Labor Board Orders New Vote for Kaiser Union Representation

The National Labor Relations Board has thrown out the results of a 2010 election and called for another vote to determine union representation among more than 43,000 Kaiser Permanente workers, Bloomberg reports (Rosenkrantz, Bloomberg, 8/10).

Background

In October 2010, the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West defeated the National Union of Healthcare Workers in an 18,290 to 11,364 vote during an election to represent the Kaiser workers.

NUHW then challenged the outcome of the election.

Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke recently ruled that two actions provide the basis for recommending a new election. The two actions are:

• Kaiser's decision to deny pay raises to some NUHW members in April 2010; and
• SEIU-UHW's alleged warning that some Northern California Kaiser workers also could miss out on pay raises if they switched to NUHW (California Healthline, 7/19).

Kaiser and SEIU filed a grant motion with NLRB, agreeing to a new election. NUHW opposed the request.

Details of the Decision

NLRB's order, issued Wednesday, grants the joint motion. The case will move to the Oakland region for appropriate action (Verel, North Bay Business Journal, 8/10).

The date of a new election could be scheduled in the next few months (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 8/10).