Like a bad case of food poisoning, workers at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (SVMH) are still feeling the after-effects of SEIU at their hospital. It turns out that SEIU not only agreed to cut 165 jobs at the hospital, they also allowed management to put another 40 workers on a two-week, unpaid furlough.This latest secret deal was revealed days after the labor board finally certified NUHW as the workers' new union. The 40 furloughed workers run a coffee shop in the hospital's lobby area, and hospital execs approached SEIU about furloughing them because management wanted to change the coffee shop's equipment.
Even a half-assed union would oppose such a request. Think about single parents struggling to pay their rent, bills, etc who and simply can't afford to lose a half month's pay. Once NUHW was certified, rank-and-file leaders demanded details about the furlough deal, and hospital execs produced emails showing how SEIU staffer Lauren Sullivan signed off on the furlough deal for SEIU.
At the same time, SEIU began sending robo-calls to SVMH workers' phones, telling them that SEIU plans to fight the labor board's decision to dismiss SEIU's bogus efforts to challenge the election results (in fact, the board has now dismissed SEIU's charges twice). SEIU's robo-call included a shameless effort to gather workers' personal email addresses. It said something like: "We want to stay in touch with you, so please send us your email address and we'll automatically enter you in a contest to win a brand new car!"
If SEIU's trustees never delivered even half-assed support to workers in their jobs, do you really think they're gonna send you a new car???
Meanwhile, check out some of the press on NUHW's demand that the hospital, which made $14 million in profits during the last 14 months, reopen its decision to lay off 165 workers.
