North Bay Business Journal

Kaiser Permanente employees in California, including about 4,700 in the North Bay, voted to stay with their current trade union, rather than switching, according to results announced Thursday afternoon by the National Labor Relations Board.

The Petaluma Health Center recently received recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for being a “Patient Centered Health Home” for the care provided to patients in Sonoma and Marin counties. …

Santa Rosa Community Health Centers was awarded The Joint Commission’s “Gold Seal of Approval” for accreditation. …

Petaluma-based WellFX announced that United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley, a federally qualified community health center serving a patient population of 50,000, will launch the startup’s online social platform for its patients and employees. …

Queen of the Valley Medical Center Foundation was awarded a $500,000 give from The V Foundation for Cancer Research to support the Napa hospital’s clinical laboratory and pathology services in the forthcoming Herman Family Pavilion, a 72,000 square-foot facility currently under construction. …

Fairfield-based NorthBay Healthcare is seeking designation as an Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics for its NorthBay Medical Center, considered a best practice that will enhance the nonprofit health system’s trauma services. …

A date has been set for a do-over in labor elections between the National Union of Healthcare Workers and Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Northern California, including more than 4,700 workers in the North Bay. …

SANTA ROSA — updated 3:11 p.m. — The National Union of Healthcare Workers today said it reached a tentative agreement with Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital that allows for across-the-board wage increases and other benefits, which the union called “a huge victory” that ends nine years of union-organization efforts at Sonoma County’s biggest hospital.

NORTH BAY — The National Labor Relations Board has issued an order that will lead to a re-run of an election held in the fall of 2010 for some 43,500 employees of Kaiser Permanente in California.

[Updated: 4 p.m.] CALIFORNIA — Kaiser Permanente employees throughout the state voted to remain with the Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West instead of joining its rival offshoot, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

NUHW is considering a legal challenge to the election.

NORTH BAY, CALIFORNIA – Kaiser Permanente employees throughout the region will be able to officially vote on whether to remain with the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West, the union that currently is in place, or join its rival offshoot, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the National Labor Relations Board announced last week.

NORTH BAY, CALIFORNIA – Kaiser Permanente employees throughout the region will be able to officially vote on whether to remain with the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West, the union that currently is in place, or join its rival offshoot, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the National Labor Relations Board announced today.

NORTH BAY — Kaiser Permanente employees across Northern California could have a chance to choose between two quarreling unions as early as next week.

NORTH BAY — The National Union of Healthcare Workers has petitioned for elections that would determine whether thousands of employees at Kaiser Permanente facilities could vote to join the upstart union or remain with the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.

SANTA ROSA — Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital today announced it filed a challenge to a judge’s recent ruling that sided with the National Union of Healthcare Workers in the long-standing labor dispute.

SANTA ROSA — The National Labor Relations Board has sided with the National Union of Healthcare Workers in a long-standing labor dispute with Memorial Hospital.

SANTA ROSA — Challenges to 17 ballots in the disputed union election at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital have been resolved in favor of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, although objections by the hospital to the election process are still under investigation by federal labor officials.

SANTA ROSA — A series of ballot challenges to determine who was eligible to vote in the Dec. 17-18 union election at St. Joseph Health System’s Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has delayed a final tally and certification of the election by the National Labor Relations Board until after Dec. 29, according to Tim Peck, assistant regional director with the NLRB in San Francisco.

SANTA ROSA, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The last-minute scheduling of a union election for about 600 Memorial hospital workers came as a bitter-sweet surprise last Monday morning, even within the context of a high-pitched battle between two Northern California unions.

SANTA ROSA — After more than six years of attempts to organize, about 600 Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital workers will finally vote whether to have union representation Dec. 17 and Dec. 18, following an agreement this morning between two warring labor groups and the employer.

SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA – The Oct. 26 hearing intended to schedule the long-awaited union election for Memorial Hospital workers has been delayed until Nov. 2, according to a National Labor Relations Board official who said one of the union’s attorneys could not attend the meeting.

SANTA ROSA – With a six-year unionization effort at stake, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has become a battlefield in a rivalry between national labor giant Service Employees International Union and a fledgling group of its former Northern California leaders.
In April, about 600 hospital nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, radiology and other health care-related technicians were on track to schedule a union election under a petition with the new group, the National Union of Healthcare Workers. But at the final hour, SEIU intervened and stalled proceedings.

SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors renewed a contract impacting thousands of Service Employees International Union in-home care workers this morning, despite claims that organizers inappropriately barred some members from voting for representation.