New Union Calls Foul in Struggle To Represent Calif. Health Workers
A California-based startup union is accusing the Service Employees International Union of improperly pressuring voters during a recent election to determine which union would represent 10,000 home health care workers in Fresno, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Background
The charges are the latest volley in an ongoing conflict between the National Union of Healthcare Workers and SEIU (Maher, Wall Street Journal, 11/12).
In January, SEIU took over the Oakland-based United Healthcare Workers-West and removed Sal Rosselli as its president.
After the takeover, Rosselli and other former UHW leaders helped form NUHW as a rival union.
Since the formation of the new union, NUHW and SEIU have sparred frequently about which union will represent different groups of health care workers throughout California (California Healthline, 6/24).
Dispute Details
Although SEIU won the Fresno election earlier this year, NUHW says it has new evidence that SEIU officials intimidated voters. The new union claims SEIU organizers told health care workers that they could lose their wages and benefits if they voted for NUHW.
NUHW filed its claim last week with the California Public Employment Relations Board. The union is urging officials to disregard SEIU's victory and order a new election.
Steve Trossman, spokesperson for SEIU-UHW, dismissed NUHW's allegations as "absolutely false." He said SEIU officials did not violate the law or election rules (Wall Street Journal, 11/12).
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