September 14th, 2010
Democracy Now covers our Kaiser election
This morning, national TV and radio news program Democracy Now covered our election at Kaiser. A respected labor journalist untwisted the lies in SEIU’s campaign, and explained why so many of us are voting NUHW to give workers control of bargaining again. Please watch the show and share this link with every Kaiser co-worker you […]
September 13th, 2010
Let’s Vote! 6,000 Kaiser co-workers participate in statewide conversation
Click the play button above to listen to our fourth and final statewide phone conversation. The night before our ballots were mailed, more than 6,000 Kaiser co-workers joined to listen to reports from workers across the state who are ready to get out the vote for NUHW. We were also joined by United Farm Workers […]
September 9th, 2010
Huffington Post: NUHW v SEIU, Kaiser workers prepare to make history
By Shirley Nelson
As Kaiser workers forming NUHW, we’ve built a website called Kaisercoworkers.org, to answer all of those questions and more with documentation and clearly-explained facts. I encourage any Kaiser worker who wants to make an informed decision in our election to visit Kaisercoworkers.org today.
I tell my co-workers that I have a simple explanation why Kaiser workers should vote to join NUHW: the wages and health benefits we have earned over decades will only be safe from SEIU’s side deals when we get our union back under our control.
September 9th, 2010
Labor Notes: Decisive showdown which union will Kaiser workers choose?
By Mark Brenner
Alongside its take-no-prisoners organizing on the shop floor, SEIU is touting the two-year contract signed in June, which secured two 3 percent raises and left benefits and work rules largely intact. But many members worry their standards are still in jeopardy, because the contract establishes a committee to examine “cost containment” for health care benefits. Experts selected by Kaiser’s labor-management partnership, not members, will make recommendations on cuts, after the election, next May.
September 9th, 2010
Beyond Chron: SEIU Uses Fear, Lies, and Millions to Sway Kaiser Workers
By Randy Shaw
SEIU’s Kaiser campaign may be the most expensive political campaign (per voter) in United States history. The union spent $10 million on a much smaller Fresno home health care campaign in 2009, which used 900 staff compared to a Kaiser campaign force that increases to 2,600 this week.
Having analyzed SEIU’s Kaiser campaign, I believe a $40 million estimate is clearly reasonable. But even if SEIU only spends $20 million, this would still greatly exceed the massive campaign blitz of California’s Meg Whitman. Whitman has spent over $100 million to reach 17 million voters, while SEIU will spend 20-40% of that amount to reach an electorate, Kaiser’s 44,000 workers, that is 0.2% of the size.
That means SEIU is spending between $455-$910 per vote, the equivalent of Whitman spending between $7.7 and $15.4 billion to become California’s next Governor.