Jim Clifford, Therapist, KP - San Diego - MP3
Tessie Costales, Registered Nurse, KP - Sunset/LAMC - MP3
Marty Needleman, Psychiatric Social Worker, KP - Fontana - MP3
Stacy Eldridge, Registered Dietitian, KP - Bakersfield - MP3
Healthcare professionals at nearly one hundred Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics are voting today to switch unions. They say their old union, the Service Employees union or S-E-I-U, has shut them out of negotiations with employers—and cut deals that hurt healthcare workers and their patients.It's too bad that we're going to have to wait for almost three weeks to hear the results. In the meantime, let's be optimistic and let these people explain the issues as they see them.The 2,300 workers include registered nurses, therapists, dietitians, and psychiatric social workers across Southern California. They’re part of an exodus of more than 100,000 S-E-I-U members who are organizing to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers, or N-U-H-W.
The movement began almost a year ago, when S-E-I-U officials from Washington, D.C. took over California’s healthcare union and put themselves in charge. Healthcare workers formed N-U-H-W as a way to regain control of their union and have a stronger voice at work.
A majority of Kaiser workers asked the labor board to vote on the switch last February, but the S-E-I-U was able to stall the election and stop them from leaving—until now. Registered nurses at Kaiser Sunset are voting at work today and tomorrow; other professionals are voting by mail over the next two weeks. The ballots will be counted on January 26.
An even bigger election is expected later this year, when the rest of Kaiser’s 50,000 California employees will be eligible to vote.
A report on the ground states that Southern California nurses overwhelmingly voted for NUHW. SEIU cry babies say that this was possible only because the "Phillipino Mafia" got involved and lobbied other nurses to vote for NUHW. What a crock! SEIU was trounced in Southern California. And this is just the beginning. Over the next year, SEIU will realize that they bit off more than they can chew when Andy decided to take on Sal Rosselli and the old UHW. More importantly, it is the members themselves that have handed SEIU this devastating defeat. There will be many more to come.
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