December 11th, 2009
Clergy and political leaders to monitor election campaign at Memorial Hospital
Fr. Ray Decker of Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice announces the Fair Election Oversight CommissionA group of prominent political leaders, scholars, and religious leaders have formed a commission to protect workers’ rights in the hotly contested Dec. 17 union vote at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The 17-member Fair Election Oversight Commission includes Santa Rosa City […]
December 10th, 2009
Clergy and political leaders to monitor union election campaign at Memorial Hospital
Councilmember Jacobi and others will investigate workers’ reports of intimidation and deceptive campaigning
Santa Rosa, Calif.—A group of prominent political leaders, scholars, and religious leaders have formed a commission to protect workers’ rights in the hotly contested Dec. 17 union vote at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
“The reports we’ve been hearing from workers at the hospital are truly disturbing,” said Monsignor John Brenkle, pastor of St. Helena Catholic Church and a co-chair of the new Fair Election Oversight Commission.
“SEIU has prevented any ground rules from being set, and workers are facing a hostile atmosphere in what should be a place of healing and caring,” he said. “When there is behavior by the hospital or by a union that interferes with their right to choose freely, we want workers to be able to report that to an independent body.”
December 10th, 2009
KRCB-FM: Memorial Hospital union vote
Charges and countercharges are mounting in the run-up to next week’s union representation election at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Father Ray Decker (right), who is active with the Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice group, says that while he and other clergy are pressing Memorial Hospital to take a more Christian stance toward the union organizing efforts of their workforce, they have no illusions about who they are actually speaking to.
December 8th, 2009
Empire Report: Memorial Hospital faces allegations as Workers Face Union Vote
Only days before Memorial Hospital’s workers vote on unionization, the hospital’s administration is facing allegations that it’s dishonoring and disrupting the workers’ right to unionize. Is the hospital dishonoring the respectful workplace principles its local diocese endorsed only two years ago?