Friday, April 30, 2010

Freedom Lives at Kaiser South Bay!

From a Reader:

SEIU failed in their feeble attempt to remove NUHW leaders from the South Bay hospital cafeteria last night.

NUHW leaders Derrell Joseph, Alice Porter and Deborah Darrington were meeting in the cafeteria tonight after work with NUHW organizers. Two SEIU stewards came into the cafeteria and told NUHW leaders "you have to leave. You're not supposed to be here. You can't talk to people in here".. Derrell, Alice and Deborah defended their rights ("We're not leaving. We're off the clock and you'll be going back to work"- and continued to sign workers on the NUHW petition and pass out NUHW leaflets. SEIU called security and sat down to wait (until they're break was over). Security first tried to remove us, but were advised to ask their boss about federal labor law and Kaiser policy. The guards came back and confirmed, "We've been told that you can be in the cafeteria!". We finished our meeting and got several more signatures.

Hallelujah, Democracy in action.

In all fairness to the stewards, they were just following directions from their SEIU union representatives. Earlier that day, SEIU rep Chante Barnes (remember her from her failed efforts in the pro election) wrote an email to the stewards advising them to stop NUHW leaders and organizers from talking to Kaiser workers.