Ballots go out for re-run union vote at Kaiser

The National Labor Relations Board today began mailing ballots to Kaiser Permanente service, clerical and technical workers who will vote in a do-over election to determine which union will represent more than 45,000 healthcare employees.

Workers will have until April 29 to send their completed ballot to the NLRB's regional office in Oakland, Calif. The ballot count is scheduled May 1-3, NLRB spokeswoman Nancy Cleeland said.

“The count concluded at the end of the second day for the first election, but there is no way to estimate how long the count will take for the rerun election,” Cleeland said. “It could extend into the following week.”

This second election was triggered after members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers alleged that 2010 election results were marred because Kaiser showed a preference toward SEIU-United Health Workers West. SEIU won that election three years ago with 61% of the vote, and SEIU officials said they will defeat NUHW once more. After a long wait following the NLRB ruling, the board announced the election date in February.

The ballots include three boxes; one for each union and one for “neither.” Kaiser officials declined to comment, but Cleeland said system officials should be well aware of the rules this second time around: “They don't want to go through that again,” she said.

An NUHW victory could add 45,880 members to the union's ranks and give them additional leverage. NUHW—which formed from former SEIU members—currently consists of about 10,000 members, including 4,000 at Kaiser facilities who won't be affected by the election. Rival SEIU counts 150,000 members in California and 2 million worldwide.

Leadership at SEIU remains confident they will come away with another victory. This election, there's been more of a focus with having rank-and-file members lead, said David Regan, SEIU-UHW president: “I'm not frustrated, it is what it is,” he said of the need for a second election. “We won two years ago, we're going to win again.”

Regan said it would be foolish for workers to pick NUHW when SEIU bargained for some of the best wages and benefits in the industry. The current SEIU-Kaiser contract expires in 2015.

NUHW officials also feel they're in a strong position and said this election could have a national impact: “We have calls from other hospital workers in California and beyond,” said NUHW Secretary-Treasurer John Borsos. “No matter what, NUHW will continue to move forward, I don't see it in the cards that SEIU prevails in this election.”

Those backing NUHW said they don't think SEIU provides enough support at the local level and that the union works too closely with Kaiser. One NUHW supporter is Therron “Ron” King, a certified surgical technologist at Kaiser's South Bay Medical Center in Harbor City, Calif. He's now actively campaigning for NUHW after growing frustrated with what he perceives as SEIU caving into Kaiser demands. He opposes SEIU's participation in Kaiser's Labor Management Partnership, a program designed to bring unions and Kaiser administration together. NUHW officials, like King, said they don't like that up to 13 cents per hour of employee wages are deducted to participate in the program.

“SEIU has failed to really represent the membership, which is priority No. 1,” King said.