A group of healthcare workers at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, Calif., wants to decertify their union, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
The workers, members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, filed a petition Oct. 5 asking the National Labor Relations Board for a union decertification election. They are reportedly awaiting a decision.
Union leaders argue the petition was improperly submitted because it occurred shortly before the workers' labor deal is slated to expire. Union leaders also allege the hospital has refused to negotiate a new labor deal amid a potential union decertification vote.
The union was "promising us these big raises and these great benefits, but they went and pretty much accepted the first contract they were offered. They didn't really help us or protect us at all," Andrew Brown, a surgical buyer at the hospital, told the Times.
"We agree they are still underpaid and are now fighting to raise their wages in bargaining," union spokesperson Sean Wherley told the publication.
Hospital CEO Keith Hobbs told the Times both sides are working to schedule negotiation sessions, and he argued the union decertification effort is due to improvements at the hospital, as well as an overall cultural and financial shift there.
Now "they feel they have enough trust in leadership that they don’t need a third party to represent them anymore," Mr. Hobbs said.
Access the full Times report here.
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