Labor & Employment Law

SEIU loses big Kaiser units

Health care professionals at Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout Southern California voted to leave the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and join a new rival, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).

Let's just say the votes were not close.

NLRB will conduct more NUHW vs. SEIU elections at USC University Hospital.

NLRB Press release 01/26/2010:

NLRB releases vote count in California Kaiser election

(Revised to clarify that no decision has been made regarding future elections*)

LOS ANGELES -- Health care professionals at Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout Southern California voted to leave the Service Employees International Union and join a new rival, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, according to closely-watched election results announced today.

The election covered three bargaining units, including nurses, dieticians, psychiatric counselors and social workers, at the large Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center and 90 Kaiser facilities in the Southern California region. The counts for the three simultaneous elections are:

Registered nurses (21-RC-21157): NUHW 746, SEIU 36

Health care professionals (21-RC-21117): NUHW 189, SEIU 29

Psych-Social Service chapter (21-RC-21118): NUHW 717, SEIU 192

Elsewhere in California, the NUHW has petitioned the Agency to hold elections at dozens of health care facilities where workers are currently represented by the SEIU. SEIU has filed charges of unlawful conduct against NUHW and investigations of the charges by the NLRB General Counsel have blocked those elections. Those charges are currently under review.*

The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.

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Full post as published by Ross' Employment Law Blog on February 07, 2010 (boomark / email).