Another surprise — people who break labor laws don’t like the Employee Free Choice Act:
A group of 11 Arkansas business leaders met with the state’s congressional delegation today to voice their opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. According to Arkansas Business, the the group included Michael Keck, whose St. Vincent Health System has been found time and again to be in violation of federal labor law.
Nurses there successfully joined a union in 2000 after a previous failed attempt was overturned by the National Labor Relations Board “amid charges that St. Vincent officials improperly tried to influence staff.”
Two years later, St. Vincent was found to be involved in a similar attempt to decertify the union by “illegally lobby[ing] unions to end union representation.”
Altogether, negotiations dragged on for nearly three years before before a contract was finally ratified.
Our brothers and sisters at SEIU have more info on St. Vincent’s Health System and its anti-worker campaigns:
It Took Over Three Years - And Multiple NLRB Rulings - For Nurses At St. Vincent Health System to Get Their First Contract.
Nurses Voted to Join a Union in 2000, After NLRB Found That the Hospital Had Threatened Some Nurses. Nurses at St. Vincent Health System “began their unionization drive in 1999, winning a vote in 2000, after an earlier defeat was overturned by the National Labor Relations Board amid charges that St. Vincent officials improperly tried to influence staff.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 2/18/06]
There Were Numerous Charges of Unfair Labor Practices Against Hospital Management Filed in 2002. In May 2002, St. Vincent Nurse Dana Downes asked for an election to decertify the union, “but the petition was dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board in Memphis over claims of unfair labor practices by St. Vincent. By the end of 2002, the regional director in Memphis agreed with union members about several charges against the system, including that management had illegally lobbied nurses to end union representation. The nurses settled the charges with St. Vincent in January 2003, a day before the two sides were to meet before an administrative law judge.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 4/24/07]
Management and Nurses Finally Ratified First Contract in 2003. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the 2000 vote by nurses to join the union “set the stage for contract talks that dragged on for nearly three years. The union rejected St. Vincent’s contract offer in August 2001. The labor board found in November 2001 and December 2002 that the health system had violated labor laws. Nurses threatened a strike in February 2002.” Finally, in March 2003, nurses at St. Vincent Health System ratified a first contract, “ending years of tumultuous contract talks, strike threats, legal challenges and demonstrations.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 2/18/06, 3/23/03]
In 2007, Nurses Killed an Effort to Decertify Their Union. In April 2007, nurses at St. Vincent Health System voted 334-224 to remain in the Office and Professional Employees International Union. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 4/24/07]