My name is Lisa Tomasian and I’d like to tell you the story behind a letter I wrote to the trustees of SEIU-UHW.

Having worked at Kaiser Hospital as a Radiology Technologist as well as having served as an elected union shop steward for the past 18 years, I believe that workers’ rights are human rights.  I’ve come to believe that labor unions are the vehicle and voice for workers to advocate for social justice.

My story

I grew up in a politically right-leaning household where we were told that Jimmy Hoffa was a mobster and that unions are corrupt.  Being the daughter of a cop, I guess thinking about questions of social justice is ingrained in me. I’m not sure where I got the “question everything” from, but ask questions I do.  That may be why my co-workers initially encouraged me to run in our department to be their shop steward.  I asked a lot of questions and then I ran. I have been repeatedly re-elected over the last 18 years.  And my co-workers have elected me to serve as an elected chief steward, chair for our Steward Council, delegate to the Kaiser Division state council, delegate to the Coalition of Kaiser Unions, elected to serve on bargaining teams to negotiate our contracts.

Reform, Retaliation and Trusteeship

For the last two years, I’ve worked with many of my fellow workers trying to reform SEIU to be more democratic–only to have our local union hit with retaliation after retaliation for standing up for our member’s voices.

At the end of January, as the final act of retaliation against my union’s reform efforts, SEIU President Andy Stern took over my union in a process called trusteeship. He removed all the elected leaders and replaced them with two appointed “trustees,” Eliseo Medina and Dave Regan.

As members of SEIU-UHW we had given our best effort over two years to reform SEIU. But Andy Stern’s trusteeship was his final attempt to silence our voices, and it became clear that the only way to keep workers in charge of our own union is to be out of SEIU. So we formed our own union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), to keep control of the democratic union we built in our facilities.

After trusteeship, the first letter I received from Dave Regan and Eliseo Medina  stated that there would be no changes to our elected Shop Steward structure.  The most recent letter I’ve received, however, said:

“We understand that you no longer share our commitment to build a stronger union and win a strong contract for 2010. Therefore, we have no other recourse than to remove you from your position as an SEIU-UHW Steward.”

I found that interesting, to say the least, since neither of them has ever talked about this with me!

In the old days, pre-trusteeship, the only way an elected steward could be removed was through a recall by the members, the same people who elect us and who we’re accountable to. Not anymore!

After I was removed from my elected position as a shop steward, more letters went out to other advocates for NUHW. The Trustee’s appointee Greg Maron started assessing shop stewards in Northern California. If shop stewards don’t toe the SEIU line or if they say they support NUHW, they receive a letter removing them from their democratically elected positions.  Greg has even stepped it up a bit by going to Steward Council meetings and if they don’t agree with him he suspends the meeting until further notice.  Greg then follows up with letters removing them as shop stewards.

In the face of this, a majority of my 50,000 Kaiser co-workers across California have signed petitions saying they want NUHW to be their union.  The petition should result in a scheduled vote within 45 days.  But, SEIU has been filing NLRB charges (even against their own trustees, believe it or not) to delay our right to vote. One of their charges is the trustees are not representing the workers. Do you think that might have something to do with letting shop stewards go?  In the mean time they are bargaining away our pensions with Kaiser.

My letter to SEIU

The letter I got from the trustees removing me as a shop steward came a week after the appointed SEIU UHW Kaiser director Greg Maron colluded with my boss to announce to them they removed me as a shop steward.  In response, I sent Greg the following letter:

Dear Greg Maron,

We understand that it is your current misunderstanding that you have the power to “remove” Shop Stewards because we want to join another union, we don’t toe the SEIU line, we don’t do what you say, we argue with your scab staff you’ve assigned to our facility, and we don’t respect you, the trustees or SEIU’s “leadership.”

Sadly for you, our members are well educated and empowered to understand that our power comes from the workers, not from some failed attorney who gets to temporarily play “Kaiser Director” while the workers decertify SEIU. They understand that they elected Shop Stewards and that nothing you do or say or write will change that. Ours is a democratic union and of course, your trying to “remove” Shop Stewards because they disagree with you just highlights why 50,000 Kaiser workers will very soon no longer be a part of SEIU’s dictatorship.

But the real point of this letter is not the lost cause of trying to educate you on union democracy. The real point is to make sure you understand the impact of our having filed a petition by the majority of Kaiser workers two weeks ago. The impact of that means that SEIU is no longer the union of Kaiser workers and you are no longer the Kaiser Director.

As such, you are hereby notified that you are no longer recognized by the Kaiser workers as the Kaiser Division Director. Further, Ken Krause and Linda Erickson are no longer recognized as union representatives to the workers of Santa Clara Kaiser.

Respectfully,

The Kaiser Workers

Lisa Tomasian CRT/ARRT

Kaiser Santa Clara

NUHW Shop Steward

A new beginning

You might have noticed I signed my letter NUHW Shop Steward.  That happened this last week.  My co-workers were so upset about how the trustees removed their elected steward, we posted a 7 day vote notice and held an election on the seventh day. My department unanimously elected me as their NUHW shop steward.  

If you believe in democracy and believe that the Employees Free Choice Act is for workers to be able to choose without fear or intimidation, call your elected Assembly, Senate and Congress political leaders and tell them that 91,000 healthcare workers at nursing homes and hospitals across California have signed petitions to leave SEIU and join NUHW, and we want to vote without delay. Our elected leaders oversee the National Labor Relations Board and they have the power move the board in the fair and right direction in support of the right of California’s healthcare workers to choose NUHW.

::

Here’s how you can help:

JOIN our mailing list (by going to the sidebar and signing up for updates). TELL your elected California representatives that you support California healthcare workers’ freedom of choice to form NUHW through fast, free and fair elections, without harassment and intimidation from their employers or from SEIU. (Enter your zip in box and hit enter.) VISIT our website and DONATE to support our movement. And, most importantly, if you have friends or family who are healthcare workers and would like to join our movement to build a vibrant, member-led National Union of Healthcare Workers, please SPREAD THE WORD.