Friday, August 29, 2008
As the election nears to determine whether employees at Stanford and Packard Children’s Hospitals want to be represented by United Healthcare Workers, the future of the union has been thrown into serious doubt.
UHW’s parent union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has accused UHW of wrongdoing in connection with the transfer of millions of dollars that came from member/employee dues.
UHW, on the other hand, has accused SEIU of not giving union members a voice and of corruption at the highest levels of the International Union.
SEIU International leadership recently announced that it will hold a hearing on Sept. 22 and 23 to determine whether UHW should be placed into trusteeship because of their alleged corruption.
This could mean that all of the elected UHW officers and officials will be removed or replaced by the International leaders that UHW officials call “corrupt”—the very same International leaders who UHW officials claim will do what they please despite the fact that it may not be what you want.
Because trusteeship could be imposed upon UHW after the Stanford and Packard NLRB election on Sept. 10 and 11, it means that you won’t actually know who will be running the union when you vote.
Why not consider remaining unrepresented and having a direct relationship with the Hospitals?
We respect our employee’s right to choose union representation. However, if you have been thinking that you want union representation, you might want to reconsider. You can always bring in the union a year from now, after this internal union dispute is resolved, if that’s still what you want.
If you don’t vote, as a practical matter it is counted as a “YES” vote for unionization, because it reduces the number of votes the union must get to win.
The Hospitals remain committed to providing competitive wages and benefits to all SHC/LPCH employees regardless of union representation.
For more information, visit our Web site www.stanfordpackardfacts.com
If you have any questions, please contact a member of our Employee and Labor Relations Team at (650) 723-6251.
