United Healthcare Workers West Demands Secret Vote

Last week, the Service Employees International Union gave United Healthcare Workers West five days to agree to a merger in which 65,000 of its members would join members of two other California local unions to create a new local for long-term health care workers or be subject to trusteeship. In a letter to SEIU on Monday, UHW said it would agree to a merger only if its members were allowed to participate in a separate secret-ballot election, rather than a group mail-in vote.

• "United Healthcare Asks SEIU for Secret Vote" (Larubbia, Los Angeles Times, 1/27).
• "Healthcare Workers to SEIU: Let Us Decide on Representation" (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/26).