A discussion with SEIU's Andy Stern

SEIU's rigged election in Ohio (0.00 / 0)

Some clarification on Ohio.

• The employer, not the union, filed for the election, without a single signed union card requesting representation by SEIU.
• SEIU and the employer manipulated labor law, with the collusion of the Bush- labor board, to pre-empt any other organization from appearing on the ballot. Having employers file for elections is a very dangerous precedent that no union should be encouraging.
• The election was cancelled by the employer and SEIU, not by NNOC/CNA. If the employees really wanted to be represented by SEIU, why didn't they go ahead with the election? Since when do we cancel elections in America just because there is more than one point of view being expressed?
• RNs and other employees were specifically forbidden by their managers, with the agreement of SEIU, from talking about the union or the election, violating the constitutional rights of free speech and association, and the fundamentals of how to build a democratic union in the workplace.
• CHP and SEIU worked to gag opposition outside the workplace as well. When NNOC/CNA RNs arrived to talk to RNs outside the hospital, SEIU staff followed and harassed our nurses, CHP obtained a restraining order, and had two people arrested.  

Chuck Idelson, CNA/NNOC

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by: cidelson @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 18:58:26 PM CDT

RNs (0.00 / 0)

I think there are really two comments about the Ohio situation--and, yes, thank you Brian, let's keep it professional and civilized:

1.  The Ohio RNs felt that this was a very dangerous election...SEIU had failed in the organizing drive (14 RNs supported them at 5 hospitals after 3 years of organizing), so they made a secret deal with the hospital for the employer to file an election with no other alternatives offered--one of their partneships.  So we have to disagree with what that one worker told you, and remind everyone that presenting a worker with the option of no union or the boss' union is a fundamental violation of worker rights.

More information from an Ohio nurse here.

2.  SEIU International historically has not been able to organize RNs because they have a poor reputation in terms of protecting RN professional practice--e.g., not fighting for safe RN to patient ratios, scope of practice, etc.  Please remember that nearly every RN in the nation has heard of SEIU, they are quite well-known, so their lack of support is based on the reputation they have earned in hospitals.

I am a healthcare activist for the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association.  We are the nation's largest RN union, the nation's fastest-growing union, and leading advocates for single-payer healthcare.

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by: California Nurses Shum @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 19:01:59 PM CDT

Dispelling CNA Spin (0.00 / 0)

It's ironic to see CNA steal a page from the Wal-Mart union-busting hand book and then claim to protect union democracy. In fact CNA's campaign to disrupt this organizing drive is more about CNA competing at all costs with SEIU for members. Basically, CNA would rather have these workers not join any union, and in many cases continue to work in poverty with out health insurance, than join a union other than CNA.
The idea that this campaign was a backroom deal is inaccurate. Thousands of workers in these hospitals were involved in SEIU's attempt to organize these hospitals and overcome. They wrote letters to management, leafleted outside of the hospitals and in their community, and attending rallies in support of unionization. These workers were part of a larger community coalition that involved civil rights, religious, and progressive political leaders.
Management initially resisted SEIU's organizing efforts, firing leaders of the campaign, hiring anti-union consultants, etc before eventually agreeing to hold an election without intimidating pro-union employees.
It's a shame that CNA would seek to undermine progressive movements such as this.  The fact that CAN criticizes SEIU's neutrality agreement in Ohio while asking employer's for the same agreements in other states just adds to CNA's hypocrisy.

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by: veganpete2 @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 15:11:05 PM CDT

Then why was it so absurdly easy to blow it up? (0.00 / 0)

If SEIU had done such long and hard work in these hopsitals, and if they had such a strong base of support there, how was it that a handful of CNA supporters handing out a few leaflets made the whole thing fall apart?  SEIU has tried to disrupt CNA election campaigns in a number of places and never had much success - since CNA campaigns build actual nurse support.
The question I have asked on other sites, and no one seems willing to answer is: What made it impossible to hold this election?  Only the fact that once the nurses understood there was a better choice, SEIU didn't look like such a good deal.
CNA will in fact be back to organize those nurses soon enough, and when we do, we'll do it the right way - building support, signing cards and running an actual organizing campaign.  Not by organizing the boss.  
As for "Wal-mart style union busting", you sure won't find any of our leaders sharing a stage with the chairman of Wal-mart, the way Andy Stern is so happy to do.  Nor crossing a union picket line to kiss-up to Arnold.

And one final note: CNA has NEVER had an agreement anything remotely like the one SEIU and the hospitals colluded in here.  Like most any union, we get organizing agreements when we can.  But ours allow for an actual campaign and require a showing of support from the nurses in the form of signed cards.  And we've never gotten the boss to file for an election for us.

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by: Chico David RN @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 16:47:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

CNA Has No Plan to Organize the Workers in these Hospitals. (0.00 / 0)

You say that:  "CNA will in fact be back to organize those nurses soon enough, and when we do, we'll do it the right way."

Nurses only make up a small fraction of the nurses involved in this election.  What about all the workers in these hospitals, where the CNA ran its anti-union campaign?  The CNA told those workers to vote no too.

In its own literature CNA promotes itself as a union that only represents Nurses.  Therefore I find it doubtful that the CNA does in fact have a plan to organize most of the workers in these hospitals, because most of them are not nurses.

This type of unionism that the CNA practices, which concentrates on organizing only nurses in a facility and ignores less skilled, poorer, and disproportionally minority workers in the same facility seems very elitist, classist, and borderline racist.  

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by: Pasadena RN @ Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 04:13:44 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

an Ohio RN, in her own words (0.00 / 0)

Springfield Regional Medical Center RN Sue Allen tells her story of hope, hard work, disappointment, and disgrace in her own words in the Springfield News-Sun today. Sue does not work for or get paid by any union. She is a nurse of 33 years who saw her dream dashed and her workplace and patients disrespected last week. Don’t miss it.

Note: I am an SEIU staffer who has been working with Sue and her colleagues to tell their story to all who want to hear the truth.

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by: 4SEIU @ Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 15:48:29 PM CDT