San Leandro Hospital employees say labor organization, not management, tried to harass, intimidate them

By Tasha Bartholomew, STAFF WRITER

SAN LEANDRO — Pesky tactics used by a local union was the deciding factor not to unionize, say employees of San Leandro Hospital — not the hospital management's interference.
Workers are concerned that members of the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers-West Local 250 are not accurately portraying how they felt during the recent election process.
The union had hoped to represent more than 270 service, technical and clerical workers at the community hospital, but employees voted against joining the union 142-98 on Jan. 27. The vote was monitored by the National Labor Relations Board.
Union officials said employees complained that from the start of the organizing process, hospital management had harassed and intimidated employees to discourage them from joining the union.
But some workers said that was not their experience at all, that it was union representatives who harassed and intimidated them to get them to join.
Sharon McCoshum, who is a licensed vocational nurse in the emergency room, said union officials showed up at employees' homes and secondary jobs, and bothered them with continual phone calls.
"The actions of the union turned a lot of people off," she said.
Kathy Goddard, a receptionist in the radiology department, said she received numerous phone calls from union reps with promises of better wages,working conditions and benefits. Yet they were unable to put any of that in writing, she said.
"I was very open to the thought of the union at first," Goddard said. "But nothing they could tell me was concrete."
Goddard said the hospital gave employees a raise so that their wages would be comparable with union wages of their counterparts at Eden, and also put into effect a retirement insurance benefit.
Cindy Geraldo, a phlebotomist in the laboratory, said the administration had been fair.
Management held two informational meetings, and never once did it tell employees not to join the union, Geraldo said.
Ronnie Bayduza, the administrator for San Leandro Hospital, said the hospital was prepared to honor the decision of the employees, no matter what the outcome.
Contrary to what McCoshum, Goddard and Geraldo said, Cassandra Allen — a nurses aide — said management was not fair.
Allen said she witnessed management remove union signs and discard literature.
Workers began organizing a union last summer when San Leandro Hospital was purchased from Triad Hospitals Inc. by the Eden Township Healthcare District.
The hospital was then leased to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, operating as an extension of that campus and becoming part of the not-for-profit Sutter Health network.
Glenn Goldstein of SEIU feels statements being made against the union are untrue.
"People have the right to freedom of speech, both to listen and to talk," he said. "Did workers and union organizers talk to (employees)? Absolutely, but it was never in a harassing way."
Goldstein said no unfair labor practices have been filed against Service Employees International Union.

Source:  Daily Review online