SEIU’s Fastest Growing Union Adds 300 More in Orange County

April 14th, 2008

On Friday, April 11th UHW added to a recent string of organizing victories when workers at Coastal Communities Hospital in Orange County voted overwhelmingly to join UHW. The hospital’s workforce was organized largely by union co-workers at a sister facility and by other UHW members. The nearly 300 healthcare workers from Coastal Communities joined thousands of other healthcare workers who have voted to join UHW in recent weeks, many in California’s most politically conservative counties. Eduardo Mejia, a dietary worker at Coastal, says “forming a union means improving wages so I can have a better life for myself and my family. I now can be a part of the decision making process to make sure everyone is treated fairly and with respect.”

UHW, the fastest growing healthcare local in SEIU, has organized more workers this year than has been organized in the rest of SEIU’s health systems division in the same period. While SEIU has claimed that UHW only cares about standards, not about growth, this victory is further evidence that UHW members understand intrinsically how they’re connected: workers organize into UHW to have a voice at work and achieve the standards they can win with UHW.

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COASTAL COMMUNITIES HOSPITAL WORKERS JOIN UNITED HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Santa Ana – Over 300 healthcare workers at Coastal Communities Hospital voted by a supermajority to be represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers – West (UHW) in a secret-ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board on Friday. “Uniting with thousands of other caregivers as a member of UHW gives us power to make a positive difference on the things that matter most,” said Ruth Calderon a Licensed Vocational Nurse at the hospital. “With our union, we plan to make improvements at the hospital that will protect patient care, increase staffing levels and help recruit and retain the most qualified healthcare workers.”

The union election victory includes service, technical and professional workers at Coastal Communities Hospital, owned by Integrated Healthcare Holdings Incorporated. IHHI operates three additional hospitals in Orange County including Western Medical Center Anaheim, Western Medical Center Santa Ana and Chapman Medical Center. In contract negotiations in 2007, UHW members at Western Medical Center Anaheim won the right for non-union employees at other IHHI hospitals to join UHW under a “free and fair” election agreement, which establishes binding ground rules for union elections.

“We voted for our union to gain a stronger voice on the job, because as frontline
caregivers, we know the best way to improve medical care,” said Respiratory Therapist,
Monica Chin. “We’re excited about our new opportunities to advocate for our patients
and achieve better wages and benefits.”

Today’s election is the latest in a recent series of UHW organizing victories as UHW keeps its place as the fastest growing local union in SEIU. Recently, nearly 2000 California caregivers have chosen UHW as their union. In the last two weeks, over 1500 workers at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, nine CHW Medical Foundation health clinics in greater Sacramento and Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside united into UHW.

The 150,000-member SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West is the largest, fastest-growing hospital and healthcare union in the western United States and represents every type of healthcare worker, including nurses, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high-quality healthcare for all.