January 11th, 2010
Beyond Chron: New Documents Explain SEIU’s Wrong Turn
Newly discovered documents reveal that SEIU carried out its intended strategy in attacking UNITE HERE, but that its plan was flawed from the start. From wrongly believing that the entire labor movement could be turned against UNITE HERE (the opposite occurred), to thinking that a “field” campaign of robo calls and mailers to UNITE HERE members would turn them against their own union (the strategy backfired), SEIU’s newly revealed seven point plan exposes a union once known for its savvy “Justice for Janitors” campaigns but whose leadership has taken a wrong turn.
Instead of researching facts, soliciting broad input, and carefully deliberating over a decision that could weaken SEIU nationally and in its California battle against rival NUHW, a handful of SEIU leaders moved quickly to mount an aggressive campaign against UNITE HERE that never had a chance of success. SEIU now faces an estimated 100 elections involving 20,000 workers against rival NUHW in the first five months of 2010, and a June contest for 45,000 workers at Kaiser Hospitals. SEIU’s misguided war on UNITE HERE, and its ongoing strategic deficiencies, could soon cost it dearly.
January 7th, 2010
Suzanne Gordon: Why Kaiser RNs should back NUHW (Beyond Chron)
(Ed note: A two day election starts today at Kaiser Sunset Hospital in Los Angeles, where nurses will be deciding whether to leave SEIU and join NUHW. Suzanne Gordon has written or edited eight books about nursing and health care, and recently published a study of the Kaiser labor-management partnership called Healing Together)
RNs today face mounting difficulties. Hospital budget-cutting is once again eliminating the jobs of nurses and increasing their workloads — a trend that may only get worse due to the troubled state of our local economy and “health care reform” in Washington that may fall short of our hopes and needs.
Even at a health care employer as heavily unionized and profitable as Kaiser, we see the danger signs: cost-cutting that could lead to under-staffing and erosion of quality patient care. At such a critical moment, nurses need an organization that can advocate effectively for their own interests and those of their patients.
January 6th, 2010
AUDIO: Voting underway for 2,300 Kaiser professionals to quit SEIU and join NUHW
Election includes 900 registered nurses at Kaiser’s largest L.A.-area hospital and 1,400 professionals across Southern California
Local audio clips and photos:
San Diego: Jim Clifford, Therapist, Kaiser San Diego
[Photo | MP3]
Los Angeles: Tessie Costales, Registered Nurse at Kaiser Sunset/LAMC
[Photo | MP3]
Inland Empire: Marty Needleman, Psychiatric Social Worker, Kaiser Fontana
[Photo | MP3]
Bakersfield: Stacy Eldridge, Registered Dietitian, Kaiser Bakersfield
[Photo | MP3]
Southern California—Healthcare professionals at nearly one hundred Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics are voting today to switch unions. They say their old union, the Service Employees union or S-E-I-U, has shut them out of negotiations with employers—and cut deals that hurt healthcare workers and their patients.
The 2,300 workers include registered nurses, therapists, dietitians, and psychiatric social workers across Southern California. They’re part of an exodus of more than 100,000 S-E-I-U members who are organizing to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers, or N-U-H-W.
December 30th, 2009
Press Democrat: Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital challenges union election
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has asked the National Labor Relations Board to nullify the union election held at the hospital two weeks ago.
In a formal objection, the hospital claims the National Union of Healthcare Workers engaged in coercion and intimidation that prevented “the free expression of the employees choice.”
The NUHW dismissed the move, calling it an effort to discredit an election the hospital knows it lost.
December 28th, 2009
Why we’re voting NUHW
Hear why members and leaders of the Healthcare Professionals Chapter, Psych-social Chapter, and American Federation of Nurses are voting NUHW to take back our union. Have questions about the election for Kaiser professionals? Get answers.