Workers at Giant CA Hospital Seek to Bolt SEIU-UHW

Several days ago, Tasty reported that workers at three California healthcare facilities had filed petitions to dump SEIU-UHW and join NUHW.

Well... it's time to add another facility to the list!

Today, the 1,200 workers at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, California filed their own NLRB petition to decertify Dave Regan's SEIU-UHW and join NUHW. The action is significant because the hospital -- with 925 beds -- is one of the largest in California.

Tasty hears that the hospital's workers are itching to get out of SEIU. Under the NLRB's rules, signatures are required from at least 30% of the workforce in order to trigger an election. In this case, however, a super-majority of the workers signed petitions in a matter of days.

Tasty hears that workers are especially upset with Regan's concessionary bargaining, including his recent deal to subcontract the jobs of roughly 10% of the workers to Utah. Furthermore, workers report that SEIU-UHW makes no effort whatsoever to enforce the contract, allowing management to do whatever it wants.

So how far has SEIU-UHW climbed into bed with the hospital's execs? Well, several months ago the SEIU-UHW Field Rep who's assigned to the hospital -- Dominic Mitchell -- took a job as on of the hospital's Human Resources Agents! That's right. He's now responsible for disciplining and firing the same union members that he was responsible for protecting.

And in another famous episode of Regan's special kind of partnership with the Boss, SEIU-UHW staffers Cass Gualvez, Erica McDuffy and Carrie Cianchetti worked hand-in-hand with Sutter’s executives to illegally fire a longtime rank-and-file worker at the same hospital, which is detailed in this judge’s 50-page ruling.

Congrats to all the workers at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center!

SEIU-UHW: Your Partner in HR at Sutter Health

It looks like Dave Regan has taken his “labor-management partnerships” to an entirely new level. In fact, Regan’s own staffers are having a hard time remembering who they’re actually supposed to be working for.

Take the case of Dominic Mitchell.

Mitchell has been SEIU-UHW’s Field Rep at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, California for a couple of years. The hospital is owned by Sutter Health, a $9 billion corporation that’s one of California’s worst anti-union companies.

Recently, SEIU-UHW’s 1,200 members were kinda surprised when Dominic Mitchell suddenly showed up in the hospital’s Human Resources Department… behind a desk and in a suit ! It turned out that Mitchell had taken a job as one of the company’s Human Resources agents and is now responsible for disciplining and firing the same employees that he’d been responsible for protecting.

Workers are stunned. After all, Mitchell has been managing all their grievances and negotiations with management. He knows workers' intimate personal details and vulnerabilities… and can now use them against workers. Talk about unethical! 

Check out a leaflet (see below) that workers recently circulated about Dominic’s purple partnership with the Boss.

Of course, this isn’t Regan’s first flirtation with Sutter's execs. SEIU staffers Cass Gualvez, Erica McDuffy and Carrie Cianchetti worked hand-in-hand with Sutter’s executives to illegally fire a longtime rank-and-file worker at the same hospital, which is detailed in this judge’s 50-page ruling. 

And Regan allowed Sutter to slash workers’ health insurance and and impose an aggressive Wellness Program during contract negotiations. Tasty bets that SEIU-UHW's officials will soon be coordinating with Dominic Mitchell to implement the next stages of Regan's Wellness Program at the hospital!

Here’s workers' leaflet:

Worker's Leaflet on SEIU-UHW's Dominic Mitchell in HR at Sutter Health May 2012