The latest defeat for NUHW comes on the heels of SEIU's election Saturday of Mary Kay Henry as the International Union's president. Henry said "she had no intention of settling with Sal Rosselli." As the New York Times reported, Henry "calls Mr. Rosselli a divisive figure whom a jury found to have illegally used members' dues to finance his breakaway efforts." (Please click here, to read the article.)

The members of San Francisco's home care consortium have been unequivocal in wanting to keep SEIU-UHW as their union. To avoid an overwhelming defeat NUHW withdrew its petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and called off the election days before the vote scheduled for Mon., May 17.

In April alone, by a more than 20-to-1 margin SEIU-UHW members are choosing to stay united in their union over NUHW. With this victory, more than 4,300 workers in 43 facilities have reaffirmed SEIU-UHW as their union. Since Rosselli and the others were removed from union office 16 months ago, 70,736 SEIU-UHW members have chosen to stay in SEIU-UHW - more than 96% of the members who have faced an election.

"We have been unified in our support of SEIU-UHW. As members of SEIU-UHW we will continue to focus on how we can improve the lives of our clients and the lives of the providers," said Hollice Hollman, a worker at the IHSS Consortium.

During the past five weeks, the other facilities in which SEIU-UHW members eliminated the NUHW threat to their union are:

St. Francis Medical Center, part of the Daughters of Charity Health Systems, in Lynwood, 920 workers

Enloe Medical Center (Crothall) in Chico, 100 workers

Tiburcio Vasquez Clinic in Hayward, 80 workers

Millbrae Serra Convalescent Hospital in Millbrae, 90 workers

Tiller Oakridge Care Center in Oakridge, 100 workers

Lifehouse in San Jose, 120 workers

Golden Living (Beverly Manor) Convalescent Center in Fresno, 160 workers

Windsor Manor of Concord, 170 workers

Windsor Gardens of Hayward, 60 workers

Windsor Park Care Center of Fremont, 60 workers

Windsor Skyline Care Center in Salinas, 60 workers

Windsor Monterey Care Center in Monterey, 50 workers

Windsor the Ridge Rehabilitation Center in Salinas, 100 workers

Windsor Gardens of Salinas, 90 workers

Windsor Country Drive Care Center of Fremont, 100 workers

All Saints Sub-Acute & Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro, 80 workers

San Marco Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Concord, 90 workers

Marysville Care Center in Marysville, 90 workers

Vista Manor Nursing Center in San Jose, 80 workers

Cedars of Marin in Ross, 20 workers

Yuba City Care Center in Yuba City, 50 workers

Empress Care Center in San Jose, 60 workers

Greenfield Care Center of Fairfield, 60 workers

Shields Nursing Center - El Cerrito, 50 workers

Shields Nursing Center - Richmond, 50 workers

Kingsburg Care Center in Kingsburg, 70 workers

Creekside Care Center (Heritage) in Stockton, 50 workers

Washington Care and Rehabilitation Center in San Leandro, 60 workers

Country Villa in San Rafael, 60 workers

University Mound Ladies Home in San Francisco, 20 workers

Clovis Convalescent Hospital in Clovis, 50 workers

Golden Living (Beverly) Center - Hy-Pana in Stockton, 70 workers

Golden Living (Beverly) Center in Galt, 70 workers

Hayward Convalescent in Hayward, 80 workers

Central Gardens Convalescent Hospital in San Francisco, 80 workers

Mission Bay Convalescent Hospital in San Francisco, 35 workers

Avalon Chowchilla nursing home in Avalon, 50 workers

Willow Pass Healthcare Center in Concord, 80 workers

Elmwood Care Center in Berkeley, 60 workers

Kyakameena Sanatorium in Berkeley, 50 workers

San Leandro Healthcare Center in San Leandro, 60 workers

Beyond these losses, NUHW has been facing unprecedented setbacks on multiple fronts in recent weeks. On Monday, Rosselli faced a second major loss in federal court, when a federal judge removed him and four of his top assistants from a $20 million union education fund they illegally tried to maintain control of even after they were removed from office. In April a Federal jury held the union and many of its officers and staff liable for $1.5M in damages for their conduct as they were removed from SEIU-UHW and formed their new union. NUHW's recently filed annual financial disclosure indicates that they were $1.5M in debt even before the judgment.

"Our union, SEIU-UHW, has always been here to support us. There was no way we were going to switch to NUHW," said Jian Ying Zeng, a worker at the IHSS Consortium.

Rather than face defeat, NUHW is still desperately trying to stop elections at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch, Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Sutter Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, and Centinela Hospital in Inglewood. In many cases NUHW is now challenging the composition of the bargaining units, even though they are the same bargaining units for which they themselves petitioned for the election.

For more information, or to talk to workers involved, please contact Adriana Surfas at 510.869.2246 or asurfas@seiu-uhw.org.

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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 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's fastest-growing union. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.

Source: SEIU-UHW