Two Kaiser Permanente Units Vote for NUHW; One Unit Goes for SEIU
The National Union of Healthcare Workers has won two of three unit elections in a battle to represent nearly 2,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in Northern California, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
In one of the unit elections, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West defeated NUHW. According to the ballot count:
- Behavioral health services workers voted 603 to 196 for NUHW representation;
- Optical workers voted 154 to 142 for NUHW; and
- Medical-social workers voted 148 to 139 for SEIU-UHW.
Temporary Delay
SEIU-UHW temporarily delayed the vote count by claiming that the election could not take place because of an existing contract. The regional National Labor Relations Board in Oakland ruled that no contract prohibitions existed and ordered the ballot count to proceed.
SEIU-UHW then appealed the matter to the NLRB's headquarters, which denied SEIU's request to stop the election tally.
Other Recent Union Elections
The latest elections provide NUHW with about 2,000 new members, adding to the 2,300 Southern California Kaiser workers who voted to join NUHW in January 2010.
Last month, 43,000 Kaiser technical and service workers voted to remain with SEIU-UHW. NUHW has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results and redo the election (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/10).
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