Thursday, August 11, 2016

NUHW Adds More than 1,000 Members


While SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan spends millions on his unsuccessful quest for a sweetheart organizing deal with the California Hospital Association, a very different story is taking place in the background.

According to NLRB records, NUHW is winning large numbers of new members through old-fashioned, bottom-up worker organizing.

In recent months, 1,070 non-union workers at three separate hospitals voted to join NUHW.

Interestingly, NUHW won the elections by giant margins… of as much as 90%. 

Two of the hospitals are operated by large, for-profit chains traded on the stock market. Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center is run by one of the nation’s largest hospital chains, Tenet Healthcare. It is Tenet’s second-largest facility in California.

Here are the results, as well as the percentage of voters who voted to join NUHW in each election:
  • Tenet’s Fountain Valley Regional Hospital & Medical Center: 560 workers. Vote Tally: 313 (NUHW) to 94 (No Union). 77% yes.
  • UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland: 374 workers. Vote Tally: 217 (NUHW) to 29 (No Union). 88% yes.
  • Kindred Hospital San Francisco Bay Area: 136 workers. Vote Tally: 74 (NUHW) to 8 (No Union). 90% yes.