Federal government will protect Kaiser workers' right to vote

On a conference call held Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) won an agreement that ensures workers’ right to vote by mail in the privacy of their homes, in a government-protected election to join NUHW.

Up to this point, SEIU had insisted that Kaiser workers be forced to vote in the workplace, where managers and SEIU staff have tried to keep them from hearing both sides.

As a result of this agreement, 44,000 Kaiser workers will be able to vote to join NUHW in the privacy and security of their own homes. Their secret ballots will then be counted by the federal government. Kaiser will be required to recognize the union that Kaiser workers choose.

“The decision we have to make is too important to let SEIU and Kaiser managers make it for us,” said Delores Jones, a medical assistant at Kaiser Stockton. “We have the right to have all the information and vote for the union that gives us the strongest voice for our patients and ourselves.”