Late last
month, the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) bested SEIU Local 49
in a head-to-head election for 900 non-union hospital workers in Vancouver,
Washington, according to NLRB records and press reports.
Here’s the
final tally of the election at PeaceHealth
Southwest Medical Center held November 21-22:
AFT’s Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals: 297 votes
SEIU Local 49: 176 votes
No Union: 171 votes
Challenged Ballots: 24 votes
SEIU barely got more votes than the "No Union" option on the ballot. A runoff
election between AFT and SEIU is scheduled for next week on December 14 and 15.
SEIU Local
49 is headed by Meg
“I Love the Boss” Niemi, a close ally of SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan. Niemi is also a member of SEIU’s
International Executive Board.
For more
coverage of the election, see The Colombian (Vancouver, WA), “PeaceHealth
Workers to Unionize” (December 7, 2016).
