren Mar is a longtime labor and community leader in San Francisco and a board member of the Chinese Progressive Association. Click the link below to read the text of his open letter to SEIU-UHW Homecare Division Director Leon Chow.

SEIU backs out of first NLRB election against NUHW

To avoid landslide defeat, SEIU asks labor board to remove them from ballot at Los Alamitos Hospital
    
Los Alamitos, Calif.—In the first contest between SEIU and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), SEIU has abandoned its effort after failing to win any support among environmental services workers at Los Alamitos Hospital.

“SEIU never intended to represent us, they just wanted to stop us from forming a union with NUHW,” said Mercedes Cornejo, a housekeeper at the hospital. “I can’t believe that so-called union leaders would try to stand in the way of workers like me who want a voice to protect our wages and jobs.”

Employees of Los Alamitos Hospital subcontractor Hospital Housekeeping Systems (HHS) had never been part of a union before they filed petitions to join NUHW in March. An election had been scheduled for May, but SEIU filed frivolous “blocking charges” with the NLRB to delay the election. When the NLRB lifted the blocking charge, SEIU petitioned for a spot on the ballot with signatures of support from only two workers.

Caregivers ask Supes to investigate secret union contract

SEIU-UHW stages first of three rigged votes to push through agreement kept secret from 5,000 homecare providers

Santa Rosa, Calif.—More than a dozen homecare providers spoke out in front of the Sonoma County Administration Building Tuesday morning, asking County Supervisors for help in finding out details of a secret union agreement by SEIU-UHW that could reduce their wages and benefits over the next two years.

“Our union should represent our best interests, but SEIU-UHW refuses to let us see the entire contract, just a summary before we vote on it,” said Arin Stevens, a homecare provider in Sonoma County for 22 years. “We worked hard to get these wages and benefits and don’t want them to be bargained away behind our backs.”