June 18th, 2009
Business Journal: NUHW files charges against SEIU, BofA
The National Union of Healthcare Workers filed charges against rival union, Service Employees International Union and Bank of America on Tuesday, alleging violations of federal labor laws.
In the charges filed with the National Labor Relations board, Lawyers for the NUHW allege that Bank of America has opened a line of credit to SEIU totaling $88 million as reported in SEIU’s Labor-Management report.
June 17th, 2009
Charges filed with National Labor Relations Board against SEIU and Bank of America over “corrupt relationship”
Financial ties between bank and union likely violation of federal law
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lawyers representing the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) filed charges today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over financial ties between Bank of America and the Washington, D.C.-based Service Employees International Union (SEIU) that appear to be gross violations of federal labor laws. [PDF]
The charges allege that Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, whose 234,000 employees SEIU has taken steps to organize, offered SEIU at least $88 million in prohibited financial support in the form of loans. Federal law bars loans, gifts and other financial ties between employers and unions attempting to organize their employees. Unions that take money from the companies whose workers they seek to represent are considered “employer-dominated unions.”
June 16th, 2009
NUHW homecare providers and advocates call on Supervisors to stop the cuts and make sure Fresno gets fair share of federal economic stimulus
Fresno, Calif.—Before a vote by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors on its plan to cut homecare wages from $10.25 to $9.50 an hour, homecare providers united in the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) joined local homecare advocates in calling on the Board to call off the cuts and replace lost state funding with federal stimulus dollars.
“It seems like Fresno County is always overlooked when funding and resources pour into Los Angeles and the Bay Area,” said Sarah Jones, a Fresno homecare provider. “It’s not right that our elected officials would turn down federal funding that is ours to take, especially when it would fund a healthcare service that is so critical to our families and communities.”
June 13th, 2009
Factfinder upholds Fresno County homecare contract negotiated by NUHW leaders, despite SEIU-UHW’s mishandling of arbitration
Fresno, Calif.—An independent factfinder ruled on Friday against Fresno County’s proposed cuts to homecare providers’ wages, upholding the union contract first negotiated in 2003 by the leaders of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), even after SEIU-UHW’s new trustees failed to properly enforce the contract in a previous arbitration in May. NUHW leaders negotiated Fresno homecare providers’ first contract as well as the current contract while they were the elected leaders of SEIU-UHW, before a hostile takeover by SEIU’s Washington, D.C. office in January of this year.
“It’s a relief that the arbitrator this time acknowledged that the contract we won protects our wages,” said Flo Furlow, a Fresno homecare provider and elected leader of NUHW. “After SEIU took over our union in January, they locked me and every other worker who negotiated the contract out of the arbitration, and instead sent in Rebecca Malberg, an outsider from the East Coast who had never bargained a contract and never even witnessed an arbitration.”
June 8th, 2009
NUHW wins breakthrough homecare wage protection in Sacramento
Sacramento County Supervisor
Roger Dickinson“I thank the National Union of Healthcare Workers for their work to achieve this solution to save IHSS wages and benefits. I believe Sacramento County is ready to protect vital services for seniors and people with disabilities, as well as providers’ wages, with no added cost to the budget.”
Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson joined homecare providers and advocates today in announcing a breakthrough victory to protect homecare services in Sacramento County. At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Public Authority staff will recommend a budget package to preserve homecare providers’ wages at $10.40 per hour with all current health benefits.
Video: Frances Gracechild of Resources for Independent Living
The proposal is the result of weeks of grassroots advocacy by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) to maintain and improve wages and benefits for homecare providers using federal stimulus funds, and the Board of Supervisors is expected to approve it in a vote on Tuesday.