CHICO, Calif., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- After nearly two of years of illegal tactics by Enloe Hospital management to disregard workers’ rights to have union representation, and their continued blatant display of employee intimidation, unlawful terminations and suspensions, the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, DC gave a Decision and Order for Enloe to bargain with SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West, the union that employees voted overwhelmingly to join.
Specifically, the Housekeeping, Dietary and Service workers at Enloe originally voted in April, 2004 for union representation. Ever since, Enloe management has continued to drag their feet and make false claims regarding the viability of the service unit elections. In August of 2005, the NLRB ordered that the union be certified as the representative of the workers. This followed a ruling several months earlier by an Administrative Law Judge that validated the democratic vote of service employees in favor of unionization.
“How can they continue to break the law?” stated Nancy Hansen, who has worked at Enloe for nearly 14 years. “The National Labor Relations Board, part of the federal government, is ordering Enloe to get to the bargaining table. How can they ignore that? By failing and refusing to bargain since we’ve been certified, they are breaking the law. Management has the opportunity to do the right thing, right now, to comply with this order and start bargaining with us.” Enloe snubbed the previous order and has continued to create a climate of fear at the hospital and refuses to bargain as mandated.
The new ruling by the NLRB orders Enloe to: 1) cease and desist from refusing to bargain, 2) cease and desist from interfering with, restraining or coercing employees in the exercise of their rights, and 3) embody the understanding in the signed agreement, once it has been bargained and accepted.
The NLRB has also ordered Enloe to post and obey a public notice that details workers’ rights under Federal law and states their (Enloe’s) commitment to refrain from engaging in activities that will interfere with employee union and bargaining activities.
“We’re eager to get to the bargaining table to address urgent issues including staffing and health and safety issues, health insurance, fair discipline and equitable wages,” added Hansen.
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, with more than 140,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all.
CONTACT Kay Carney 510-773-7229
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Kay Carney for SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,+1-510-773-7229
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org//
