Latest News - August 2011

August 10, 2011
NLRB Orders Rerun of Kaiser Permanente Union Vote in California
Source: Bloomberg
By: Holly Rosenkrantz

The National Labor Relations Board ordered a rerun union election among 43,000 Kaiser Permanente health-care workers in California after throwing out results of a 2010 tainted by allegations of improper conduct.

The Kaiser employees in 2010 voted to remain with the United Healthcare Workers, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, rejecting the National Union of Healthcare Workers that broke away from SEIU in 2009. The October 2010 vote was the largest mail-in election for the NLRB.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers filed a complaint alleging improper election conduct, leading to an investigation by an administrative law judge, according to the board’s statement. The 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union is the fastest-growing U.S. labor union.

A new election, which may be scheduled within months, will force the SEIU to again face the breakaway union.