NLRB Upholds Pomona and Burbank Nurses’ Votes To Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board in the past week has upheld votes by nurses to unionize at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, the Los Angeles Times reports. The matter was brought to the NLRB after hospital administrators at both facilities appealed earlier decisions that favored the Service Employees International Union, the union that the nurses voted to join (Hymon, Los Angeles Times, 6/4). The regional office of the NLRB in March ruled that Pomona Valley administrators had failed to prove allegations that union organizers vandalized cars, threatened lawsuits and defaced property to influence the election (California Healthline, 3/14). In January, Providence St. Joseph, which had accused SEIU of voter intimidation and "interfering" with employees' ability to make "free and uncoerced choices in the election," lost its regional challenge to the election (California Healthline, 3/14). At Pomona Valley, nurses approved unionization on a 393-275 vote in September; nurses at Providence St. Joseph voted 270-223 to unionize. Administrators at both hospitals said that they accepted the NRLB's decision and will bargain in good faith with the union, the Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 6/4).
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