Late in the afternoon, the NLRB announced its election results… which left many observers surprised and stunned given the
outpouring of support for NUHW during the campaign. Here are the results, according to the NLRB's website:
SEIU-UHW: 18,844, NUHW: 13,101, No Union: 334.
NUHW posted the following statement from its president, Sal Rosselli, on its website:
You may have heard by now that the results of the Kaiser election did not go the way we had hoped. The NLRB’s final vote count was 13,101 for NUHW-CNA to 18,844 for SEIU-UHW, with 334 voting for neither union.There’s a few things I would like to say about this election.First of all, I have never been prouder to be part of this movement. For the last four months, tens of thousands of healthcare workers stood hand-in-hand with registered nurses at hundreds of Kaiser worksites all over the state and ran the most principled, spirited and courageous campaign the labor movement has ever seen. We should feel energized and inspired by the unity we achieved.That unity is not going away. It will persist at our workplaces, in the friendships we’ve made, and in the continued affiliation between NUHW and CNA. It will fuel our continued struggle to stop the cuts that Kaiser is trying to force down our throats with the shameful complicity of SEIU-UHW.I also want to note that I’m stunned by these election results. Speaking from decades of experience in elections like this, we have many questions that deserve answers.We should feel very proud of our achievments, and ready to continue the fight to force Kaiser to put workers and patients before profits.In Unity,Sal Rosselli
Tasty’s sources say the scene at the final vote count was
quite revealing. Apparently, the happiest people in the room were not SEIU-UHW...
but Kaiser! As the NLRB
announced its final tally, Kaiser executives reportedly grinned from ear to ear.
Why?
Kaiser has not only kept its preferred “partnership” union atop
the 45,000 workers, but it has made SEIU-UHW even more endebted to Kaiser as a result of the HMO’s extensive election assistance… which included
Kaiser’s withholding of annual bonuses from NUHW’s members and blocking NUHW’s
supporters and staff from accessing Kaiser facilities.
Now that the election is over, Kaiser’s execs will
undoubtedly demand a fat payback… which will come in the form of giant cuts to
SEIU-UHW members’ pensions and health benefits -- just like the cuts that SEIU’s
Dave Regan delivered to Dignity Healthcare, the Daughters of Charity Health
System and other companies.
More election coverage to follow.
