Since workers at the San Benito Health Foundation initiated a
union campaign last summer, more than half the employees have
either quit or been fired because of conflicts with the
administration, according to union organizers and former employees.
The contention will come to a head next week when 24 of the workers
finally hold an election to decide whether a union will be welcomed
or turned away for good.
Hollister – Since workers at the San Benito Health Foundation initiated a union campaign last summer, more than half the employees have either quit or been fired because of conflicts with the administration, according to union organizers and former employees. The contention will come to a head next week when 24 of the workers finally hold an election to decide whether a union will be welcomed or turned away for good.
Of the approximately 50 employees at the foundation, 24 of them, including several doctors, dentists and chiropractors, have either resigned or been terminated in the past six months, said Denise Houssein, a nurse practitioner who left the foundation last week after two-and-a-half years of employment.
Houssein said she finally quit after the depleted staffing levels increased her caseload to an unreasonable amount and the administration was uncooperative in helping her adequately take care of her patients.
“The clinic has so much potential and I wish them the best. It has a lot of very good employees,” she said. “But it’s all black and white (with the administration) and that’s not how people’s lives are. The world is full of grays. You bend and that’s how you get things done.”
Tension has been high at the foundation since a group of 24 workers at the nonprofit clinic, including clerical staff, nutrition educators and medical and dental assistants, approached organizers with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in an attempt to gain union representation. Since August, workers have picketed the foundation’s administration and held vigils voicing their concerns about hostile working conditions, according to union organizer Sergio Sanchez.
Inadequate wages, shoddy benefits, favoritism, disrespect, intimidation by management and being fired for their beliefs top the workers’ list of concerns, Sanchez said.
Sanchez has accused the foundation’s executive director, Rosa Vivian Fernandez, of attempting to foster anti-union sentiments and firing people for wanting union representation. He believes her leadership has exacerbated the unfavorable working conditions and caused employees to leave.
Fernandez, who said she didn’t have time to comment on the issue before hanging up when contacted on Friday, has denied any wrong doing and has blamed SEIU for filling the workers’ heads with lies and creating the hostile environment at the Foundation. Multiple attempts to reach her comment were unsuccessful. In the past, she has said she doesn’t have an issue with the workers unionizing, but would have preferred to resolve the workers’ issues without a union. Hernandez also said that the turnover rate at all health care clinics is high.
Houssein conceded she and some other employees had communication issues with Fernandez. If a problem arose, Houssein said it was difficult to tie the director down to talk about it, and many things went unresolved because of it. She said three other workers quit the same week she did for similar reasons.
“Every day we were having a going away party. It was like, ‘Oh, it’s your turn today,'” she said. “I just don’t understand why there was this ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality.”
Houssein said the nonprofit clinic services mostly very low-income patients. Many of the positions left vacant from firings or resignations have yet to be filled, which interferes with the care of people who either have very few or no other healthcare options.
While still at the foundation, Houssein, who was not one of the 24 workers eligible to unionize, said she saw memos handed out to employees advertising non-union sentiments and witnessed the administration voicing anti-union views. In an article published in September, Houssein told the Free Lance she didn’t see anything wrong with employees holding a union election if they wanted to. She said several people at the clinic chastised her for speaking to the newspaper.
“I don’t see anything wrong with what I said,” she said. “If the administration listened to the employees they’d be a lot happier. That’s one of the reasons they’ve had so many problems.”
An election was planned in October, but legal issues both the union and the Foundation were embroiled in halted the proceeding. The foundation filed an unfair labor practice charge against the SEIU in August, claiming organizers threatened the foundation with legal action if the clinic used any state funds to express its views in support or against the union. Union organizers then filed their own federal charge with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board in October to investigate Fernandez for allegedly threatening and even firing workers for their pro-union beliefs.
An election was put on hold indefinitely because Fernandez refused to withdraw her charge against the union. However, Sanchez said the National Labor Relations Board later dismissed the foundation’s charge and workers will get a chance to vote whether they want a union or not at 2pm on Thursday.
The union must garner a 50 percent plus one vote to begin representing the group of workers, Sanchez said. Some of the workers originally eligible to be part of the union have either quit or been fired for one reason or another, and Sanchez said at least six new employees took their place. Those new employees will also vote on union representation, he said.
“You better believe she’s (Fernandez) made sure they vote non-union,” Sanchez said. “But if the workers vote to have us in there it changes the game. We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure these workers have justice.”
Sanchez said he believes enough workers will vote to welcome the union into the foundation, and if they do he will make it his mission to have Fernandez removed from the clinic’s helm as soon as possible. The fight between the two sides has become increasingly hostile, with inflammatory accusations being slung back and forth over the past few months.
Sanchez said in his five years with the union, this is the nastiest battle he’s fought.
“I’ve never faced an employer as tough as this one,” he said. “It’s a bad place.”
Employees lobbying for a union will hold a solidarity rally in front of the Foundation, located at 351 Felice Dr. in Hollister, from 11:30am to 1pm Tuesday.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
