Roseville, Calif. – Certified nursing assistants, radiology technicians, housekeepers, operating room technicians, and other caregivers at Sutter Roseville Medical Center stood united and reaffirmed their decision to keep as their union the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU UHW).
‘We again demonstrated that we are united in SEIU-UHW. We can now move forward to make sure Sutter Roseville continues to deliver the highest quality care for our community,’ said Ramona Davidson, a food service assistant at the facility.
The union election yesterday [Thur., March 18] was required after the National Labor Relations Board upheld an objection to the August 2009 union election. As in 2009, the caregivers voted decisively to keep their union, SEIU-UHW. In the election they were asked if they wanted to ‘decertify’ SEIU-UHW as their union or have no union.
Since the August 2009 election, the healthcare workers secured a new three-year contract that covers the 620 staff and includes raises of up to 16.39% over three-years, protects affordable family healthcare coverage and job security, and a ban on subcontracting jobs.
In 2009, SEIU-UHW-represented hospital workers received on average wage increases for the first year of their contract well-above the national average of 2.3%.