May 4th, 2012
Fresno Bee: Homecare union election battle on again
Fresno County’s 10,000 homecare workers could face a rerun of a bitterly fought union election to decide their representation if an effort for a new vote is successful.
But the bid for a re-election won’t come without its own fight.
Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers want to overturn a narrow win in 2009 by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers-West.
SEIU-UHW vows to oppose the attempt.
On Thursday, NUHW President Sal Rosselli said a decision by the California Public Employment Relations Board opens the door for a new election by homecare workers. “This election can be thrown out so workers can have a fair election to decide their own fate,” he said at a news conference outside the Fresno County Hall of Records.
The April 18 board decision overturns an earlier ruling by a board regional attorney who dismissed a complaint by the NUHW. The union had alleged election misconduct by SEIU, including voter intimidation, illegal threats and ballot manipulation.
“They organized a campaign of fear, intimidation,” Rosselli said Thursday.
Connie Lara, a former homecare worker who attended the news conference, said SEIU representatives “were very hateful” during the election three years ago.
May 3rd, 2012
SF Bay Citizen: Lawmakers Try to Limit Hospital Executives’ Pay Packages
California lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill that would require taxpayer-funded health care districts to restrict lavish payouts to executives. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Luis A. Alejo, a Democrat from Salinas, would prohibit health care districts from giving financial perks to retiring administrators that are not available to other employees. The hospitals could no longer make inflated lump-sum payments exclusively to executives based on their performance or years of service, for example.
“This bill creates fair pension systems within health care districts and would prevent health care districts from providing unfair pay packages to their top executives,” Alejo said at the hearing on Wednesday.
The legislation was approved by the A
May 3rd, 2012
NUHW members support bill holding hospital executives accountable
George Ross, LVN, SVMH 25 yearsNUHW is taking action in support of a bill in the California Legislature sponsored by Assemblymember Luis Alejo of Salinas that would limit hospitals’ ability to violate the public trust with excessive pay packages for executives. Assemblymember Alejo drafted the bill after NUHW members exposed gross financial mismanagement and exorbitant […]
May 3rd, 2012
Fresno Homecare Workers Speak Out on SEIU Election Misconduct
In lead up to major 2012 election at Kaiser, state agency rules that SEIU may have cheated in 2009 election for 10,000 Fresno workers FRESNO – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which was recently decertified by one group of Fresno County workers and is currently facing decertification efforts by two other groups, may have cheated […]
April 30th, 2012
SEIU gives up workers’ pension and health benefits at Daughters of Charity
My name is Suad Husary and I work at Seton Medical Center, a Daughters of Charity hospital in Daly City, just outside of San Francisco. Late Saturday night, SEIU-UHW agreed to major takeaways with Daughters of Charity that will eliminate our defined benefit pension, eliminate our fully employer-paid PPO plan, increase our out-of-pocket healthcare costs […]