December 19th, 2009
Memorial Hospital workers vote to join NUHW after six-year struggle
Caregivers reject a rival organization that stood in their way
Santa Rosa, Calif.—Caregivers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) today in an election victory that caps their six-year struggle to win a voice at work.
“We are all so excited to finally have a voice to make our hospital a better place to work and better for our community,” said Nancy Timberlake, a telemetry technician at the hospital. “We stuck together for six years and we finally did it. I’m so relieved and so happy that we won.”
The vote was 283 for NUHW, 263 for No Union, and only 13 for SEIU, a rival organization that tried to interfere in the election. Despite SEIU’s devastating loss, as of 7:00 p.m. Friday night they were still trying to stop the labor board from certifying the results. Seventeen ballots were cast by workers not on the board’s list of eligible voters, and SEIU wants those ballots counted in the hopes there will be enough “No Union” votes to trigger a runoff.
December 19th, 2009
Memorial Hospital workers vote to join NUHW after six-year struggle
Santa Rosa, Calif.—Caregivers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers today in an election victory that caps their six-year struggle to win a voice at work.
“We are all so excited to finally have a voice to make our hospital a better place to work and better for our community,” said Nancy Timberlake, a telemetry technician at the hospital. “We stuck together for six years and we finally did it. I’m so relieved and so happy that we won.”
The vote was 283 for NUHW, 263 for No Union, and only 13 for SEIU, a rival organization that tried to interfere in the election.
December 17th, 2009
Press-Democrat: Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital union vote starts today
Two competing unions, plus no-union option are on ballot at SR’s biggest hospital
By MARTIN ESPINOZA & Kevin McCallum
After almost six years of labor organizing, health care workers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital begin voting today on whether or not they should be represented by a union.
The two-day vote — in part a showdown between the Service Employees International Union and the break-away National Union of Healthcare Workers — could affect almost 700 employees at Memorial Hospital, including radiology and respiratory technicians, nurse’s aides, housekeepers, dietary workers and other positions.
“I’m so excited,” said Melissa Bosanco, a care partner in Memorial’s ontology unit and a supporter of SEIU’s rival union. She’s a member of NUHW’s organizing committee.
December 17th, 2009
Los Angeles Times: Hospital vote pits upstart union against colossus
After an intense campaign that has drawn nationwide attention, workers at Santa Rosa Memorial will choose between a new group and the giant SEIU. Or they may reject both.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Hundreds of workers at a Sonoma County hospital are scheduled to go to the polls today in a bitter and closely watched union vote pitting the giant Service Employees International against an upstart rival.
The balloting at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has drawn intense scrutiny in labor circles nationwide because of the nasty underlying conflict between the SEIU and its breakaway competitor, the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
December 16th, 2009
Labor Notes: Finally, NUHW Squares Off Against SEIU in Two Hospital Elections
Workers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital will vote between NUHW, SEIU and no union December 17 and 18. This election, along with a similar contest for 2,300 professional staff at Kaiser may be a bellwether for NUHW in 2010.
Nearly eleven months of courtroom stalling has slowed the upstart National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), but a break in the legal logjam may be coming—finally giving California’s health care workers the ability to choose their union.