Sunday, November 29, 2009

Surly comment gets its own blog entry!

I received this comment today from a reader who completely missed the point of my Blast from the Past: Stern's words come back to haunt him! post. I was trying to point out how SEIU's actions of yesteryear are in perfect contradiction to it's actions of late as they relate to Memorial hospital. How dare you criticize my writing while not reading the blog entry thoroughly and then reading the referenced article. I thought I was explicit enough.
Wouldn't an even slightly honest account have at least mentioned the fact that, despite this dispute between SEIU and CNA/NNOC, CNA/NNOC has now sided with SEIU against NUHW? Of course, if that fact had been mentioned, it would have had to have been explained away--either by denigrating CNA/NNOC (which would have made CNA/NNOC not quite look like the champion of workers' rights portrayed by this blog post) or by excusing this choice by CNA/NNOC as reasonable (which would only be true if SEIU was seen as the winner as in the long run). If DeMoro's criticism of SEIU gets an "Amen, sister", doesn't her acceptance of SEIU over NUHW rate the same respect?

Also, why isn't it NUHW that should get used to losing? That's pretty much all that's happened so far.
So in response to this comment I will clarify my writing. 

The CNA/SEIU alliance benefits all 3 parties: CNA doesn't have to deal with SEIU's raids (or active probing as SEIU likes to spin it), NUHW gets a $1 million gift and an agreement not to interfere with NUHW's efforts SEIU has a friend to play with bringing the friend count to 2. However, with the way things are going for SEIU and nearly every other labor organization CNA might want to distance itself from the devil.

As for NUHW losing I have a few truths to share with my woefully (and likely willingly) underinformed reader:
  1. when SEIU ties up election results with the NLRB, that's not a victory! 
  2. Sequoias caregivers join NUHW
  3. Los Alamitos Hospital join National Union of Healthcare Workers  
  4. Workers win election at Doctor's San Pablo 
  5. Union calls off bid to represent workers at Rady
The truth is out there, if you care.

4 comments:

  1. SEIU made a complete surrender to CNA, giving up national organizing jurisdiction and giving SEIU second class status on policy matters. So CNA acted out of self interest in accepting SEIU's surrender, and SEIU sold out its own nurses in the process. SEIU got assurance that CNA would not help NUHW, but that doesn't mean anyone at CNA has any respect for SEIU.

    This interview with Deborah Burger is worth reading on this:

    labornotes.org/node2278

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  2. How is CNA not giving support to NUHW "siding against NUHW"? Last time I checked that's called neutrality. Which means they aren't taking sides at all even after accepting a deal with SEIU. Here read this article and learn something.

    http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=6728

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  3. And here is a great quote from Deborah Burger,CNA co-president,from the article that Anonymous and Keyser posted a URL to above.

    "We are constrained by the agreement not to provide any financial assistance to NUHW and we're honoring that commitment. But by the same token, at the facilities nurses are supporting their co-workers and their ability to get the representation of their choice. We're making sure we don't interfere with that. And we're not obligated by the terms of our agreement with SEIU to interfere with that, so we are keeping hands off. Nurses who choose to help NUHW at the facility level can continue to do so. We're not saying, "you can't do that.""

    Yep,sure sounds like they hate NUHW!?!(sarcasm). Next time, why don't you try doing some research before you post a "surly comment" about an issue you obviously know so little about! Unless of course misinformation was your true agenda.

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