The National Labor Relations board ruled against a new union attempting to organize Catholic Healthcare West workers in California, finding that the existing contract between the Service Employees International Union and the hospital supersedes the attempt. The new union is led by previous National Union of Healthcare Workers leaders who were removed from their positions when parent union SEIU placed the UHW under trusteeship earlier this year. 91,000 workers have signed petitions stating they'd prefer to vote on new representation. The president of the new union, Sal Rosselli, is seeking to decertify SEIU, but NLRB officials have made it clear that no vote can occur until the current contact expires in 2012.
See "U.S. rejects new union's effort to oust SEIU", George Raine, San Francisco Chronicle, March 23, 2009