Keep checking here at the Red Revolt for the latest and greatest on the fight for NUHW representation and against the Zombies. I'll be here watching and publicizing every mistake/threat/misstep Zombie UHW makes against the workers they abandoned long ago.
I frequently get glossy mailers from candidates and causes with which I disagree, and I simply toss them in the recycle bin without reading them.
ReplyDeleteIf receiving glossy mailers from SEIU constitutes "hell" for the workers at Santa Rosa Memorial, they badly need a sense of perspective. Perhaps they should try to imagine, say, what it is like to be a cancer patient with bone metastases.
But maybe they have never had contact with anyone with a serious illness. Oh wait, they have. They work in a HOSPITAL.
If receiving glossy mailers has any effect on these workers whatsoever, just how strong a commitment to NUHW can they really have?
I assure you it isn't the mailers that sway the hearts, minds and opinions of the workers at Memorial but the one-on-one attention and efforts they received from UHW-of-old's staffers who are now the NUHW staffers who are picked up where they left off when UHW turned it's back on the workers. They were on the verge of a representation vote but left to twist in the wind after the trusteeship. I would also like to direct you to the letter the North Bay Labor Council sent to UHW chronicling their 6 year struggle for representation. (http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/10/01/nblc-letter.pdf)
ReplyDeleteIf your perception of the healthcare workers scathing contempt for SEIU in general and UHW-W in particular is in need of well-informed opinion I suggest you get on the ol' inter-web and search for their misdeeds. They are numerous and well documented.
Might I suggest the tireless efforts of fellow bloggers at www.perezstern.blogspot.com and www.adiosandy.blogspot.com.
Thank you, I am well aware of the websites you reference and the many recitations of misdeeds by SEIU that are complained about there and elsewhere. That was not my point.
ReplyDeleteI was merely asking what you meant when you referred to the "hell" that the SRMH workers would have to endure for 43 days. They do have an election date set now, so it can't still be uncertainty over whether a date will ever be set that concerns them. They are not now represented by SEIU so they can't very well be MIS-represented by SEIU over that period. You have, to date, only mentioned the glossy mailers that the workers receive.
And now you say that they are not even swayed by the mailers and have been happily getting one-on-one attention from NUHW reps--something which NUHW's own proposed ground rules for the election would forbid as being a bad and coercive activity if done by the employer, BTW.
It was you who said that the workers have "43 days of ... hell ahead of them." So what, exactly, is the nature of the "hell" that you speak of?
The unwanted visits by the Zombies at the hospital, phone calls and unannounced visits at home, plus the numerous colored and glossy printed mailers at the expense of the members already trapped in the union they don't want to be part of. I understand 2 Zombie staffers we kicked out of the cafeteria by prospective members when discovered earlier this weekend. Given they was SEIU staff from across the country swarmed Fresno county, I expect the same kind of over kill at Memorial.
ReplyDeleteKeyser is right on the money about the swarming tactics they used in Fresno and will certainly use here at SRMH. We have already gotten word that UHW will be sending around 300 of their swarm the week before this election takes place to do phone banking and home visits!
ReplyDeleteA final definitive vote count has not yet been achieved in Fresno. SEIU also said it had an absolute majority in Fresno but the total vote count was about 40%. Also while SEIU had all hands on deck in Fresno, west coast offices of SEIU were deserted leaving millions of members with out the representation their dues pay for; devastating legislation for homecare workers was passed while SEIU was on it's destructive rampage in Fresno. Homecare workers and patients now have to prove their innocence statewide at their expense (~$70/person). Then there's the orientations they have to endure: one worker in Sonoma County has been working in home care for 20 years, but the State feels she needs to be orientated.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that SEIU is contacting workers at Memorial but that their contact is not wanted after they lost their grip...twice.
As for the SEIU staffers being kicked out, I only report what I am told by the folks whom work there.
The TRO is based on an allegation which has yet to be proved. My guess? SEIU claimed and continues to claim all kinds of frivolous charges to slow down the mass exodus from the Zombie Empire. Instead of fighting for members they are fighting against members, across all divisions with disastrous results.
Alsup's decision to have the election in December is a concession from SEIU. They wanted it in January but backed off.
I wonder if the pre-trusteehip UHW hospital division office in Santa Rosa was autonomous and thus able to resume bargaining after the alleged desecration of the Oakland HQ, or if the trustees pulled the plug. It appears their inability to return several phone calls and letters indicating their immediate plans would answer that question.
NUHW's day in court may never come since the Zombie has done such an excellent job hemorrhaging both cash and talented staff, UHW's days might be numbered. One can only hope.