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| Our Newest UE Members from Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Santa Clarita, CA, celebrate after voting overwhelmingly for UE. Pictured, from left: Sarah Santana, Mila Jachacz, Terry Holcolm, Cora Berdin, Sue Contant, Alma Amador, Brenda Latoga and Liz Guerrero. |
Health Information Management (HIM) workers at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Santa Clarita, California became the newest members of UE when, on March 23, they voted for UE representation by a 24-8 margin, despite an intense anti-union campaign by hospital management. Unfair treatment and worker input into scheduling issues were key motivators of the organizing campaign. The HIM employees are the second group of workers join UE at the hospital. UE Local 1004 already represents and bargains for some 500 ancillary staff at Henry Mayo.
'What a United and Focused Group Can Achieve'
"Winning UE representation has shown me what a united and focused group can achieve despite the massive resources hospital management used against us in its anti-union campaign," says Mila Jachacz, a coder on day shift. "Hospital management did everything possible to try to divide us. But we won a resounding YES to be represented."
Brian Morris, a clerk working the evening shift, adds, "Now that we have won UE representation, we know that hospital management has to treat us as valuable employees, which they claim they do. So now they can come to the negotiating table and prove it."
Autoline Workers Affiliate with UE
The California win came just days after a group of auto parts workers in Butler, Indiana voted 48 to 4 on March 20 to affiliate their independent union with UE. The Universal Employees Union (UEU) now becomes UE Local 735. Its officers are working with UE staff to prepare for what they expect will be difficult upcoming contract negotiations with their employer, Autoline Industries, a multinational company headquartered in India.
There will be more information on both victories in the next issue of the UE NEWS.