The battle between the National Union of Healthcare Workers and Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West for the right to represent almost 45,000 workers at health care giant Kaiser Permanente in California turned ugly Thursday after NUHW officials filed new evidence with the NLRB that the company had colluded with SEIU-UHW to influence employees' votes in a union election held last year. The NLRB found in favor of NUHW last month and ordered a new election be held. Kaiser officials maintain the company has remained neutral throughout the union election process, while SEIU expressed concerns that the ongoing struggle was subverting the process of bringing union representation to more health care workers in the state.
See "Kaiser workers at stake in union battle", Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 2011