October 21st, 2009
Sonoma Co. providers and Supervisors blast rigged vote on all-takeaway contract
SEIU officials used security guards, voter suppression, and lies to force homecare workers to ratify a secret agreement with Sonoma County that contains nothing but takeaways. Click here to read more. SEIU rigs Sonoma County vote to force homecare workers into all-takeaway contract
October 16th, 2009
“Under Trusteeship,” by Ellen Dillinger
“Under Trusteeship” is the latest cartoon by Ellen Dillinger, a transcriptionist in Radiology at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. Click the small version below to view it full-size. To read more workers’ voices, visit the Our Voices page.
October 14th, 2009
Workers vote at Providence Tarzana—but SEIU wants to bury the ballot box
Tarzana caregivers support their co-workers in EVS voting to join NUHW TAKE ACTION:Tell the NLRB tocount the votes EVS workers at Providence Tarzana are voting right now to join NUHW—but SEIU is having the ballots locked in a safe immediately after the election, to hide the result from workers and the public until the labor […]
October 14th, 2009
SEIU blocks ballot count in workers’ first union election
Faced with third win in three weeks by independent union, SEIU officials try union-busting
Tarzana, Calif.—Environmental services workers at Providence Tarzana Medical Center are voting today in a government-supervised election to form their first union, despite a last-minute effort by SEIU to stop them. SEIU’s latest request to block the election was rejected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday, but ballots will be held and not be counted until the board resolves a string of frivolous “blocking charges” that SEIU filed to delay the vote.
The 54 workers are employees of Crothall, a subcontractor at the hospital. A majority intend to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), an independent union founded by SEIU reformers that sparked a mass exodus from the troubled union.
October 12th, 2009
North Bay Business Journal: Healthcare unions clash at Memorial Hospital
Memorial Hospital center of spat between SEIU, new group; election in balance
SANTA ROSA—With a six-year unionization effort at stake, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has become a battlefield in a rivalry between national labor giant Service Employees International Union and a fledgling group of its former Northern California leaders.
In April, local hospital workers were on track to schedule a union election under a petition with the new group, the National Union of Healthcare Workers. But at the final hour, SEIU intervened and stalled proceedings.
The National Labor Relations Board granted SEIU’s request to also be on the ballot, but then the union’s officials twice filed complaints that further delayed the vote for five more months. During that time, SEIU organizers flocked to the Santa Rosa hospital to campaign, according to interviews with several workers.
Now, in a break with normal policy, a top regional labor official said last week that, despite the outstanding SEIU allegations, the federal agency intends to schedule an election following an Oct. 19 hearing.