Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Workers at California Hospital Request Election to Bolt SEIU-UHW


Ten days ago, workers at another Northern California hospital petitioned the government for an election so they can join NUHW and leave SEIU-UHW. The latest action took place at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, a 176-bed hospital that’s just south of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sources tell Tasty that ever since the trusteeship in 2009, SEIU officials have busily collected the workers’ union dues, but given workers zero support and allowed the hospital’s management to slice and dice the workers’ contract.

Workers got tired of being used like SEIU’s ATM machine and decided to join NUHW, which ran an aggressive and successful campaign at nearby Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Workers there beat back management’s effort to cut their defined-benefit pension, health plan and other benefits… and also won pay increases that have many workers earning more than Kaiser Permanente employees. Along the way, NUHW outed the hospital’s top execs for a giant corruption scheme involving 8 separate pensions for the fat-cat executives.