National Union of Healthcare Workers gets its first members

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-union18-2009mar18,0,6890345.story

By Evelyn Larrubia
March 18, 2009
A new Oakland-based union -- the product of a brutal fight between the elected leaders of healthcare workers in Northern California and their superiors in Washington -- announced Tuesday that it had gained its first members.

North American Healthcare agreed to recognize the National Union of Healthcare Workers as the representative of more than 350 nursing home workers at four of the company's facilities in Northern California, the union said.

But United Healthcare Workers West and its parent union, the Service Employees International Union, which had until now represented those workers, are not giving them up without a fight.

"This is not a done deal," SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette said. She said the SEIU on Tuesday filed an unfair labor practices charge with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing North American Healthcare of "illegally recognizing" the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

She said former United Healthcare Workers leaders purposely allowed contracts with employers to expire at North American Healthcare and many other facilities so that if the SEIU took over the local -- as it did in January -- they would be able to make a play for the workers through a new union.

FULL story at link.