August 15th, 2010
San Gabriel Valley Tribune: factious union dispute at Baldwin Park’s Kaiser Permanente
By Thomas Himes
A winner-take-all union campaign is leading to police calls and allegations of threats at the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center as labor unions compete for control of 43,500 employees throughout the state, according to authorities and officials.
Baldwin Park police have been left to referee factious protests, authorities and officials said.
The dispute is building up to a Sept. 13 election in which Service Employees International Union (SEIU) could lose control of 43,500 employees to the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), according to authorities.
“There are at least six or seven employees who had their cars vandalized over the past year,” said Fred Seavey, NUHW research director. “The level of threats that have been made against workers are so severe … they’re afraid to walk out to their cars alone.”
A Superior Court commissioner issued a restraining order against an SEIU organizer July 16 following allegations she made death threats against an NUHW supporter in the center’s lunch room, according to court documents and members of the NUHW.
August 12th, 2010
More SEIU stewards endorse NUHW
Kaiser San Jose NUHW Organizing Committee welcomes endorsement of SEIU stewardsSEIU stewards representing thousands of Kaiser workers in San Jose, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Walnut Creek, Gilroy, Tracy, Panorama City and Santa Rosa are uniting in support of NUHW. Savonnda Blaylock, a Pharmacy Tech at Kaiser Tracy resigned as an SEIU steward on August 6. She […]
August 11th, 2010
Huffington Post: labor legend Dolores Huerta rips SEIU for worker intimidation
By Ryan Grim
A legend of the labor movement stepped into the turmoil engulfing organized labor in California on Tuesday, pressing the new head of the Service Employees International Union to call off the war that has been raging on the West Coast over control of union workers.
In an open letter, Dolores Huerta wrote President Mary Kay Henry, thanking her for putting an end to SEIU’s “mistaken campaign of aggression” against UNITE HERE, but charging the union with “a coordinated effort by SEIU leaders in California to deny thousands of healthcare workers their federally-protected right to organize with the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).”
August 11th, 2010
Wall Street Journal: California’s union showdown
By MATTHEW KAMINSKI
Next month in California, nearly 45,000 Kaiser Permanente health-care workers will choose their union. America hasn’t seen a private-sector labor election this big since the United Auto Workers organized Ford in 1941. By the time ballots are cast, tens of millions will have been spent on a six-week campaign as brutal as any political race this year. At stake? No less than the future of America’s most powerful labor group, the Services Employees International Union.
August 11th, 2010
Huffington Post: an open letter to SEIU President Mary Kay Henry
By Dolores Huerta
Ms. Henry:
When I first learned you would become SEIU’s new President, I was filled with hope that you would change SEIU for the better. I am relieved that you have just last week signed an agreement to cease hostilities against Unite Here, putting an end to a mistaken campaign of aggression that put SEIU at odds with the rest of organized labor. You have said that reunifying our movement is one of your goals.
I believe that unity in the labor movement means putting our shared principles above our individual differences. And one of the most fundamental principles we share is that every worker should have the right to organize—to talk with her co-workers about the issues they share, to advocate for collective solutions, and to make the decision to join a union without threats or intimidation.
Yet, over the past month, I have personally witnessed a coordinated effort by SEIU leaders in California to deny thousands of healthcare workers their federally-protected right to organize with the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).