Daily Labor Report

NUMBER 154 A-11 AUGUST 9, 2012

Health Care Employees

NLRB Approves Settlement Removing UHW As Bargaining Agent at Chapman Hospital

he regional director for National Labor Relations Board Region 21 in Los Angeles Aug. 8 signed a unilateral settlement agreement in which Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers West, agreed to cease representing the employees at Chapman Medical Center in Orange, Calif. (In re SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (Chapman Med. Ctr.), NLRB Regl Dir., No. 21-CB-074064, settlement approved 8/8/12). Bruce Hill, assistant regional director for Region 21, told BNA Aug. 9 that a separate settlement agreement has been reached between the hospital and one of its employees. That agreement is pending approval by the regional director, he said. The agreement with SEIU-UHW settles charges filed by an employee of the hospital that alleged under a neutrality and card check agreement the union accepted recognition and bargained with Chapman Medical Center when it did not represent a majority of the employees. A spokesman for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which assisted the employee in filing her charges, told BNA Aug. 9 that she has not signed off on the settlement agreement with the union. The foundation and the employee have until Aug. 21 to file an appeal with NLRBs acting general counsel, according to an Aug. 7 letter from the regional director to the foundation.

NLRB Election Would Be Venue in Future. Under the settlement, SEIU-UHW agreed to stop acting as the bargaining agent for the employees for at least one year unless and until the union has demonstrated majority status and been certified following an NLRB-conducted election.

Under the pending separate settlement agreement reached between the hospital and the employee, the hospital agreed to withdraw recognition from SEIUUHW and discontinue dealing with the union as the employees bargaining agent. In November 2011, SEIU-UHW announced on its website that a unit of 220 skilled maintenance, service and maintenance, technical, and business office and clerical employees at the medical center had joined the local. In February, Marlene Felter, an employee at the hospital, filed unfair labor practice charges with NLRB alleging that under a neutrality and card check agreement the hospital recognized the union through a rigged card count. According to Felter, she and a majority of other employees in the bargaining unit signed cards, letters, and petitions stating they did not want to be represented by SEIU-UHW. Even after those documents were delivered to the hospital, a card count was held and an arbitrator declared SEIU to be the employees representative, despite the fact that a majority of employees did not support the union, she alleged. The ULP charges alleged that through these actions the parties threatened, restrained, and coerced the employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights to refrain from collective activity. She also charged that the hospital engaged in unlawful employer support, assistance, domination, and discrimination in favor of SEIU, while SEIU unlawfully received the employers support and assistance. In late June, NRWLDF announced that NLRB Region 21 Director Olivia Garcia had authorized the issuance of a complaint against both the hospital and the union. At that time, Hill said while a complaint had been authorized, it had not actually been issued. Further discussions then led to the settlement agreement being reached.

BY MICHELLE AMBER
Text of the settlement agreement is available at http:// op.bna.com/dlrcases.nsf/r?Open=mamr-8wzuy8.

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2012 BY THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, INC.

ISSN 0418-2693