Op-ed: "Stall Tactics" at Memorial

Will management ever grow up? Without SEIU to do their dirty work they are now wasting money, credibility and only guaranteeing fierce resistance from workers, the community and it's leaders, media, etc.

Management whines about election results; Empire Report hits back hard

Wow, what a great piece of writing! Empire Report's Michael Aparicio rips management's allegations up one side and down the other with such ease and finesse. Get ready for a good belly laugh! Management's allegations are as hilarious as they are pitiful. Memo to management: the harder you try to fight the will of the workers the harder the community will fight back, and we way out-number you!

Tell Memorial Hospital to Drop Their Objections, Respect Workers' Decision

So, what can you do to voice your opinion about this disappointing but expected turn of events? You can attend the rally tomorrow. Below is the email I received from Steve Sidawi, union organizer for Memorial workers.

Urgent Action Tomorrow: Tell Memorial Hospital to Drop Their Objections, Respect Workers' Decision

Where: Outside Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital

When: Wednesday, December 30, 11:45 a.m.

We have just learned that Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital management is attempting to get the historic union election overturned. SRMH has filed outrageous "objections" charging that NUHW and community supporters engaged in conduct "preventing employees from exercising their choice." Among the absurdities they are alleging are surveillance, interrogation, videotaping employees, and obstructing the entrance to hospital meeting rooms. They also allege that the NLRB created confusion by using different "font styles" on the ballot. Management's objections are especially insulting because they are an implicit attack on the right of community supporters to advocate for a fair election.

See you there tomorrow!

Guess who's contesting the NUHW victory at Memorial?

For once it's not the Zombies. Nor it is the Memorial Bridge folks with their close-but-who-really-cares second place finish. It's the workers "best friend"...management! These are the folks who laid off 200 employees in February, just days after the trusteeship, and then hired them back at cut throat rates, with no health insurance, vacation time, or sick time. I'm just sayin'...lest we forget.

Memo to management: you lost, get over it. The workers voted and once the NLRB resolves the 17 contested votes your job is to either work with NUHW or go back to business as usual.

NLRB moves quick-ish to resolve Memorial contested ballots

Tim Peck of the NLRB stated:

We sent letters to both contenders to see if the parties would resolve their ballot challenge differences voluntarily with a requirement that they reply on or before Dec. 29. There will be no certification of the election until ballot challenge issues are resolved.

which is must quicker than I expected, especially since the Zombies, with their disgraceful 13 votes didn't want to do the right thing for their organization, their dues paying members or anyone else involved in this slow-motion train wreck and just throw in the towel after the beating the received Friday night.

This just in: someone from SEIU can't see how election loss might have happened.

As a comment to my previous entry shows, despite my best efforts to educate and enlighten, some people just can't be bothered with reading and thinking before commenting.

Yes, and no doubt NUHW will be able to negotiate a superior contract at SRMH, what with the overwhelming support represented by the vote of 283 of 675 members of the bargaining unit (42%), the opposition of 293 members (43%, counting 13 who voted for UHW, 263 who voted "no union" and 17 who cared enough to vote but whose votes were challenged by NUHW--think they are now NUHW supporters, whatever they were originally?), and 99 who didn't care enough to vote. How do the contracts NUHW has managed to negotiate so far stack up to the ones SEIU is boasting about? Hard to say BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T GOTTEN ANY.

Oh gentle reader who hides in the shadows and does not bother to keep with current events (Victory for Memorial workers, NUHW, patient care, community, etc) where do I start picking apart your woefully under-informed comment?

NUHW's ability to negotiate a good contract has nothing to do with how many workers voted for them. It's the bargaining team and the contracts bargained by the old UHW, better known as NUHW, that will be responsible for bargaining a superior contract.

I'm not sure where how you arrived at the 293 figure, but to assume the challenged ballots are all SEIU or all NUHW is absurd.

The 17 ballots were challenged by the Labor Board since eligibility was suspect. As such they remain unopened and beyond the reach of either union and the Memorial Bridge chrometophobes. Perhaps they were hired after the election, or are members of management. Their eligibility will be worked out by the Board and Memorial management, not SEIU or NUHW.

As for the 99 who didn't vote, I'm sure you'll agree part of them were on vacation, laid off, home ill, or had some other reasonable excuse for not voting.

The 283 out of 576 votes NUHW received brings them to 49.1%. Another 6 votes brings them to the 50%+1 threshold necessary to win an absolute majority.

Sierra Spartan at ¡Adiós, Andy! put it best: "Those 17 ballots cannot by themselves make NUHW lose the election, but they can prevent NUHW from avoiding a runoff, and as such they can also prevent any results from being certified by the NLRB," and more importantly: "In order to prevail in that scenario, all NUHW would have to achieve is 6 votes out of those 17 challenged votes cast (roughly 35%); by the same token, in order to force runoff, the "no union" slate has to get 12 out of the 17 challenged votes (70.5%)."

The good things are SEIU is out of the game and they have wasted $1-2 million for 13 votes. Hard to explain to members why a dues increase is needed when cash is burned that quickly.

Zombies break arm slapping themselves on the back

In a vaguely worded article that doesn't cite any references, the Zombies submit their "but in our reality we are winning" press release. If any reader can cite an example of the Zombies bargaining an improvement over a previous please send the link my way. Sure they've bargained at lease one new contract for a new bargaining unit but initial contracts are by default better than what was available before. You'll notice the only good press the Zombies get is when they write the article. As time goes on there are fewer and fewer credible authors willing to tarnish their good name or publishing organization supporting the crumbling the Zombie empire. I'm sure we can look forward to a similarly (if not identically) worded UHW Report, spouting all kinds of fake "good news".

NUHW crushes SEIU/Memorial media round up

Here is a round up of the media coverage that has been published since I witnessed the edge-of-my-seat vote count Friday evening. 

I was busy hanging with the purple and yellow folks this weekend. No, not the Zombies (not ever), but rather the Lions club of which I am a member. Their colors are also yellow and purple like SEIU. However, unlike SEIU We Serve. We set politics aside, and in the context of a service club, we do what is best for everyone, regardless.

Anyway, my mind is wandering after an exhausting weekend so I'm gonna turn in. I'm taking "Mrs. Söze" on a li'l road trip tomorrow in honor of our 10 years together, so I'll be back in the office (read: on the couch) Tuesday morning. In the mean time, enjoy the blogs I look to: ¡Adiós, Andy! and Stern Burger with Fries for breaking news on Zombie stupidity.

UPDATE (12/24): Upstart Union Deals Blow to SEIU, Raises Prospects for Future Fights (In These Times)

UPDATE (12/21): NUHW Trounces SEIU 283-13 to Win Santa Rosa Election (Beyond Chron)

UPDATE (12/21): National Consequences for Memorial Hospital Union Vote (Empire Report)

NUHW is Decisive in Santa Rosa, SEIU Tries to Postpone Defeat (Labor Notes)
 
NUHW in Santa Rosa: a David versus two Goliaths (Daily Kos)

Breakaway union claims victory in Memorial Hospital vote (Press Democrat)

Upstart union wins a plurality in Sonoma County hospital vote (L.A. Times)

Victory for Memorial workers, NUHW, patient care, community, etc

First, the vote count.
Total votes:       576 out of 675 (85.3%) eligible
 

NUHW:              283 ( 49.1%)
 

No union:          263 ( 45.7%)
 

SEIU:               13 (  2.3%)
 

Contested votes:    17 (  3.0%)

 

Voided votes:        1 (  0.0%)
 

NUHW to SEIU votes: 21.8 to 1



NOTE: A few of the numbers corrected above based on comment below.

So as you can see we DESTROYED SEIU. And by "we" I mean mostly not me. The Zombies spent hundreds of thousands of dues paying members money to lose, and lose badly. The real work was done by eligible-to-vote workers and NUHW staff. The Zombies helped out a bit too what with their constant negative campaigning that backfired, shooting themselves in the foot on multiple occasions, gaining widespread contempt from everyone, and so on.

So as you can see not even the mighty Zombie/Memorial management war machine can defeat an upstart union that has widespread support and the backing of the workers.

What SEIU did wrong. They:

• abandoned workers in January
• didn't return numerous phone calls after the trusteeship
• only showed interest in Memorial after worker selection of NUHW
• refused to negotiate ground rules for campaigning
• earned bad press in:

• Empire Report
• Beyond Chron
• KRCB-FM (PBS)
• KSRO-AM
• Green960
• L.A. Times
• North Bay Business Journal
• Press Democrat
  

• were condemned by the North Bay Labor Council
• disregarded the previous guide for organizing at Catholic healthcare facilities "Respecting the Just Rights of Workers Guidance and Options for Catholic Health Care and Union"
  
• colluded with Memorial management
• aggravated workers with repeated phone calls, house visits, and disrespected them with repetitive, often cartoon-ish mailers that said nothing about how SEIU would be a better choice
• descended on Santa Rosa with 400 staffers to annoy 600+ workers, hence the 263 "Neither" votes
• abused the legal system to delay the vote & frustrate the workers
• and so on
  

What NUHW did right. THEY

• built a relationship with the workers
• ignored numerous taunts from the Zombies
• secured support from the workers, community leaders, politicians, clergy, the labor council, numerous columnists, bloggers
• choose to take the high road
• and so on

What can workers, community member, politicians, and so on take from this election campaign and its awe-inspiring result? Bigger does not always mean better.

Or, if you prefer (as I do) my own creed: "Just because you can doesn't mean you should." Applied to this battle for worker representation: Just because you, SEIU, can outspend, outstaff, and outpublicize NUHW with dues payers money, out of state staff and cakes doesn't mean you should. All SEIU staff and lackeys involved in this campaign, from Megalomaniac Stern on down to the UHW Chicken Lady and ought to be ashamed of their behavior, the money they wasted and the credibility they've squandered.

And now just for fun: a music quote from my favorite band Tool's most energetic song Ticks & Leeches:

Is this what you wanted?
Is this what you had in mind?
'Cause this this is what you're getting.
I hope you choke!

Judgement day is here. Everybody wave goodbye to the Zombies!

First off, KPFA interviews Nancy Timberlake and Jack Nicholson. It's good to hear the support for NUHW is still very strong and SEIU is, as usual, reeling from mass rejection from workers, politicians, clergy, community members, me, etc.

Next Labor Notes details the changes in SEIU that brought about the trusteeship, abandonment of workers at Memorial and a miserable failure at shuffling workers against their will and without a vote. I'm glad I jumped off this sinking ship long ago.

Finally, the New York Times Press Democrat announces the election for Memorial workers. Following this election will keep me busy but I can't wait for the vote count. When I know you'll know.