Kaiser Roseville Workers to Vote in Union Election Re-do

August 19, 2011

The National Labor Relations Board has canceled the union election results last fall of 43,000 Kaiser Permanente service-technical employees across California, including 989 workers at Kaiser Permanente Roseville. In that statewide vote, Kaiser workers, 61 percent to 39 percent, chose to stay with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – United Healthcare Workers West instead of joining the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

However, in a 34-page decision, federal Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke ruled that SEIU violated workers’ rights on multiple counts. In one instance of “improper election conduct,” SEIU said that workers would have to give-away agreed-to wage and benefits gains if they voted for NUHW, action that Kaiser did in fact take, propelling a federal court to rule that the non-profit HMO repay with interest the affected employees.

“Kaiser’s ULPs [unfair labor practices] figured as silent, menacing reminders that Kaiser not only could, but already had, unilaterally withheld benefits when other employees had chosen to be represented by NUHW,” Parke wrote.

Read the full article at Roseville Patch.