Labor Pains: Because Being in a Union can be Painful

Union War Over Healthcare Workers Wears On

Sal Rosselli is the gift that keeps on giving. When Rosselli broke away from the SEIU and formed the National Union of Healthcare Workers, we could not have imagined just how many headaches he would cause for Andy Stern and Mary Kay Henry. Now, roughly a month after the NUHW lost a battle with the SEIU over Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in California, the wrangling continues, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.

National Union of Healthcare Workers, an upstart rival to Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, won two of three unit elections tallied Wednesday for almost 2,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California.

Behavioral health services workers voted 603 to 196 for NUHW over UHW and optical workers voted for NUHW over UHW 154 to 142. Medical-social workers voted to stay with UHW, 148 to 139.

This is a win for the NUHW, although they already lost the lion’s share of Kaiser’s 47,500 healthcare workers back in October. Current score: SEIU, 43,000; NUHW, 4,300. The NUHW disputed the October results, claiming that the SEIU worked with management to intimidate members into voting their way.

Imagine that! If true, this wouldn’t be the first time the SEIU has used top-down intimidation tactics to achieve its goals in southern California. For more, read this damning letter by Paul Krehbiel, a former SEIUer who left in disgust and joined the NUHW.

Categories: Center for Union FactsSEIU