January 23rd, 2010
Baltimore Sun: UM professor reprimanded for apparent conflict of interest
He wrote legal opinion on university letterhead, did not disclose fees from union
A professor at the University of Maryland, College Park is facing conflict-of-interest questions after he used university letterhead to deliver a legal opinion in his role as a consultant to a labor union.
Fred Feinstein, an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy, wrote a letter saying that California health care employees could jeopardize their contract benefits if they left Service Employees International for a competing union. Feinstein received $240,000 in consulting fees from SEIU in 2007 and 2008, which he did not mention in the Jan. 12 letter that was distributed as a flier in the continuing union battle.
January 22nd, 2010
Press Democrat: Charges fly over union vote at Memorial Hospital
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and the National Union of Healthcare Workers have resolved the question of 17 ballots challenged after a union election last December — but that’s about the only thing they agree on.
Both sides recently signed off on a finding by the National Labor Relations Board that only four of the 17 challenged ballots are valid. But they have very different conclusions about what that means.
“We won our election,” said Melissa Bosanco, a care partner at Memorial Hospital and a NUHW supporter.
January 22nd, 2010
Memorial admits NUHW won majority; elected officials urge hospital to stop delays
Melissa Bosanco, Care Partner at Santa Rosa Memorial“There’s no question that my co-workers and I are joining NUHW. We voted NUHW because we want a voice to make our hospital a better place to work and a better place for our community to get care.” Management at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has agreed to accept […]
January 22nd, 2010
Memorial Hospital admits NUHW won majority in union election, agrees on challenged ballots
“Sour grapes”: With less than 3% of vote, defeated SEIU still trying to stand in workers’ way
Santa Rosa, Calif.—One month after a hotly contested union election at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, both hospital management and the newly-elected National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) have agreed to accept a determination by the federal government that resolves the question of 13 challenged ballots and gives the new union an absolute majority.
“There’s no question that my co-workers and I are joining NUHW,” said Melissa Bosanco, a care partner at the hosptial. “We voted NUHW because we want a voice to make our hospital a better place to work and a better place for our community to get care.”
January 22nd, 2010
NUHW asks labor board to schedule elections for all workers awaiting elections to quit SEIU
SEIU charged with abusing labor board’s process to block or delay elections for tens of thousands of healthcare workers
SAN FRANCISCO—A new charge against the troubled SEIU could result in long-awaited elections for workers at more than 80 hospitals and nursing homes across California to dump SEIU and join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).
Over the past year, 100,000 SEIU members have been organizing to join NUHW, a member-led union founded by California healthcare workers. To stop these workers from voting to leave, the SEIU has filed frivolous “blocking charges” with the labor board, arguing that it would be unfair for SEIU to face a democratic vote by its own members.
“Healthcare workers have chosen NUHW in election after election,” said Donna Mongelli, an RN at Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center. “That’s why SEIU is afraid of a fair vote.”