Despite Union's 'Aggressive Union-Busting Campaign,' Overwhelming Majority of Union Staff Vote To Unionize
1199SEIU-UHWE bosses vowed neutrality. However, they were far from neutral.
By Peter List, Editor | June 14, 2024
Calling it a “labor history milestone,” the in-house staff of a major healthcare union has voted in favor of unionization, defying intense opposition from their union bosses.
On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Baltimore tallied the votes of the in-house staff of 1199SEIU-United Healthcare Workers East, finding that 82.3 percent of the union staff who voted in the mail ballot election had voted in favor of representation by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, part of the Communications Workers of America1.
According to the NLRB election tally sheet, out of the 229 eligible voters, 168 votes were tallied in the mail-ballot election and, of those, 121 voted for unionization, while 26 voted against unionization, and another 21 were challenged. Since the challenged ballots would not affect the outcome, they were not counted.
The union 1199SEIU-UHWE is one of the largest healthcare unions in the United States and represents 450,000 healthcare workers on the East Coast.
When its non-unionized staff first approached their union bosses, they asked for voluntary recognition.
However, voluntary recognition was denied and, while 1199SEIU’s president George Gresham had vowed neutrality during the union staff’s campaign, that did not occur.
Almost immediately, union bosses engaged in what the union called an “aggressive union-busting campaign supported by 1199SEIU-UHWE management.”
The union’s union-busting campaign against its own staff included, according to the union staff, firing Donald Hemmings, an Education Coordinator, who was employed by 1199SEIU for 11 years.
This prompted the filing of an unfair labor practice charge—one of several filed—against 1199SEIU-UHWE management.
Now that the union’s in-house staff has voted to unionize, the NLRB will certify the election in a week if 1199SEIU-UHWE does not file objections to the election.
Once the election is certified, the staff union can begin the bargaining process with their union bosses in an effort to reach a contract.
However, if union management does file objections to their employees’ vote to unionize, certification could take much longer.
Related:
EXCLUSIVE: 1199SEIU Accused Of More Union-Busting As Staffers Vote On Unionization
Union-Busting Union Accused Of Firing Union Staffer Days Before Union Election
Union Accused of Using "Union Busters" To Persuade Union Staffers Against Unionizing
1199SEIU-UHWE Accused Of Unfair Labor Practices By Unionizing Staffers
Is Union Management Staying Neutral As 1199SEIU UHWE Union Staffers Unionize?
Disclosure: As a former member and activist of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), I have not been affiliated with the CWA for more than 30 years and have no ties to any of the parties in this or prior articles.