May 18th, 2010
Monterey County Herald: Caregivers dump SEIU, vote to join new union
By Lane Wallace
Caregivers at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital have voted to leave Service Employees International Union and join the rival National Union of Healthcare Workers.
Results, announced Monday after three weeks of voting by mail, shows 408 votes for the health care union, 242 votes for SEIU, and 13 votes for no union. The local union represents more than 830 workers, including respiratory care practitioners, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, clerical workers and others.
May 18th, 2010
The Californian: Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital workers switch unions
By Kimber Solana
Caregivers at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital chose to switch unions following three weeks of voting, officials said Monday.
The group, which includes respiratory care practitioners, licensed vocational nurses, and nursing assistants, voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers and cut ties with the Service Employees International Union.
“We wanted to decide for us,” said Ernesto Gonzales, a nutrition service aide of 14 years experience who voted for the move. “We switched because [NUHW] are people that we know and trust. We didn’t want [SEIU] to take that away.”
May 18th, 2010
Nearly 900 more hospital workers join NUHW at Salinas Valley Memorial
Caregivers at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital voted by a landslide to join the NUHW for a stronger voice in bargaining. 408 votes for NUHW, 242 votes for SEIU, and 13 votes for No Union were counted this morning after three weeks of voting by mail. [Read more] The next election will be in Los Angeles, […]
May 18th, 2010
Nearly 900 caregivers join NUHW at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital
Workers vote overwhelmingly for a stronger voice to improve patient care
Salinas, Calif.—Caregivers at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital have voted by a landslide to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and end their membership in the SEIU.
Workers say they chose NUHW to have a stronger voice in bargaining, and to unite with the 50,000 Kaiser Permanente workers who are also organizing to join NUHW and will call for their own election this June.
“SEIU was more interested in our dues than our needs and concerns,” said Yolanda Zazueta, a certified nursing assistant at the hospital for more than 22 years. “NUHW is run by healthcare workers and experienced union negotiators with a strong track record of improving patient care and winning the best hospital wages and benefits in California.”
May 17th, 2010
Washington Post: Union leader Stern leaves with questions over spending
By Alec MacGillis
In celebrating her election last weekend to head the Service Employees International Union — the nation’s fastest-growing and most politically active labor organization — Mary Kay Henry vowed to “build on the success” of Andrew L. Stern, the charismatic, ambitious labor leader who is taking his influence to new arenas, such as President Obama’s deficit commission.
But the state of the union Stern is leaving behind is more mixed than Henry let on. Even as Stern turns to the nation’s spending problem, his own union’s spending — notably the multimillion-dollar tab from internal battles he has waged — is drawing sharp criticism from within the labor movement. Stern has expanded his union, but his decisions have left it and the labor movement as a whole financially strapped, according to disclosure reports.