2 healthcare unions dissolve affiliation after disagreements

by Kelly Gooch 

May 23, 2016

The National Union of Healthcare Workers and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United have officially ended their three-year affiliation, according to a Bloomberg BNA report.

The decision comes amid various disagreements over relationships with other labor organizations and allegations of raiding another union's members, according to the report.

Nearly all NUHW members — some 93 percent — voted in support of a disaffiliation agreement reached between the two unions in February, according to an email obtained by Bloomberg BNA that NUHW President Sal Rosselli sent to union members in March.

In the email, NUHW said "the staff leadership of CNA wanted to end the affiliation" but that the disaffiliation agreement, reached through mediation, called for the forgiving of some $7.2 million in loans from the CNA to the NUHW, according to Bloomberg BNA.

A spokesman for the CNA, Chuck Idelson, declined to comment to Bloomberg BNA about the disaffiliation. A spokeswoman for the California Hospital Association also would not comment.

According to the report, which cites court documents, CNA officials were not happy when the NUHW expressed dismay at an anti-raiding agreement reached between the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union two years ago. At one point, according to an affidavit filed last year, NUHW approached CNA about possibly remaining affiliated with CNA but ending its affiliation with the AFL-CIO. That request was declined by the CNA.

The court filing came after the NUHW in March 2015 filed a petition for a representation election with the National Labor Relations Board, seeking to replace the SEIU as employees' bargaining representative at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Calif.

Although the petition was later withdrawn, it prompted SEIU President Mary Kay Henry to file a complaint against the CNA under the no-raid agreement. It also led the CNA to advise the NUHW that it wished to disaffiliate.

As the union moves forward, Mr. Rosselli told NUHW members that the union is "stronger than ever and getting stronger," largely due to recent contract successes and the forgiveness of the CNA's loan, according to the report.

The two unions initially affiliated with each other in January 2013. At the time, officials with both unions said they were collaborating to fight common employers, such as Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, according to the report.