Certifiable

NUHW is now officially the exclusive collective bargaining representative for the SoCal KaiPerm employees formerly represented by Zombie UHW.

Any other questions, Zombie supporters?

The LMP Shakedown

It seems Clan Barney isn't too pleased with NUHW leaking details of their Sooper Seekrit Backroom Deals...

(click to embiggen)

Wow. Once again, KaiPerm is trying to get the membership to pay for something that has benefitted management for almost 13 years, and it appears that SEIU has decided to go along for the ride.

Memo to Brave Sir Regan: There is a difference between negotiation and capitulation, ya know.

Right now, SEIU's best financial hope is to get a whole bunch of money transferred into the LMP trust, and into an account that they will still try to control once they get their miserable asses kicked to the curb come June.

For an example of how something like this may well go down, check out the Randy Shaw writeup on how SEIU tried to get control of UNITE/HERE's Amalgamated Bank.

Tasty's Asked the Question...

...anybody got an answer?

Tasty hears that recently the trustees gathered up the staff and essentially said 'you gotta win or there won't be money to pay your salaries.'

Now after 2 huge losses, has it begun?

According to some of the commentary in the LA Times blogs regarding the SoCal Tsunami, it may well have begun...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, on behalf of the 81 organizers brought in from all corners "we apologize", Dave Regan and Anna Burger have threatened our livelihoods for the last time.

We were weak, we all believe in the labor movement, however, after 57 of us have been "laid off, pending review" we seek forgiveness.

While we here at ¡AA! generally subscribe to the notion that it is far better to ask for forgiveness than permission, it is regrettable that the forgiveness had to be asked for after having come out here to be a part of Andy's Zombie Army.

Analysis of the KaiPerm SoCal Vote Count

First, I think a video is in order here...

"SEIU Organizing - An Interpretive Dance"


Okay, then.

There is no amount of polish that will be able to put a shine on what just happened to Zombie UHW today. Three bargaining units, all overwhelmingly voting for NUHW.

The cumulative vote today was 1652 for NUHW, 254 for Zombie UHW, and 33 for neither entity.

Put another way - of a total of 1939 valid votes cast today, only 13.1% were cast for the vaunted, long-standing, nationally powerful SEIU-UHW West.

In the meantime, the broken-down-before-it-even-starts-up newcomer to the race, NUHW, picked up a cool 85.2% of the vote today.

In Randy Shaw's article yesterday, he mentioned that John Borsos had called Zombie UHW's performance at SRMH almost exactly (Borsos had it at 15, it was really 13), and he predicted a 60% margin for NUHW over UHW - that margin actually turned out to be 70% and change.

The pro-SEIU voices (what there are of them) are predictably silent today, while the NUHW folks, especially those on the ground down in SoCal, are rightfully jubilant at today's results.

It will take a day or three to fully digest what went on today, but as it stands right now, SEIU and Zombie UHW are in a world of hurt, which they have have brought entirely upon themselves with bad service, bad negotiation, bad agreements, and a generally bad attitude toward their customers.

This election result today should come as a shock to nobody outside of Our Glorious Maximum Leader's syncophantic E-board.

Look for Brave Sir Regan and Esquirol Medina to suddenly find themselves with other more pressing matters within SEIU while the dust settles from this interstellar ass-kicking they received at the hands of NUHW.

SoCal Kaiser Vote Count Update

From one of my Facebook sources...

Per John Borsos, NUHW VP: We were just notified by the NLRB that the board has DENIED seiu and Kaiser's request for review meaning the ballot count will commence at 9 am tomorrow. Onward to victory.

Remember, folks - these are the same folks who are wetting their collective undies because NUHW wants elections to go forward for ALL petitions, not just the ones that SEIU can pick and choose.

And they are now on record as trying to suppress the outcome of this vote before the votes are even counted.

Reganomics

Imagine you are running a company with an economic problem. Your long-term contracted customers are unhappy with the level of service that you currently provide. They intensely disagree with some of the decisions that your upper management has made on their behalf. They are being offered the opportunity to switch a viable, less expensive, and better-operated competitor by the end of the year, once the contract expires and there is a window to switch.

Given the above, most self-interested companies would try to do some combination of any of the following three strategies in order to keep the existing customer base:
A) Improve service to your customer base.
B) Cut the rates that you charge to your customer base.
C) Improve communication with your customer base.

As is readily apparent to the normal reader, though, Zombie UHW is most decidedly NOT a normal, self-interested company - so much so that they have determined that they are going to raise their representation rates, and they are planning to do so WITHOUT a vote of their customers (the rank-and-file membership), even though in past practice such raises were required to be voted upon and approved by the workers.

(click to embiggen)

Read the whole flyer, and prepare to be appalled. Paying KaiPerm a per-hour portion of your salary just to be part of LMP. Not fighting at bargaining time. Wanting to extend the trusteeship. Unbelievable.

And for all that, Brave Sir Regan wants a dues INCREASE.

The only rational explanation for the above is that SEIU and Zombie UHW know that they are going to lose Kaiser statewide to NUHW, and SEIU is just looking to get as much loot out of the KaiPerm workers as possible while they still can.

It is also entirely possible that Brave Sir Regan actually believes that his leadership of Zombie UHW thus far actually merits an increase in dues payments - but that's not rational.

Kaiser Vote Update

This came in through the comments, but I thought this should find its way to the main page...

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.

I'm ordinarily reluctant to post such mid-election reports, but I thought we should see what the SEIU "response" is going to be in the (hopeful) case that they should lose this election, so that measures can be taken to get ahead of the spin.

BeyondChron's Guest Comment

In yesterday's BeyondChron there was a guest editorial penned by Suzanne Gordon, who quite heartily endorsed NUHW in the upcoming SoCal KaiPerm elections.

Prior to getting into her commentary, I think it worth a look at who Suzanne Gordon is, what her track record is, and whether or not she can just be painted by the Zombies as just another NUHW stooge. Long story short, she isn't...

Suzanne Gordon is an award-winning journalist and author. She has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic Monthly, the American Prospect, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and others. She’s the author of seven books including Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines which was originally published by Little Brown & Co. and which has just been reissued by Cornell University Press with a new forward by Claire Fagin and epilogue by the author; and co-editor of three books and co-author of From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public. Her book on the nursing crisis –Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care — is out in paperback published by Cornell University Press. She is also co-editor ,with Sioban Nelson, of Complexities of Care: Nursing Reconsidered, also by Cornell University Press. Her latest book, Safety in Numbers: Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and the Future of Health Care was published by CUP in April 2008.

She has been a health care commentator in the U.S. for CBS Radio News and Public Radio International’s “Marketplace” business program, and a popular lecturer. She is also Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and Assistant, Adjunct Professor at the University of California San Francisco’s School of Nursing. Gordon is co-editor of Cornell University Press’s series on the Culture and Politics of Health Care Work.

Given the above bona-fides, here is what Ms. Gordon had to say about the upcoming elections...

RNs today face mounting difficulties. Hospital budget-cutting is once again eliminating the jobs of nurses and increasing their workloads — a trend that may only get worse due to the troubled state of our local economy and “health care reform” in Washington that may fall short of our hopes and needs.

Even at a health care employer as heavily unionized and profitable as Kaiser, we see the danger signs: cost-cutting that could lead to under-staffing and erosion of quality patient care. At such a critical moment, nurses need an organization that can advocate effectively for their own interests and those of their patients.

It has been my long-standing policy not to get involved in organizational decisions involving RNs. I’ve worked with many different nurses’ associations and unions, professional organizations, and specialty groups, in the U.S. and abroad. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, good points and bad. But it is up to nurses themselves to make them better vehicles for achieving personal, professional, and workplace goals.

In this case, however, I feel I must stand up for one union that I have come to know very well and greatly respect. The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has not abandoned the coalition of patients, care givers, and health care advocates that helped achieve past gains for RNs and their communities in California.

More than ever before, nurses need a union that will fight to uphold California’s landmark safe staffing law. They need a union that will help them be more pro-active in dealing with hospital restructuring, work reorganization, and the introduction of new computer technology. They need a union that can make labor-management relations at Kaiser a real partnership again, rather than an LMP dominated by people who are not — and in some cases, have never been — bedside nurses.

I believe that having a democratic union, responsive to both professional issues and day-to-day job concerns, is the only way to improve the status and role of nursing within KP. Just as RNs seek to build good working relationships with doctors and administrators — based on recognition of their skill, experience, and professional autonomy — working nurses also deserve the same kind of respect from the organization that negotiates and administers their union contract, while collecting dues from them in return.

Size alone does not guarantee union effectiveness or greater responsiveness to the membership. A bargaining unit run by and for its own members, relying on their professional dedication, creativity, and ideas, can move mountains.

The current campaign to restore a real “voice at work” for RNs and other care-givers at Kaiser in California is important for nurses everywhere. I look forward to working with you and other members of NUHW, now and in the future.

The lack of independent voices who will speak on the behalf of Zombie UHW is kinda glaring. Almost all of the independent contributors to the discussion have come in on the side of NUHW.

KP Professionals Explain the Issues...

Courtesy of NUHW, here's where you can hear the KP professionals in their own voices, explaining the issues relating to this election...

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.

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.

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.

Kaiser LAMC Nurses Voting Underway

The voting has started for the nurses' unit at Kaiser LAMC, and the ballots have been mailed out to the Healthcare Professionals and the Psychosocial groups.

I believe that counts won't be available until the 26th, when all three groups will be counted simultaneously.

To those who have gotten their ballots by mail, follow the example of this individual, and get your ballot in, and make your voice heard.

Kaiser SoCal Balloting Begins This Week

The Kaiser SoCal Psychosocial chapter and the Healthcare Professionals Chapter will have their ballots mailed out beginning tomorrow. The AFN-RN unit at Kaiser LAMC will vote on Wednesday and Thursday.

Vote early, vote often, just get out there and VOTE!

Check SBWF for the latest dirt on what the Zombie organizers are up to.

NUHW rising!

Looking Back at 2009

Tasty has done a 2009 top-ten countdown of SEIU bloopers, and I can't really put anything more to the list than what Tasty has done. Part one, bloopers 10 through 6, can be seen here, while part two, bloopers 5 through 1, can be seen here.

There's very little I can add to the list, save for the image of the UHW Chicken appearing at the San Francisco FUD fundraiser, followed the next day with the egg-tossing attacks by SEIU members down at the Los Angeles fundraiser, including nailing the VP of the United Teachers of Los Angeles with a long-distance egg-o-gram. It took what was seen largely as an "inside fight" within a union and gave SEIU an image of a bully which cannot brook dissent in any manner or shape or form.

All in all, 2009 has been a very bad year for SEIU in general, and SEIU-UHW in particular. Andy's army came into 2009 with practically unlimited access to the levers of power in Washington and in the Lamestream Media, and promptly began to piss it away - because "practically unlimited" evidently just wasn't enough for Our Glorious Maximum Leader. Beginning with the ghost-write of the Marshall Hearings findings (thus giving him the ostensible excuse to place UHW into trusteeship), selling out to Rose Ann DeMoro and CNA, and then injecting SEIU into the UNITE/HERE breakup, and now with the breakup of Change To Win and several unions leaving CTW and returning to AFL-CIO - all of these have contributed largely to the tarnishing of Stern's image, as well as that of SEIU.

On the ground here in Hotel California, it seems that Brave Sir Regan's pledge to drive a stake into the heart of NUHW hasn't quite come to pass. In head-to-head election competition, where SEIU defeated NUHW it did so by close margins (Fresno IHSS, Hawkins), but where NUHW has defeated SEIU it has done so by decisive margins (Doctors, Santa Rosa Memorial), occasionally even forcing SEIU to retreat from the field (Los Alamitos) or try to hide the outcome of the vote (Providence Tarzana).

Going forward into 2010, it will be interesting to see just how bad the financial picture is at UHW. I know that the UHW COPE contributions have plummeted, and I'm thinking that their dues revenue has taken a hit as well, as scads of UHW-covered rank-and-file employees have changed their status from having automatic deduction to paying monthly - if at all. Add that to the fact that UHW has not organized one new hospital in all of 2009, it's going to be interesting to see if UHW will even try to paper over their revenue issues on this year's upcoming LM-2 reports.

In the meantime, it appears that the beat will go on for NUHW, with elections coming up this week at KaiPerm in SoCal as well as others opening up as the NLRB finally figures out that SEIU's delaying actions are largely just that.

Happy New Year, all...

The Zombie UHW Charm Offensive Rolls On...

From Tasty's place...

On Christmas Eve, Terri Fernandez, UHW Zombie and rep with a reported history of being aggressive towards members, was at Kaiser Sunset doing her job as rep-i.e. eating lunch in the cafeteria.

One of the Sunset RNs saw Terri's purple shirt and decided to introduce herself and say, "I'm one of the RNs and I pay your salary and I just thought you'd like to see the union that we're voting for." She then showed Terri a leaflet that had dozens of RNs pictured on it.

Terri was NOT amused by this and grabbed the leaflet and ripped it in half said "I don't want anything that you have. You're a thief."

Some other RNs attracted by the ruckus came over and they were also treated to the Fernandez warmth-Terri proceeded to stamp, point her fingers at both of them and repeat, "Thief, thief!"

The RN's, who remain unclear why their rep would call them thieves, turned to their Kaiser co-workers who are still waiting for a decert election from the board and pointed out that the lady in question was not an errant psych patient, but the woman who was supposed to represent them for the union.

Gotta love those Zombies.

Go To The Source...

Much as Red Revolt was the source for the best info regarding the SRMH election, it's turning out now that Sternburger With Fries is turning out to be the place to go regarding the inside dope on what's going down with the SoCal Kaiser election.

Tasty's place has a story about what happens when SoCal KaiPerm nurses complain about Zombie UHW bugging them, as well as what a Zombie UHW organizer is "offering" to the KaiPerm nurses if they will just vote SEIU's way.

Check it out...

Kaiser Professionals - In Their Own Words

KaiPerm Professional workers from SoCal explain in this video why they are preparing to choose NUHW over Zombie UHW...

Here Comes The Flood

All of a sudden, all sorts of people are reporting on the Great California Union Foodfight.

First up is Labor Notes, who gives a pretty bare-bone rundown of the Santa Rosa issue, but then gets in some good jabs at Zombie UHW in reference to their "representation" of Kaiser employees...

NUHW supporters are preparing for an election at Kaiser next month. Three bargaining units in Southern California, including nurses at Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center complex and psychiatrists, therapists, social workers, dieticians, speech pathologists, and other professionals at 100 facilities across the region, will choose between SEIU and NUHW. Nurses will vote on-site January 6 and 7, with ballots mailed to the 1,300 other professionals on January 4. Votes will be counted January 26.

Jim Clifford, a therapist at a clinic in Otay, says SEIU’s removal of elected stewards and worksite leaders left members hamstrung, whether trying to stand up to unfair discipline or to share Kaiser’s use of electronic medical records.

“At the start of the trusteeship we couldn’t figure out what phone number to dial to get an SEIU staff representative who could work with us,” he said. “We’ve got grievances from January going nowhere.”
David Mallon, a psychiatric social worker at the Bellflower medical center, said, “Kaiser is running amok. They have shut down the performance sharing bonus program, we aren’t participating in program development anymore, and now there is incredible pressure to increase workloads.

“How are you going squeeze more time in today to see patients and still do the documentation, which has become more and more detailed?”

Cuts to the Kaiser pension plan have also sparked member dissatisfaction. Earlier this year SEIU, along with other Kaiser unions, agreed to cut lump-sum pensions by as much as 15 percent starting December 1. The cuts were a response to the sagging stock market, but there are no plans yet to restore pensions in light of the stock market rebound or Kaiser’s $1.6 billion profit in the nine months of 2009. More than three-quarters of Kaiser retirees take the lump-sum pension.

Meanwhile SEIU says it will block the professional staff from participating in the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions if they vote to join NUHW. The coalition was created to coordinate bargaining with Kaiser as well as oversee union participation in Kaiser’s labor-management partnership.

EXTERNAL SUPPORT GROWS

Since its narrow loss to SEIU in a homecare workers’ election in June, NUHW has made strides recruiting allies. The strong showing in Fresno convinced many outside California of NUHW’s viability.

At the same time, SEIU’s escalating battle with the hotel union UNITE HERE has pushed NUHW and UNITE HERE closer together.

UNITE HERE locals in California dispatched organizers to the Fresno campaign, provided office space and material aid, and assembled nearly two dozen Cantonese-speaking lost-time member-organizers to assist NUHW’s San Francisco homecare drive this summer. More recently, UNITE HERE sent organizers to help in Santa Rosa.

In retaliation, the trustees running UHW threatened to withdraw the 150,000-member local from the San Francisco Labor Council, which is headed by a UNITE HERE local president. That threat united many Bay Area labor leaders behind UNITE HERE and NUHW.

This fall the North Bay Central Labor Council also lined up with NUHW in its drive at Santa Rosa. The council asked SEIU to withdraw from the election since “it is clear that Memorial workers have chosen NUHW as their union.”

SEIU has also pushed unions in Southern California closer to NUHW, most notably by attacking a November 17 public forum held at the United Teachers-Los Angeles hall. Attendees were pelted with water bottles and eggs by SEIU staff and members protesting the event.

(snip)

KAISER IS A ‘CIRCUS’

Looming large in 2010 is the Kaiser Permanente health system, representing a third of UHW’s membership and a standard-setter for union hospitals across California. NUHW looks to capitalize on SEIU’s acceptance of unprecedented mid-contract concessions. Trustees agreed to 1,300 layoffs in August, despite a no-layoffs clause in the contract. Kept from a vote over the job cuts, Kaiser workers are fuming.

“They are making a circus of our contract,” said Cindy Benko, a 19-year pharmacy tech in Stockton. “They don’t know which end is up. Kaiser should be paying them union dues, not the members, because that is who SEIU is working for.”

Benko thinks the loss of workplace control under the trusteeship is swinging support to NUHW.

“Most people wanted to believe it was just the leaders who changed, that it would still be the same union,” she said. “But no one can deny the damage SEIU has done. This is what our future looks like if we don’t get our union back.”

Also getting into the act are Bill Fletcher and (finally) Nelson Lichtenstein in an article in In These Times entitled "SEIU's Civil War." It's a pretty lengthy expose of Our Glorious Maximum Leader's rise and (probable) fall in the U.S. Labor movement, and views SEIU as more of a Cult of Personality rather than a functional, dynamic, representational union...

Assessing what to make of NUHW and its potential is, at this time, a matter for speculation. Despite having pitifully few resources, the new union is capable of winning. In the NUHW’s key jurisdictions, particularly Kaiser Permanente, it is quite conceivable that they will overwhelm the SEIU’s imported and maladroit leadership.

This is true for at least three reasons. One, the former UHW has a very capable steward’s system and member involvement at Kaiser. Two, the trusteeship is an affront to thousands of staunch unionists and their allies in California where NUHW has won the backing of some prominent liberal politicians and many key unions, including San Francisco’s big hotel local.

Three, many among the SEIU staff, imported to California or back in the East and Midwest, are demoralized and do not see NUHW as a true enemy. Thus, if the NUHW can win just a few NLRB certification elections and restart the dues flow, then it will have sufficient resources to hire key staff, “organize” among a wider group of workers, and prevail in California over the still alien group of leaders imported into the state by SEIU. Recent NUHW victories at Los Alamitos Medical Center in Southern California and at an assisted living facility in the Portola Valley indicate that this strategy may be working. There is no reason, short of resources, that NUHW cannot prevail, irrespective of whether they choose to return to a reformed SEIU.

Translation: Tide...turning.

Next up is an article in the E-zine for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, "Catholic San Francisco", which looks at labor relations in Catholic hospitals through the lens of the six-year fight at SRMH which is about to come to a head tomorrow...

The Santa Rosa Memorial campaign achieved one of its long-term goals when, in 2008, the St. Joseph Health System agreed to discuss election ground rules, according to NUHW. That October, union organizers at the hospital began gathering workers’ signatures in support of an election. By January, they had enough names to put the question of unionization to a vote.

However, in late January the effort was set back when the SEIU placed the West Coast organization in trusteeship. That action, and the SEIU’s later intervention in the election sought by the new union, halted the progress that workers had been making toward negotiating ground rules, Timberlake said.

“The irony of the whole thing is the employer said they would not sit down with us,” Timberlake said. “They would only discuss ground rules with both unions.”

The employer had agreed to negotiate guidelines with any union that showed it had standing to represent employees.

“There were two unions that demonstrated a show of standing,” Kevin Andrus, a spokesman for the St. Joseph Health System, said. “We agreed that we would sit down with both of those unions and work out guidelines between the three of us. The SEIU refused to meet with us and the NUHW and thus we were not able to negotiate.”

As always, read the rest.

SoCal KaiPerm Election Dates Announced

From a NUHW E-mail...

On Monday, January 4 the NLRB will mail ballots to members of the Psychsocial Chapter and the Healthcare Professionals Chapter. The AFN-RN unit will vote at Kaiser LAMC on January 6 and 7, 2010. This is our election and our chance to put Kaiser professionals in charge of our contract and our future.

In NUHW, we'll have a voice again to solve problems and work together on our professional practice issues. We'll vote on our stewards, our bargaining teams, and our contracts again.

In contrast, SEIU has done everything in their power to stop us from voting. Just last week, SEIU filed a new motion to stop our election. Despite SEIU's efforts our election is now set.

We want to share a letter from Dr. Winnie Allen, one of the very first members of the Kaiser Psychsocial Chapter. Dr. Allen helped organize our Chapter in 1975, and shares her perspective on how our chapters have historically led the way in Kaiser, including being the first to develop the tools of the LMP. Click here to read her letter and share it with your co-workers.

We are excited that we have a date to take back our union. When you get your ballot in the mail, it will come to your home. We enthusiastically encourage you to fill it out and send it back. This will be a vote for unity, integrity and democracy in our union at Kaiser. Our vote is for NUHW.

The letter referred to in the E-mail above reads as follows...

My Fellow Professional Chapter colleagues:

My name is Winnie Allen. I have been a steward and a member of the Kaiser Psychsocial Chapter since we organized our union in 1975, becoming the first union in the country for professional workers.

I strongly endorse our chapter’s certification of NUHW as our future union. We are on the threshold of an historic event. Soon, we will participate in a federally sanctioned vote conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. That vote will determine what kind of union we will be part of: SEIU, the union that has imposed a trusteeship and eliminated all membership rights and structure, or NUHW, our union that actively seeks our input and participation on how to move forward on labor issues critical to us. Our choice will have a sweeping and positive influence not just throughout Kaiser, but throughout the entire labor movement.

As clear as this choice is for me, I am aware that SEIU is trying to create doubt and fear among many of us. They have said that when we choose NUHW, we won't be "big enough" to negotiate successfully with Kaiser for the wages, working conditions, and level of participation in the Partnership that we want. Let me diminish that fear by sharing some bargaining history from the Kaiser Psychsocial Chapter.

Over the past 25 years, our chapter bargained its contracts with Kaiser approximately every three years. I know this because I was on many of those bargaining taskforces. In the 1990s, it was our Psychsocial unit that introduced the partnership tools of issue resolution, consensus decision, and interest-based problem solving into the bargaining process.

This was years before the first National Agreement enshrined the tools of partnership, long before the Coalition even came into existence, and long before partnership was universally desired by KP and the unions. The LMP that our chapter spearheaded in our contracts became the basis of the major goal of the first National Agreement.

We have long led the way in making Kaiser a better place to work—not because of SEIU, but because our chapters have always had the autonomy and democracy to make our voices heard. Joining NUHW will continue that tradition and keep our chapters strong.

Please join me in voting for NUHW.

Winnie Allen, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Kaiser Watts and Kaiser Sunset

Thank you, Dr. Allen.

LMP should be bigger than Andy's ego - this upcoming vote in January is certain to put that concept to the test.

Strength In Numbers

The best part about having co-bloggers SternBurger With Fries and Red Revolt on the case is that when things are slow around here, the other two usually will have some nice fresh material, and that's certainly the case today.

Over at SternBurger, we have Our Glorious Maximum Leader's minions channeling their inner Marie Antoinette, and also there is a report from a former UHW staff rep who spent some time organizing in Africa after the trusteeship, and has returned in the wake of the NLRB decision to assist in the Kaiser org effort down in SoCal.

Keyser over at Red Revolt, meanwhile, has an outstanding compare-and-contrast session between a Zombie flyer and a NUHW flyer, as well as a man-on-the-street report from the recent Zombie "protest" at SRMH in which they brag on bringing out 250 people, none of whom were SRMH employees.

Happy surfing, everyone.

SEIU Threatens To Dissolve CKPU

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions is the group of unions that, along with KP management, make up the Labor-Management Partnership which was so instrumental in bringing KP up out of the ashes of the strikes in the late 1980's. SEIU is evidently so afraid of losing its monopoly position within KP that they are threatening to sunder the entire coalition, rather than to admit NUHW as a member in that coalition...

Now facing an election they spent millions of dollars to block, SEIU officials are circulating an email threatening to break up the Kaiser Coalition if the professional chapters vote to maintain their autonomy by joining NUHW.

Their threat is nothing but a last-ditch effort by Washington, D.C. officials who prioritize their own personal power over the needs of healthcare workers like us. And that's exactly why we chose NUHW.

SEIU knows that when Kaiser professionals join NUHW, the rest of the Kaiser employees will follow, because our chapters have always led the way in achieving the highest wages and benefits. We will continue the rich history of our chapters in NUHW with the people who have been working with us side-by-side on our professional practice issues for years.

In less than a year since SEIU took over, they've given away part of Kaiser workers' pension, agreed to eliminate 1,800 jobs, and gutted the Labor/Management Partnership by removing virtually all of the elected stewards and other members who served on LMP committees.

We're voting NUHW to put an end to these divisive tactics, protect our wages and benefits and our April wage increase, and restore democracy and integrity to our union. We won't let SEIU keep tearing down our contract and we won't let them break apart the Coalition.

One of the members of the SoCal KP units wrote a letter to the Executive Director of the CKPU regarding SEIU's threat...

Mr. August,

I am a Kaiser employee, Clinical Psychologist, and currently a UHW member. I have been very involved in LMP as a UBT member both locally and regionally, LMP co-lead, and trained LMP facilitator, and highly value the LMP process. I received your statement today from the CKPU regarding membership to CKPU and participation in LMP.

Firstly let me say that I have always respected your work with Kaiser and LMP. You have done wonderful things in the past to bring employees and managers together to discuss ways to make Kaiser the best place it can be for our health plan members and for employees.

Today however I am very disappointed with your statement and decision. I certainly do understand that Andy Stern is the head of CKPU and you are under his employ, and as such are in a difficult position to follow his demands or lose your job.

You should know that we as members ARE supporting NUHW and WILL win our decertification vote because we have been very disappointed with the direction Andy Stern and the UHW trustees have taken our union and do not agree with their policies, corporate unionism, and back-door deals with management.

I am very disturbed that you do not support our members' right to determine which union we want to represent us. You are threatening that if we choose NUHW through a federal legal process, exercising our rights, that you will not allow us to be part of CKPU or LMP.

Is not a union made up of it members and members voices? Is not unionism a democratic process where we as members have a right to take their union in the direction we feel is best for us and for those we serve? Does not LMP consist of union members (no matter which union) working together with management for the good of all?

I just don't understand how banning NUHW from participation does anyone any good. It does not benefit CKPU, LMP, Kaiser, or any of the other unions in the coalition. It is simply one more of Mr. Stern's scare tactics to not lose his union members.

As of today I have lost all respect for you and see now that you are simply a puppet in Mr. Stern's hands to manipulate and carry out his agenda within Kaiser. I don't think you understand that you are dealing with intelligent, highly educated professionals within these three professional bargaining units, who are not going to be fooled by SEIU (and now CKPU) propaganda and will not fall to your threats.

Charlie Morgan, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Kaiser Permanente San Diego

Should you wish to amend Charlie's excellent letter, Mr. August can be contacted by E-mail at "johndavidaugust@gmail.com".

NUHW's Q&A Response...

In the light of the recent Q&A document put out by SEIU, the NUHW folks have put out their own Q&A document, which basically takes the SEIU document and grinds it to dust...

Q: What choices will be on the ballot?

There will be three choices on the ballot: SEIU-UHW, NUHW, or No Union. Whichever of the three receives 50% + 1 of the actual votes cast will win the election. If there is no clear majority, there will be a run off between the two highest vote getters.

Q: What happens to our contract when we change unions?

All of the wages, benefits, and other provisions of the contract stay in place until we negotiate a new contract. The NLRB ruled in 2001 that when workers change unions current wages, scheduled contract wage increases and current benefits continue. If we don’t change unions, SEIU-UHW can continue trading away our jobs and benefits and we’ll have no right to vote on changes, as they did with the pension reductions and layoffs.

Q: What will dues be in NUHW?

Our dues will be 25% lower than they were in SEIU-UHW. At NUHW’s founding convention, our professional chapter representatives, along with other delegates voted to reduce our dues since we would no longer be sending part of our dues to SEIU in Washington, D.C.

Q: I read a Q&A written by a law firm that claimed we’ll lose money if we choose NUHW. Are they being truthful?

No. It is a total fabrication. Our existing wages, scheduled wage increases and existing benefits remain intact. Under the law there can be no changes unless we and Kaiser agree to any changes. SEIU’s pamphlet was written by the same attorneys who used legal tricks with the labor board to hold up our election for nine months. The NLRB just ruled that none of SEIU’s charges were valid. SEIU’s attorneys carefully worded the pamphlet to mislead us and create as much fear as possible.

Q: SEIU says Kaiser can change our wages if bargaining reaches an “impasse.” Is that true?

In the more than 25 years of bargaining with Kaiser, the professional chapters have never reached impasse. It is an insult to every one of us for SEIU-UHW to imply that the strongest units at Kaiser could fail to bargain a contract when we have successfully negotiated the best contracts with the same experienced NUHW negotiators and professional chapter leaders on our side.

Futhermore, a “lawful impasse” is a rare situation that can only be certified by the NLRB, and it requires that the employer has bargained in good faith.

Q: When do we start bargaining with Kaiser?

After we elect a rank-and-file bargaining team and meet with the membership to determine improvements we want to make. We will develop proposals and then notify Kaiser that we’re ready to start bargaining.

Q: Do we need a big Union to protect our contract?

SEIU didn’t win our contract. We did. We won together in Local 535, and we won in UHW until the trusteeship, because professional chapter leaders and members were in control. It’s always been about our power and our strength.

By contrast, since SEIU has taken over UHW, they have begun to gut our contract, by removing our elected stewards without a vote, giving away part of our retirement package against our will and without our knowledge, and made a backroom deal to lay off 1,800 of our co-workers. We cannot trust them with our contract.

In NUHW we’ll protect our wages and benefits just like we always have.

Q: What has SEIU done to our pension since they took over in January?

SEIU made a deal with Kaiser to cut our pension, forcing many workers to retire early. SEIU didn’t let us vote on whether we wanted to give up our benefits. Kaiser’s justification was that the stock market had dropped below 8,000, lowering the pension funds’ value. Now the market is back up to 10,400, but SEIU didn’t ask for any reinstatement of benefits when the market recovered. Joining NUHW is the only way to stop SEIU from making more deals like that.

Q: What has SEIU done to our job security since they took over in January?

SEIU eroded our job security rights by negotiating a lay-off agreement with Kaiser behind our backs. They allowed Kaiser to terminate on-calls instead of laying them off with recall rights, allowed Kaiser to move employees within 45 miles of their worksite or face termination, and allowed Kaiser to reduce the health insurance benefits of the employees taking severance. SEIU did not let workers vote before they signed this deal with Kaiser. They even denied the deal existed until NUHW got a copy and shared it with workers.

Q: Is it true that we could end up with no union?

The three options on the ballot are NUHW, SEIU, and No Union, and if there’s no clear majority then there will be a run-off between the top two. The only way we’ll have no union is if a majority of us – 50% plus 1 of those who vote — decide we don’t want a union.

Q: How do we know NUHW will be better than SEIU?

Because we are NUHW. Nearly 100% of the Professional Chapter leadership and officers who have worked side by side with the professionals for the past 25+ years, all support NUHW. Our union is not about the name, it is the people, their vision and commitment. We elect our stewards, bargaining teams, and union officers, and we vote on every agreement with Kaiser. SEIU-UHW has no constitution to protect member’s rights—SEIU officials can agree to anything and they don’t have to let us vote. NUHW is led by the same healthcare workers and experienced negotiators who won current our contract.

Q: What about the rest of Kaiser’s 50,000 union members?

A majority of all Kaiser workers chose NUHW in March, but SEIU delayed their elections with the labor board. Kaiser workers in other units are circulating a petition to join us in NUHW next summer.

Q: Why did SEIU officials from Washington, D.C. take over our union and remove the people we elected?

SEIU ordered our elected leaders to force 65,000 long-term care workers that worked in Northern California into the Southern California Homecare Workers Union, Local 6434, without a vote.

We said that we would only support the move if: 1. The workers got to vote on what union they were part of, and 2. Kaiser professionals and other healthcare workers would always have a direct voice in negotiations with employers, with no backroom deals by SEIU.

SEIU would not accept those terms, and our union was put in trusteeship because our leaders refused to give up our right to vote and our right to negotiate with employers openly and transparently.

To cover up for their actions, SEIU has repeatedly claimed that our local union stole an ever-changing amount of money—sometimes $6 million, sometimes $3 million, and most recently $500,000. No money was stolen.

The best way to face misinformation is to confront it with a serious dose of truth, and we get it here in spades.