Well folks, SEIU has started lowering the standard in health care. Since their win at Kaiser, they have some capital, and they intend to spend it. At hospitals they control, layoffs are happening for the first time in twenty years. This means less people to do the same amount of work. It means longer hours and exhausted employees. It means degraded PATIENT CARE. At Kaiser, SEIU is putting people on notice that their attendance needs improvement and that they may be disciplined for it. These are UNION disciplinary actions! The last time I checked, it was the union's purpose to defend employees against disciplinary actions, not to punish them. This must be a new concept in union labor representation. Also, Kaiser employees are being asked by security to remove any red items they may be wearing. WAKE UP, PEOPLE! You can wear any color you want! Congratulations, SEIU voters, you just took the industry back twenty years.

STILL NERVOUS?

In a Los Angeles Times article about the recent election, Dave Regan said that SEIU was thrilled with the election results and that NUHW is for all intents and purposes, irrelevant. Really? For all of Regan's bravado and swaggering, he and SEIU are still stealing nervous glances around the room. Yes, they won by a clear margin, but they know that they and Kaiser broke federal union campaign rules throughout the campaign. Members are openly admitting that they were too scared to vote for NUHW. SEIU also knows that NUHW will contest the election, ask for a new one, and probably get it. Hopefully, all the employees who were quivering with fear during the last election will come to their senses next time around. There is nothing to be afraid of, folks! SEIU cannot punish you for voting against them!! It's called retaliation and federal law protects you from retaliation by your employer or your union!!!!

The latest news from the gossip mill is that Kaiser sent out a memo stating that SEIU had won the election and asking for everyone to gracefully accept it. Kaiser also asked that no celebrations occur. Rightly so;at the facility that I speak of, support for NUHW was overwhelming, and lots of members are emotional about the loss because of the unfair smear and fear campaign waged by SEIU with Kaiser's permission and support. This call for a moratorium on celebrations may be the only tiny olive branch Kaiser will ever extend.

Today, SEIU ignored the request and had a celebration in the cafeteria anyway. They had cake and asked members to sign a petition opposing a new election. Still nervous? If you ran a fair and legal campaign, then you have nothing to worry about...right? The results will stand on their own...right? The feds won't overturn this election and call for a new one if the first one was ethical and above board, riiiiiiight? So why are you still spending members hard earned money on petition drives? Members pay union dues so that they can be represented by their union, period. SEIU spent millions to scare and bully its own members into thinking that they couldn't leave SEIU. Now they are going to spend more money trying to get members to help deny NUHW its right to contest the farce that masqueraded as an election. UNBELIEVABLE. Thankfully, sources say that only a few (less than .5% of the facility) showed up and signed the petition to stop NUHW from contesting the election. Despite all the celebration and wild spending of member's money, SEIU is acting very much like a nervous gazelle in lion country...I wonder why?

SEIU is just being SEIU

On Monday October 11, I visited a Kaiser facility to show my continuing support for NUHW. On the 18th, ballots go out so that Optical, Social Service,and IBHS units can vote to leave SEIU for NUHW, or opt to stay. Understandibly, NUHW supporters who just lost their election were a little disheartened,but still showed their unbreakable spirit by showing up for work in red,gathering together for lunch, and offering their support to professionals in their upcoming election.

During my visit I learned that SEIU has already begun to show it's true colors. A member who has been in the float pool for almost 2 years has been promised conversion to a benefited position for the majority of that time. In the months leading up to the election, this member expressed his support for NUHW but refused to wear any red for fear that SEIU would retaliate by not getting him converted. NUHW supporters tried to tell this member that SEIU and Kaiser could convert him any time they wanted. Why was his conversion dependent on the results of the election? SEIU was already his union. He was already paying dues to this union in exchange for their "representation". He refused to openly support NUHW and waited for the conversion he was promised by SEIU reps "right after the election". On Sunday this member happily anounced to coworkers that his conversion would happen Wednesday, and that there was a meeting scheduled for that purpose. By Monday at lunchtime, news was spreading that his meeting had been cancelled.

NUHW supporters are not suprised by this. We knew that SEIU had made lots of false promises, including a rumored promise to a member that she would receive double her retirement if she voted for SEIU! All grievances were put on hold with promises from SEIU stewards that right after the election, these grievances would be attended to and taken " strait to the top". Rumors are quickly spreading that other meetings regarding grievances are being cancelled. Apparently, all outstanding grievances are being taken strait to the top of the garbage pile.

The saddest news I heard on Monday was that NUHW organizing committee members were receiving calls from fellow supporters who were in tears. They apologized and said that they were so afraid of losing their contract and benefits that they did not fill out their ballots and mail them in! They believed that Kaiser and SEIU would find out how they voted and retaliate! They felt that support was so strong for NUHW in their facility that their votes would not be missed. If people in this facility were afraid, think how frightened people were in facilities where support for NUHW was not as strong! It's hard to blame these members when both their union and their employer were telling them that they would lose everything if they voted to change unions.If only they had done their own research! FEDERAL LAW PROTECTS YOUR RIGHT TO CHANGE UNIONS!

Grievances are probably a low priority because SEIU is very busy planning celebration parties. These are rumors that can not be confirmed as yet because the parties are for SEIU paid staffers. Members have not been invited as far as I know. Hotel banquet rooms and hotel rooms are being paid for by member dues, but they will not be a part of the celebration that they are paying for. This is why union labor is weak in America today. Corrupt, dishonest unions like SEIU have given union labor a black eye and a bad reputation that will take years to repair. God help the labor movement.

The election is over and something stinks. Former SEIU stewards stepped down, members joined our cause, and fifteen thousand people committed to vote for NUHW. When the ballots were counted, just over eleven thousand members voted for NUHW. Although this was a great accomplishment in the face of opposition from two giants (Kaiser and SEIU) with political clout and very deep pockets, something just doesn't seem right. In the months and weeks before this election, Kaiser allowed SEIU full access to it's facilities and resources, not for the purpose of representing employees, but for the purpose of campaigning. Kaiser also ignored documented incidents of SEIU threats and intimidation against workers right in the workplace. Why would any employer allow a union to threaten and harass its workers? Kaiser Permanente felt a real threat from NUHW. Ever since SEIU national put the local into trusteeship Kaiser has laid off workers, subcontracted jobs, Cut a percentage of lump sum retirement, and put existing employees into a "float pool" that essentially puts them in job security limbo. If NUHW had won, Kaiser would have had to go back to honoring the contract and treating its employees with dignity and respect.
The good news is,this fight is far from over. Federal election rules mandate that employers remain neutral in union elections. Kaiser was openly pro SEIU and NUHW supporters have documented proof. Kaiser workers were scared into voting for SEIU because their employer told them that they would lose their raises, their contract, and their representation if they did not. Unfortunately, members who didn't do their research believed the lies and folded like paper. When the documented truth gets this election overturned, members will have a chance to take a second look at their futures, hopefully without getting their livelihood threatened.
Watch the professional elections! Ballots go out on October the 18th. If the professionals vote for NUHW, members will be able to compare unions right in their own facilities and they will see that NUHW has true representation right in the facility. They will see that NUHW doesn't walk down the hallway holding hands with Kaiser management. By the way folks, union leadership is not supposed to meet secretly and bargain with management without your knowledge or consent! The union should be having lunch with its members, not behind closed doors with management! If you voted for SEIU, educate yourself about unions and about Kaiser's finances. Educate yourself about the federal laws that Kaiser and SEIU broke. Finally, when more layoffs happen,when you have to pay for health benefits, and when someone with less seniority gets weekends off and vacations approved while your are stuck with the shit end of the stick, maybe you will see who was telling the truth and who was lying.