News and Press

Citrus Valley nurses defend unionizing plan
March 17, 2006
by Jason Kosareff, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune

West Covina - Registered nurses Thursday protested efforts by Citrus Valley Medical Center to allegedly block unionizing by filing legal objections.

Diane Flores, a nurse who voted in favor of going union said the hospital's legal objections are "just bogus charges." Flores gathered with dozens of co-workers on Sunset Avenue, in front of the hospital, for a candlelight vigil.

Since the Jan. 27 vote to join the California Nurses Association, Citrus Valley Health Partners, the hospital's parent company, has filed nine legal objections with the National Labor Relations Board.

The nurses voted 358-247 in favor of joining the union in a secret-ballot election supervised by federal labor officials.

Union organizer Roy Hong call the objections "frivolous."

"We obviously don't think they're frivolous," said Lisa Foust, vice president of human resources for Citrus Valley Health Partners. "We think they're responsive."

Foust said nurses opposed to unionizing were subjected to coercion by union organizers.

"The specific conduct that was described to us by our employees was not in fact free and fair," Foust said.

The hospital's objections include complaints of surveillance, harassment, coercion and use of outside influence, Foust said.

"These are not frivolous complaints," Foust said. "They are bona fide and serious concerns expressed by a large number of RNs."

Nurse Marilyn Cluff, who voted against joining the union, said some nurses crossed the line when campaigning inside the hospital. She said in many cases, union organizers were trying to campaign as nurses were working on patients. Some nurses and union organizers took photographs at nursing stations that later appeared in union literature, Cluff said.

Hong said union organizers have a right to any place in the hospital accessible to the public. Hospital administrators said union organizing at nursing stations or at patients' bedsides is unacceptable.

The protesters on Thursday were joined by Assemblyman Ed Chavez, D-Industry.

"I'm disappointed at the administration of the hospital," Chavez said. He said the 111-vote margin of victory for the union should show that most nurses did not find the union's organizing tactics objectionable.

A final ruling on the vote is expected from the National Labor Relations Board next month.