How
CNA Worked to Silence
Ohio Nurses & Health Care Workers
Fall 2004
CHP hospital employees in Springfield, OH turn to SEIU for help in
forming a union. They reach out to other CHP hospital employees around the
state to join the effort.
2005-2007
More than 100 registered nurses and other hospital workers come to
Cincinnati from all over Ohio in April 2005 and adopt a plan to campaign for
fair union organizing rules.
Hundreds of Ohio healthcare workers continue to join with
SEIU members, leaders and staff in the campaign to form their union. As part of
their efforts, the workers signed letters to hospital CEOS and religious
sponsors. They knocked on thousands of doors to try to get a Hospital
Accountability Commission in Springfield and
made
their case for fair union organizing rules with elected officials, Catholic and
other community leaders. They signed letters and petitions to unite in SEIU.
Late 2007
SEIU
and CHP begin to discuss ways to create a truly fair process for employees to
choose whether to form a union. They come up with a set of indisputably fair
and ethical ground rules that guarantee an honest debate and give workers the
space to make their own decision without undue influence from either side.
February 2008
SEIU and CHP agree to elections with ground rules to allow 8,000
employees at 9 hospitals in Ohio to have a fair and democratic vote on
unionization. Elections supervised by the National Labor Relations Board are
scheduled for March.
March 6, 2008
Just days before hospital workers were about to realize their
dreams and vote, California Nurses Association (CNA) organizers descended upon
the hospitals, waging an aggressive and misleading anti-union campaign urging
workers to vote “no.” CNA had never talked to CHP employees about forming a
union with CNA and made no effort to get on the ballot. Their only mission was
to prevent workers from voting for SEIU.
March 11, 2008
After
it becomes clear that a free and fair vote is no longer possible, workers temporarily
call off the elections scheduled for March 12 and March 14.
For more information,
or to tell us your CNA/NNOC story,
call toll-free: 1-800-577-1635
or email us at info@ShameOnCNA.com.