by R. Robertson
www.indybay.org
Saturday Aug 2nd, 2008 7:31 PM

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber and SEIU-UHW healthcare workers were physically
barred from entering Stanford Hospital to deliver an "open letter" to
administrators on July 31. Both Stanford and Lucile Packard Hospitals in
Palo Alto abruptly withdrew recognition of the union on July 29.

Indybay spoke with the Assemblywoman who is urging hospital management to
remain neutral and refrain from employee intimidation. Service Employees
International Union/United Healthcare Workers-West is the largest hospital
and healthcare union in the western US.

Stanford and Lucile Packard Hospitals abruptly withdrew recognition of their
workers' union on July 29, claiming a merger of SEIU Local 715 with United
Healthcare Workers-West in 2006 dissolved their responsibility to bargain.

Two days later Stanford hospital guards physically barred Assemblywoman
Sally Lieber from entering the hospital to deliver an "open letter" to
administrators. The letter urged management to remain neutral and abstain
from intimidating workers seeking representation.

In an interview with Indybay, Lieber, who is Speaker Pro Tempore of the
California Assembly, said that hospital management is attempting to
discredit a long-term labor union and that such action does nothing to
advance patient care. The Assemblywoman and several union members were
stopped by a wall of security guards who refused them entry when guards saw
their SEIU insignia purple t-shirts on Thursday.

The union represents about 1,450 housekeepers, food service workers, nursing
assistants, phlebotomists, unit secretaries, transporters and employees in
non-technical and non-professional roles at the two Palo Alto hospitals.

An SEIU-UHW representative said that Stanford and Lucile Packard caregivers
voted for representation by SEIU Local 715 in 1998, but that the hospital
was hostile from the start. When the union's parent, Service Employees
International Union, merged five locals including Local 715 into one,
Stanford used it as an excuse to step up its anti-union activity.

Assemblywoman Lieber continues to urge hospital management to recognize the
existing union.

"I'm hopeful that Stanford Hospital won't spend time and healthcare dollars
fighting their own patient care workers.  It has been ten years since SEIU
first organized workers at Stanford Hospital; now it's time for the
hospital's administration to work constructively with the union and
community leaders," Lieber told Indybay.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/08/02/18522197.php

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