Letter to AFL-CIO Exec Council
If SEIU now wants the AFL-CIO to act against CNA on "principles" they claim have been violated, why did they abandon those principles and the federation to operate without principle in CTW?
If these votes are the product of a 3-year organizing campaign and reflect the workers' desire for representation by SEIU, why did SEIU make a secret, exclusive election deal with the employer to evade showing of interest requirements?
SEIU complains about illegitimate CNA/NNOC opposition because "CNA is not trying to get on the ballot -- there only goal is to get workers to vote no union." But CNA could not get on the ballot, nor could any other union because SEIU's company union deal with CHP awarded SEIU exclusive representation rights which foreclosed intervention, prohibited employee opposition speech, association and organizing, and became final upon ratification in a closed, uncontested election.
If there are "hundreds of activists at Catholic Healthcare Partners hospitals in Ohio who have fought for years and put their jobs on the line to form a union with SEIU," why couldn't SEIU make a legitimate showing of interest at any CHP hospital?
Since when do "fair organizing rules" deprive employees of free choice, free speech, free association and free opportunity to make their own decisions?
Stern says "the last time I checked, all unions shared the same goal of trying to raise the standards for employer conduct in organizing campaigns above those allowed by the NLRB." Perhaps, but Stern's company union agreement for a rigged election significanty lowers the standards for employer conduct below those allowed by the NLRB by imposing by limiting choice, restricting information and imposing gag rules and prohibitions on employee dialogue and debate portrayed by the election materials as conditions of employment enforceable by employer disciplinary action.
Stern says "these workers made their choice long ago." Then why not secure a democratic election on a lawful petition with legitimate showing of interest to demonstrate collective power as a foundation for majority power won in a free and fair election and gain the necessary power to negotiate beneficial terms and conditions for the workers, rather than surrender all potential for building worker power by mortgaging their future to employer selection and terms?
SEIU Press Release
SEIU claims that "in the face of the union-busting onslaught by CNA, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, the workers have for now called off their elections to join .... SEIU."
(1) Exactly what method was used "by the workers" to call off elections they did not call for, to ratify the employer's selection of a union they did not support (or at least were unwilling to show interest in supporting)
(2) If CNA's "onslaught" of a few days caused SEIU to suddenly abandon healthcare workers at dozens of hospitals SEIU sought to represent, what kind of representation could be expected when SEIU faced the "onslaught" of employer union-busting tactics and hard bargaining?
CNA is blasted for an "intention to destroy what we have built." What you build in organizing is the showing of interest necessary to obtain an election -- if SEIU could not show "what they have built" it must presumed they "built nothing"