SEIU to Pursue More Alliances and Coordinated Organizing Strategies with Other Health Care Unions

While SEIU convention delegates unanimously vote for unity and partnerships among nurse unions, the CNA escalates its "raiding" activities--and loses a court ruling.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO--Nearly 2,000 delegates to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) convention today unanimously passed a resolution calling for more unity and alliances among labor organizations, particularly within the health care industry.

Inspired largely by the growing conflict between SEIU and the California Nurses Association (CNA), the resolution calls on SEIU to pursue efforts to coordinate organizing strategies with other health care unions "that are committed to the principle of no raiding" and to consider convening "a summit meeting" of unions to achieve this goal.

The convention resolution affirms SEIU's ongoing efforts to promote a national "no raid/no interference" agreement and to work in partnership with other nurse unions.

By contrast, while SEIU leaders and members were meeting in Puerto Rico, the CNA expanded its "raiding" activities by leafleting at hospitals in New York and West Virginia--in addition to California, Nevada, and other states--calling on nurses and other hospital employees to decertify SEIU.

"We are hopeful that we can reach a national understanding with the CNA that will include a no-raid/no-interference agreement through the mediation process proposed by the AFL-CIO," said SEIU Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry. "Nurse unions should work together to win a fair process for the 85% of registered nurses in America who don't have a union--instead of fighting over the 15% who already do."

The resolution comes on the heels of a legal ruling in California yesterday evening, when an Alameda County court issued a tentative ruling in favor of SEIU finding that the CNA's recent petition for a temporary restraining order was a "SLAPP" motion designed to suppress free speech. The court found no "credible claim of violence or threat of violence" to justify the CNA's publicity stunt lawsuit, and that SEIU is entitled to recover attorney's fees associated with its defense. A hearing on the fees is tentatively scheduled for July 10.