Organizers assisting workers at the San Benito County Health
Foundation to unionize filed a federal charge with the U.S.
National Labor Relations Board to investigate the Foundation’s
administration for threatening workers for their pro-union beliefs,
according to organizers.
Hollister – Organizers assisting workers at the San Benito County Health Foundation to unionize filed a federal charge with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to investigate the Foundation’s administration for threatening workers for their pro-union beliefs, according to organizers.
Services Employee International Union organizer Sergio Sanchez filed an unfair labor practice charge against the foundation on Oct. 21, claiming the foundation fired people for being pro-union and hired people to replace them only if they promised not to support a union.
A federal investigator will be in Hollister to investigate the unfair labor practice charge against the Foundation sometime in the next two weeks, Sanchez said.
He claims the adamant anti-union sentiment has been fostered by the Foundation’s Executive Director, Rosa Vivian Fernandez, which caused seven people to be fired or to resign in the past two weeks alone.
“This woman is heartless, has no concern for the community… and she disregards human nature,” Sanchez said. “This is getting out of hand. If she continues what she’s doing, the clinic is in danger of losing funding and shutting down.”
Fernandez denies firing people for being pro-union, but said the turnover of employees is natural in any healthcare organization because they either pursued other employment opportunities or were terminated for issues not relating to the union.
“These things are lies,” Fernandez said. “It’s a tactic of SEIU – they’re trying to jeopardize the funding of the organization by handing out leaflets and trying to dissuade patients from coming in. He’s placing the community at risk.”
Sanchez also said the Foundation has had current employees train their replacements before being fired.
“I have never seen such a cold-blooded individual to have employees train their own replacements,” he said. “Imagine these people going to work everyday and knowing they’re training their replacement and their replacement is anti-union.”
Sanchez has been attempting to organize a union election since early August because workers are concerned with hostile working conditions, he said.
Their concerns include inadequate wages, poor benefits, favoritism, disrespect, intimidation by management and being fired for their beliefs, Sanchez said.
A union election was scheduled for mid-October but was canceled in late August when the Foundation filed its own unfair labor practice charge against the union, claiming the union threatened the Foundation with legal action if it used any state funds to express its views in support or against the union.
Fernandez said she didn’t have an issue with workers unionizing, but would have preferred to resolve the issues the workers believed they had without a union.
“He continues to create a hostile environment by denouncing the administration in our organization,” she said. “This would have gone smoothly if he had not threatened the organization to begin with. But that’s what he gets paid for.”
Former nutritionist Angelina Davon was fired after two years of employment last week because of what she believes were her pro-union convictions.
“There was no valid reason for them to fire me. My beliefs are supposed to have nothing to do with doing my job,” Davon said. “To be honest, I feel bad I lost my job, but it’s a relief because I’m not going to be working in those conditions anymore.”
Fernandez said Davon was not fired because she was pro-union, but for other personnel reasons she could not discuss.
“I can’t say why, but she knows,” Fernandez said. “And she knows it was not for union activity.”
Sanchez said Fernandez is accountable to the Foundation’s board of directors, and hopes they take action to fire her.
“She’s hurting the health care of people in San Benito County,” he said. “If board members don’t take action the blood will be on their hands.”
