Cook Co. Healthcare Workers File to Join With RNs in NNOC

CHICAGO, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Hundreds of Cook County healthcare workers Monday filed a formal petition with state officials seeking to affiliate with the Caregiver and Healthcare Employees Union (CHEU), an affiliate of the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC)/California Nurses Association which already represents 1,800 Cook County Bureau of Health Services registered nurses.

The petition was filed with the Illinois Labor Relations Board which will schedule an election for the 600 service, maintenance, clerical, and administrative county healthcare employees.

At present, the employees are affiliated with the Service Employees International Union which the workers say has left them with substandard representation and a diminished voice in fighting to improve conditions for themselves and patients.

“NNOC has established a powerful model in Cook County. We are enormously impressed with what they have accomplished, from a stronger collective bargaining contract to improving patient care conditions to fighting county budget cuts,” said Antoneta Palik. “It’s clear that they’ve set a new standard for caring for patients, the public, and their members.”

The affected healthcare service employees work at John Stroger Hospital and surrounding facilities. Many have joined NNOC protests in the long battles to protect county healthcare services in the face of proposed cuts.

In addition to their desire for more effective representation, many of the healthcare employees say they have been appalled by the scandals that have rocked SEIU in recent weeks.

The service employees also cite a loss of local representation following their merger into a much larger Illinois-Indiana healthcare local, dominated by non-Cook County employees. Top staff and county negotiators are not elected, but appointed by SEIU International.

“Our voice, and our ability to determine our own priorities, has been severely undercut,” said Thiesha Tiggs.

Following extensive media reports, several top SEIU officials have been forced to resign as part of what critics have described as a widespread pattern of corruption involving the misallocation of union dues money for payments to relatives and friends and lavish, unexplained personal spending.

SEIU has also come under fire for its cozy relationships with large corporate interests like Wal-Mart, suppressing democracy within its ranks, replacing its members with Washington-based staff in contract negotiations, and undermining patient care standards in backroom deals with employers.

“Enough is enough,” said Tiggs. “We are tired of SEIU sacrificing the interests of its members and the public. Our NNOC coworkers have shown what a strong, effective union can accomplish with the best contracts in the nation, the highest patient care standards, and successful advocacy for public health standards and protecting our vital county safety net. We are ready for a change.”

Representing 80,000 RNs in 50 states, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is the largest and fastest- growing association of direct-care RNs in the nation. Learn more at http://www.calnurses.org/.

National Nurses Organizing Committee

CONTACT: Fernando Losada, +1-818-652-9251, or Charles Idelson,+1-510-273-2246, both for National Nurses Organizing Committee

Web site: http://www.calnurses.org/