Vote on hospital union put off

Michelle Swafford

Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

An election on whether to unionize nurses at both St. Rose Dominican Hospital campuses was postponed because of accusations that the Henderson hospital is improperly influencing votes.

St. Rose denied the allegations.

The Service Employees International Union Local 1107 filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board office in Las Vegas on Oct. 31, one week before the election was scheduled to take place.

The complaint alleges St. Rose Dominican coerced, intimidated and threatened employees to influence their votes in the union election. The tactics were meant to discourage the workers from unionizing, SEIU spokeswoman Ty Weinert said.

"According to RNs (at St. Rose), this has taken place," Weinert said. "Therefore we had to file charges."

There is a mutual agreement between St. Rose owner Catholic Healthcare West and SEIU that prohibits either party from trying to influence voters by implying that they would lose benefits, their wages would be reduced, or they would have less favorable working conditions if they unionize, Weinert said.

The Las Vegas office of the National Labor Relations Board is investigating the compliant. The union provided evidence to support its claim, but the NLRB cannot comment on the merit of the complaint, said Stephen Wamser, deputy regional attorney. He said the investigation should conclude by next month.

Nearly 600 nurses from Rose de Lima and Siena campuses were scheduled to vote Friday and Saturday on whether to align themselves with the union. California-based Catholic Healthcare West has several unionized hospitals in California.

"They realize that there's power in numbers," Weinert said. "They would have guaranteed protections of job security and better benefits under a union contract. By joining the union they have a voice."

St. Rose denied any wrongdoing.

"St. Rose and its staff have put substantial time and energies into this process, specifically with respect to ensuring that everything was conducted in a fair, unbiased manner," said Shauna Walch, spokeswoman for the hospital.

Walch said being fair doesn't mean being silent. She said employees were not asked or told to vote against unionizing.

Walch said that while St. Rose would prefer a "direct relationship" with its employees, the hospital is committed to allowing the employees to choose in a secret ballot election if they will or will not be unionized.

"St. Rose has an obligation to provide employees with information to support an informed choice," she said. "Information presented to employees has been accurate and factual and provided to employees for the purpose of encouraging full discourse and reflection."

Much of the information was provided verbally, Walch said.

SEIU Local 1107 represents about 4,000 nurses in the valley and 12,000 total employees in the Las Vegas area. Nurses are unionized at Sunrise, Desert Springs and Valley hospitals. No plans have been announced by SEIU to organize the nurses at MountainView, Lake Mead, Spring Valley or Summerlin hospitals.