"WWIII" begins...

...with the first battle being fought in the Service and Technical group for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, size unknown as of this writing, but I suspect this is the 48,000+ group we've all been waiting for.

More as it happens. Thanks to retired blogger Sierra Spartan for the tip off.

UDW excels where the Zombies fail

UDW, (United Domestic Workers), the counterpart to SEIU with respect to homecare workers in California have yet again succeeded where the Zombies have failed. The latest example of UDW shining through the muck of state politics and Zombie propaganda is this email I received. The absence of an email from is all the proof I need that the Zombie have abandoned homecare workers in the counties which UHW has contracts. The Zombie aren't even trying to help their dues paying members anymore any more. See Stern Burger's write up on yesterday's failure de jour! I wonder if Erica Boddie still has such an lofty of post trusteeship UHW.

Sacramento rally canceled due to Zombie ultra-fail

I don't feel so bad for missing the rally for work yesterday. I knew attendance would be low but this is just ridiculous! Go check out the link, it's hilarious. You'd think the all powerful and well funded Zombie UHW would be able to handle the simple process of securing a permit before the rally at the state capital. Clearly they are so consumed with defeating NUHW, they can't even pull off a rally at the capital. They used to do several a summer, now, just one and they still messed it up. This is the new, democracy free UHW, home of the slacker. Thanks to Stern Burger for the reporting!

"We just write the rules, we don't follow them"

This is essentially what Memorial management is saying to the workers and the community in which we all live.
They fought 2 different unions organization efforts and lost. The pushed a no union vote and lost. They filed objections about the election and either rescinded them or had them trounced by the NLRB. Yet they still fight the inevitable.

Shame on them! If you are as outraged as me we can all voice our opinion by contacting Sister Katherine Gray, CSJ (General Superior of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange), and writing a respectful but unambiguous email stating your concern for Memorial management's disregard for it's own rules, mission statements, and the decision made by voter in December election, we can hopefully and finally get the hospital to behave and move forward instead of backward.

kgray@csjorange.org

Memorial saga continues...

Apparently it's not enough that the workers at Memorial have been organizing, waiting and fighting management for more than 6 years to join a union. Throw in 2 competing unions, a substantial "no union" effort backed by Memorial management vote, unending delays, appeals and psychological warfare from management, despite their own commitment to abide by the workers choice and you can see Memorial management is proving the unthinkable is possible by treating it's own employees worse than the Zombies treat it's own members.

First is Randy Shaw's article at BeyondChron.

As beautifully pointed out by Randy Shaw at BeyondChron, Memorial management has yet again taken the low road and further delayed the inevitable union-negotiated contract between the voters who won the election and the ever profitable Saint Joseph Health Systems. How profitable? On December 7, 2009, just 10 days before the election they bought a building they don't have immediate plans for. This recreational shopping at its finest folks!

However, the news isn't all bad NUHW is the official and exclusive bargaining agent for Santa Rosa Memorial workers, again.

* * *

Sorry about the delay in reporting this (and the other postings today): I just finished 8 days in a row at my new job. In an economy where unemployment is10% nationwide I feel fortunate to have 2 jobs; however working homecare and delivering pizza to western Santa Rosa is no road to riches. Also, today marks the first year of marriage so I'm catching up on my blogging and then spending time with my sweetie.

Blatantly leading journalism

The Press Democrat, the major local, leading paper, owned by the New York Times, prints what sells, not necessarily what is important or useful to its readers. An example would be the pseudo-random poll of select readers shown below. Is it just me or does this seem like a rigged vote trying to masquerade as poll of potential voters? At least they pointed out this was not a scientific survey, and it is on the opinion page. Perhaps this a last ditch effort to sway voters. Whatever, objective reporting is dead.

A KP "Takeway Committee" Really?!

I don't often quote or even refer to NUHW literature in my ongoing quest to make this blog my own but this caught my eye, because it is one of the few golden NUHW documents based on SEIU-related material. This time it's the benefits takeaway committee. I thought the bargaining committee assembled by SEIU for Sonoma County homecare workers (who were totally unaware of the wool being pulled over their eyes) was a dizzying achievement in presenting member manipulation as member involvement, but here the Zombies have cut members out of the process entirely. Clearly, they aren't even trying to trick their must gullible member supporters. As you will see at the bottom of the first page, the Zombies have agreed to some slippery language, similar to the "contingent upon available funding" found littered in the Sonoma County homecare contract.

Email to save homecare...guess who DIDN'T send it?

Ah yet another chance for the Zombie to prove they have their members best interests at heart. Care to place a bet on when or if they will send their own version of the email below?

* * *

Last week, politicians in Washington passed a jobs bill WITHOUT critical fiscal relief for states and local governments. Without this money, states will slash hundreds of thousands of jobs and gut education, health care and public safety services even more. For example, without these funds,  state costs for IHSS will increase from $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion.  This will make it far more difficult for us to prevent cuts to IHSS in this year’s budget.However, there is still a chance to get this aid in the Senate version of the bill. Please call your senators right now. Tell them to include state aid in this jobs bill.

It will be nothing short of catastrophic for the already dire budget crisis in most states if this Medicaid funding does not get put back into this jobs bill. This funding (known as FMAP) would provide $26 billion in badly needed resources for state and local governments.

Please click here to call your senators right now.

Final 4 management objections for Memorial workers soundly rejected by NLRB

The story so far: an organizing effort for approximately 700 workers occurred over the last 6 years, under the direction of the old SEIU UHW. The trusteeship of the SEIU UHW happened and the organizing effort suddenly stopped. The 160+ employees of UHW who quit in disgust formed NUHW and after reconnecting with the workers at Memorial picked up where SEIU left off after abandoning them in August 2009. An election was scheduled, SEIU came late to the party and demanded to be allowed in. Despite dire warnings that if allowed onto the ballot, SEIU would lose by a landslide, SEIU insisted on forcing themselves onto the ballot.  The cool kids had to let them play, and so the election was scheduled. Officially, SEIU wanted felt they were the better union for many lame reasons no one remembers or cares about but unofficially they knew had no chance of winning the election so they pushed the no union vote, because you see, in their eyes, no union is better than a competing union especially one created from former employees that are winning the hearts, minds and votes of soon to be former members and prospective members. Suffice it to say when the votes were counted the underdog NUHW won by a landslide (283-13).

* * *

The final four objections to the election for Memorial workers were soundly defeated by the NLRB Wednesday. As you may recall Memorial management backed off of 6 of their 10 objections, and after the Administrative Law Judge reviewed Memorial managements case the remaining 4 were dismissed by the NLRB.

The ruling above is 32 pages long and quite detailed, but after an exhaustive description of each objection the Adminstrative Law Judge deftly dismisses the objection. My favorite: the "scientific experiment" that almost completely misses the point and proves to be a complete waste of expert witness testimony not to mention money!

NUHW won the election. Of the 10 objections filed by the employer they dropped 6 and the remaining 4 were dismissed by the NLRB. Clearly the workers have won so why the resistance? Memorial management has taken a position similar to a death penalty defense, by using every legal means to delay the inevitable and annoy the workers, but even they have to admit the writing is on the wall. An appeal is sure to come, unless every reader expresses their disgust with management's actions thus far. Call, write or possibly protest (no plans yet) to make sure they don't file an appeal.


Kevin Klockenga, CEO, 546-3210
Debra Miller's, Vice President of Human Resources, 525-5225

Or write to either of them at:

1165 Montgomery Drive
Santa Rosa, California 95405

Does anyone have the extension to the CEO's voicemail?

30 days of craziness

Today marks the first of 30 crazy days of Get Out of Zombie UHW Craziness. Before this blog existed, pro-NUHW Kaiser workers gathered enough signatures to decertify SEIU. Unfortunately, this didn't happen because the decert was filed outside of the allowed time for such a petition. This window represents the chance for soon-to-be-former-UHW-members to break free of their shackles. This should prove to be a very exciting 30 days. Expect massive media coverage (massive for labor anyway) and frequent blog entries by both Tasty Burger and myself.