Speaking Out for Worker Rights in Washington, DC

May 2014

UNAC/UHCP Staff Organizer Kuusela Hilo, and Brenda Crawford, an RN who works at the Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) facility Rancho Springs Medical Center, testified at the National Labor Relations Board on April 10-11, 2014. The public hearing on the proposed reforms to the process of voting for union representation took place in Washington, DC.

Hilo testified about delay tactics UHS used when Corona RNs petitioned for an election to be represented by UNAC/UHCP in November 2012, and how the proposed reforms to the election rules if they had been in place then likely would have prevented UHS from being able to use those tactics to delay the election. On April 10, Crawford provided the employee perspective on how the proposed rules would likely have enabled the charge nurses to vote in a union election, even though they were excluded in last summer’s election, and was a witness on April 11 regarding modernizing the information employers must share with unions after the employees have filed an election petition to make the process more fair by allowing both sides access to employees so they can make an informed decision. She explained in last summer’s organizing campaign at UHS Inland Valley and Rancho Springs, UNAC/UHCP was given home addresses and was limited to off-site, after-hours voluntary meetings, while the employer communicated its antiunion message on paid time at work, electronically, and on RNs’ personal cell phones.