Labor Board dismisses SEIU charges to block union elections

After 16 months in legal limbo, workers will finally get elections to join NUHW

The federal National Labor Relations Board's Office of Advice has issued a directive to the NLRB's four California offices, recommending the final dismissal of charges that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has used to block fair union elections for more than 16 months. As a result of this decision, long-delayed elections may now be scheduled within a matter of weeks for thousands of California healthcare workers.

In early 2009, tens of thousands of healthcare workers signed petitions to quit the scandal-plagued SEIU and join a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). However, federal authorities failed to schedule elections until charges brought by SEIU could be reviewed.

"It should be a crime that SEIU has been able to take away our right to vote for so long," said Helen York-Jones, a cashier in food services at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. "You can't have fair elections when one side gets to choose who can and can't vote. We're voting NUHW to bring back democracy and member control in our union."

The labor board will likely offer SEIU the opportunity to withdraw their charges before they are officially rejected by the board, and SEIU is expected to comply in an attempt to save face.

For details on the charges rejected by the board, upcoming elections at Kaiser and other healthcare facilities, and the impact of SEIU's legal maneuvers to deny workers their right to vote, read the rest of the story at http://www.NUHW.org/unblocked