My name is Oscar Medina and I’ve worked as a transporter at Summit Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland, California for seven years.
I’d like to share our experience at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center since SEIU took over our local union. In particular, I would like to explain what has happened with our contract and why we are choosing to organize with a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).
Our previous experience in our union
Before our union was taken over, our bargaining team at ABSMC was large and democratic, with all members elected by our coworkers. Our bargaining team never accepted takeaways or subcontracting, and we bargained for the strong health benefits that healthcare workers deserve. During bargaining, we printed out our tentative contract agreements to share with our coworkers. Our philosophy was that workers are more powerful the more informed we are.
All that changed when Washington, D.C. officials took over our union, SEIU-UHW West, and replaced our elected leaders with their appointed trustees in January of 2009.
SEIU’s approach to bargaining and our vote
With SEIU, our new bargaining team did not communicate. Bargaining was closed to members for the first time. They didn’t share our tentative contract agreements with us. SEIU even demanded we sign a loyalty oath to SEIU simply to observe the bargaining process.
When it came time to vote, the one copy of our contract that SEIU provided us sat on the table where we went to vote. We were not allowed to take a copy of our contract and read it for ourselves before we voted. This never happened prior to SEIU’s trusteeship.
I asked an SEIU staffer about the changes to overtime in our contract and he said that there were no changes to overtime. When I pointed out to him the passage that changed our overtime, the SEIU staffer said, “Oh, I hadn’t seen that.” It’s no wonder that our managers at Sutter were telling us to vote yes.
Why SEIU’s contract with Sutter is bad for workers, our patients and our community
A healthcare workers’ union should not give away our healthcare benefits, but that’s just what SEIU has done. My coworkers and I will now have to pay to keep the health insurance and doctors we now have, some of us over $200 per month, or else accept a new substandard plan that penalizes workers who don’t join Sutter’s wellness program.
The new contract also changes the “reclassification” provisions in our contract. Reclassification is the process through which casual employees can qualify to become benefitted employees. The new contract that SEIU has bargained with Sutter will make it virtually impossible for casual workers working alongside us in our hospital to ever qualify to become benefitted employees.
Finally, SEIU has agreed to provisions that will allow subcontracting in our hospital. Subcontracting lowers wages and erodes the power of union work in our hospital and has real implications for patient care. The training and expertise we’ve developed in our workplace will be replaced by workers who are hired simply because they cost our employer less and don’t receive benefits.
As you can see, SEIU’s changes to our contract don’t just hurt us as union workers, they impact our workplace, the care of our patients and our whole community.
SEIU is the boss’s union, NUHW is our choice
Before SEIU’s trusteeship, we were informed, strong and stood up to Sutter in a democratic union that we controlled. With SEIU, it’s clear that Sutter and SEIU are friends. SEIU is the boss’s union and has agreed to concessions with Sutter that we would never have agreed to.
It is a shame how many of my coworkers voted for our contract without being able to read it and decide for themselves. As my coworkers learn what’s really in our contract, I am confident that they will join the majority of us at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center who are organizing to build a union that we control at our hospital again.
Together with 100,000 caregivers from all over California, we’re organizing with a new union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), made up of our elected workplace leaders and the experienced negotiators who have helped us win for years.
Organizing with NUHW means that when we bargain with Sutter, the process will again be democratic, open and nothing will be hidden.
–Oscar Medina, Transport, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland
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{NUHW, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, is a vibrant and democratic movement of healthcare workers, dedicated to dignity, justice, and healthcare for all. NUHW Voice features blog posts by workers from NUHW’s Our Voices page. You can follow NUHW on Facebook and Twitter.}