Stanford: Stanford Hospitals and SEIU

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Stanford Hospitals and SEIU

Stanford Hospitals and SEIU

Since November 1998, some 1,400 caregivers at the Stanford hospitals have been represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 715. In February 2006, Local 715 entered into a formal agreement with its sister local, SEIU United Healthcare Workers – West (SEIU-UHW). Under this agreement, UHW, the California statewide healthcare workers local, provides services to SEIU members at the Stanford hospitals, including assistance in enforcing the contract between the union and the hospitals, representation before the National Labor Relations Board, and support in conducting other aspects of union business.

The Stanford hospitals have objected to SEIU-UHW’s role at the hospitals. Beginning in March 2006, the hospitals have taken an increasingly hostile stance to the union and unionized caregivers.

The hospitals have:

∙ Imposed new restrictions on legitimate union activities at the hospitals, in part by attempting to deny reasonable access for union representatives to meet with members, investigate grievances and observe working conditions.

∙ Limited their good-faith participation in agreed-upon mechanisms to resolve workplace conflicts, by refusing to meet with or respond to the inquiries of union representatives about contract violations, and objecting to their participation in arbitrations.

∙ Openly question the legitimacy of SEIU’s representation of its members at the hospitals, and retained the service of Laurance Arnold, widely viewed as one of the most vehement anti-union labor lawyers in Northern California.

∙ Withheld the union dues deducted each month from the paychecks of employees who are members of the bargaining unit, amounting to some $21,000 a month since March 2007, rather than forwarding those dues to SEIU.

∙ Walked out of a federal labor arbitration hearing, and threatened to boycott future hearings if SEIU-UHW staff are present, despite the appeals of the federal arbitrator.

∙ Informed workers that management will not honor the order of federal arbitrators to reinstate employees who are fired without just cause.

∙ Told workers that management no longer has to consult with employees or the union about staffing changes, because “the union no longer exists” at the hospitals.

Despite these provocative steps, Stanford workers remain committed to ensuring that UHW be recognized as the union of their choice. In January 2008, caregivers took the initiative to resolve the stalemate at the hospitals by gathering signatures on cards that formally authorize SEIU UHW as their union representative. SEIU UHW remains prepared to build a new and constructive relationship between caregivers and management at the Stanford hospitals, and to seek improvements in the current Stanford contract that would protect patient care and bring the contract up to industry standards.