formal comments to the Board's proposed rule. - SEIU

Healthcare Florida so that they could advocate for adequate staffing and prioritizing patients’ needs. But
before they could even file a petition, NCH began punishing those nurses it believed were involved with
the union, including formally reprimanding a nurse for the first time in more than fifteen years merely
because she spoke to her co-workers about the union.
of nurses about the dangers becoming an outspoken union advocate.
43 This sent a quick and clear message to the rest
When SEIU petitioned for an election in August 2007, NCH management insisted on a pre
election hearing to litigate the eligibility of seasonal employees and employees it claimed were
supervisors. Each of these issues did not affect more than 20% of the bargaining unit, and thus, under
the proposed rules, resolution of these issues would have been deferred until after the election. But
under the current system, the lengthy pre-election hearing process provided NCH with an addition time
to implement its hard-hitting campaign.
Chief among those tactics was a brand-new solicitation and distribution policy that NCH
implemented in a discriminatory fashion.
literature in break-rooms,
44 When three off-duty nurses were handing out union
45 a department director told them “[they] wouldn’t be welcome here and
[they] wouldn’t be welcome anywhere” while another demanded they leave, saying “Bye-bye, ladies”
and “You’re finished.”
46 At the same time, NCH invited its own paid anti-union consultants to use the
nurse break rooms,
while the nurses were trying to care for patients.
47 as well as occupy patient care units, where they confronted and distracted nurses
48 Pro-union nurses reported increased surveillance,
including being followed around the hospital and out to the parking lots by hospital security officers.
The totality of NCH’s actions formed the basis of blocking charges that delayed the union
election, but it was not until August 2010 that the Board found that certain aspects of NCH’s anti-union
campaign violated the NLRA. Even then, NCH insisted on re-opening the pre-election hearing rather
than agree to schedule a new election promptly. The nurses had had enough and decided in March 2011
to withdraw their petition rather than continue to subject themselves to any further intimidation. They
simply gave up on the NLRB process.
In some cases, the fear of delay in getting an election date prevents workers from even filing a
petition. A group of Certified Nurse’s Aides (CNAs) at HCR ManorCare—Easton, a nursing home in
Pennsylvania, were fed up with short-staffing, high turnover and low pay and decided to form a union
with SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania so they would have a voice in the decisions that affected the
Id. at *7376
Id. at *2224
46
1d. at *2224
47
48
1d. at *55
1d. at *6465
Cmty. Hosp., Inc. & SEIU Healthcare Florida, 355 NLRB No. 171, No. 12-CA-025689, *1O11 (Aug. 27, 2010).
8