Holy crap, that's brilliant. If some presidential candidate were smart, he'd use this example as a reason for businesses to support unions. It could open a lot of eyes.

NN,

I don't know a lot about labor laws, but isn't there a danger of running afoul of NLRB regs against employer controlled unions. Not that SEIU would be employer controlled, but aren't the rules somewhat haphazard and don't they possibly prevent some worker manangement cooperation?

Joe

Joe- The only issue on employer support is if access is given to one union but not another. As long as any union could use the same system of independent arbitration or agree to the same rules, it should be fine. And in any case, most of the "support" rules focus on economic help to unions, not an agreement not to attack the organizing drive. Employers do have the right NOT to fight unionization, so if SEIU gives them incentives to do so, there's no real labor law violation.

As an external organizer at SEIU Local 503 (there is another Oregon SEIU local, Local 49), the local that just won these 10 nursing home victories -- and more have already been won, with more to come), perhaps I can clarify the issue of the union - management cooperation.

It is illegal for management to actively encourage workers to join any particular union, or to support one union over another. This includes providing greater access, etc. Had another union tried to step in and organize the same workers while this was going on it could have created many problems.

On the other hand, this went far beyond a neutrality agreement, and so this agreement did not have to be open to any other parties. The agreement required that our local's external organizers politically organize the nursing home workers and communities to move various pieces of legislation that benefit the nursing home workers, clients, and owners. Given Oregon's financial crisis, this legislation also had to be budget neutral. Only after that was accomplished did the focus switch to organizing the workers.

This combination of labor and political organizing is pretty common here (as with many public sector unions) -- this nursing home campaign grew out of our recent successful homecare worker campaigns, which required a statewide vote on changing the state's constitution to allow homecare workers the right to form a union. Until then, homecare workers caring for state clients were considered independent contractors (and so unable to form a union or bargain a union contract) as well as (under federal law) domestic servants exempt from having to be paid the legal minimum wage. Accomplishing the politcal organizing made it possible to accomplish the labor organizing, which resulted in about 13,000 state-paid homecare workers winning the largest union election in Oregon history. Since then, we have had have been two successful private sector homecare worker campaigns, both successful.

Addendum: I did not work on the nursing home campaign; as a large local (we have 14 external organizers on staff) we typically run two, sometimes three, campaigns at the same time. I should also add that SEIU International lent some of its organizers and organizers-in-training to work on this and other campaigns.

As a note, anyone wanting more information on the homecare or ongoing nursing home campaigns can read about them at .

A good brief summary of the homecare worker campaign can be read at