Alameda County Contractor Prison Health Services Caught Threatening, Intimidating Workers in Violation of Federal Labor Law

The charges come after SEIU-UHW members voted last week to call a one-day unfair labor practices strike at the facilities on March 9, 2010. The strike is in response to PHS official's refusal to bargain in good faith on a new contract - jeopardizing the workers and services at the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility and the Santa Rita Jail. Employees at both facilities have been working without a contract for six months.

"PHS's proposals would force nurses and other staff to shoulder the burden unfairly," Maxine Persky, a nurse at the Santa Rita Jail for ten years, said. "This puts the retention of qualified healthcare professionals at Glenn Dyer and Santa Rita at risk."

In a 2006 contract entered into with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to provide healthcare services at the facilities, PHS officials agreed to a ten percent increase in wage and healthcare benefits. PHS, which reported earnings of nearly half a billion dollars in 2008, has since gone back on this agreement and is seeking cuts in both wages and benefits during contract negotiations.

In the wake of the strike vote, PHS officials have threatened to lock-out workers for up to two weeks and have notified employees that their scheduled vacation time has been cancelled because employees voted to strike.

National Labor Relations Board rules prohibit an employer from using threats or intimidation to retaliate against workers' rights to engage in protected, concerted activity to protest an employer's unfair labor practices.

Lynn Bowers is a licensed vocational nurse at Santa Rita for the past 19 years said, "This is just another example of PHS refusing to honor its word and bargain in good faith. PHS made a deal with Alameda County and is now trying to get out of it through threats and intimidation against dedicated workers."

Despite PHS's threats, workers at the facilities say they will not back down.

"We are committed to holding PHS accountable for the contract it signed with the Board of Supervisors and the taxpayers of Alameda County," said Blaire Behrens, an licensed vocational nurse at Glenn Dyer Detention Facility for 19 years. "We cannot allow an out-of-state company to come into our community and take advantage of the taxpayers and dedicated employees of Glenn Dyer and Santa Rita. No threat by PHS management is going to shake our commitment to hold them to their word."

SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (SEIU-UHW) is the largest hospital and healthcare union in the western United States with more than 150,000 members. We unite every type of healthcare worker with a mission to achieve high-quality healthcare for all. SEIU-UHW is part of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's fastest-growing union. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.

Source: SEIU-UHW