SEIU as bad guy - again

Update 11/3/09: Earth Times reporsts the NLRB has set a December 17th election for workers at Memorial Hospital. The latest article details the 6 year effort, and SEIU's tactics to prevent an election on a petition filed by a rival union. Monsignor Brenkle previously posted an opinion piece about workers in a Santa Rosa, CA, Catholic hospital being denied the opportunity to vote on whether they wish to unionize. The obstacle isn't management now, its the Service Employees International Union. More after the jump
Monsignor Brenkle's first involvement occurred because the hospital was insisting that employees wishing to unionize follow NLRB procedures. The Bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa asked the Monsignor to mediate between the SEIU and hospital management. Seems the problem is Management believed in actually challenging the union effort by presenting information placing the union in the "worst possible" light. Monsignor Brenkle has concluded the NLRB process is "no longer a fair or adequate framework for moderating union organizing efforts." There is no discussion of the reasons why over the last 10 years such an unfair process results in unions winning over 50 percent of the contested elections. In April of this year a petition was filed seeking to have the National Union of Healthcare Workers certified as the employees bargaining representative. Since that time the SEIU has used NLRB "blocking charges" to prevent a vote by employees, much to the ire of Monsignor Brenkle. The NUHW, an independent union, call the SEIU's tactics "dangerous and antiworker."