Technical employees at two Kansas City hospitals vote to join union (nurses petition too)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nlrb.gov/about_us/news_room/template_html.aspx?file=http://www.nlrb.gov/shared_files/Press%20Releases/2010/R-2778.htm

Technical employees at two Kansas City hospitals vote to join union

Also, petition filed for union election by nurses at one of the centers



Technical, service and maintenance employees at two Kansas City area hospitals have voted by large margins to join SEIU Healthcare Missouri/Kansas, a division of SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana. Meanwhile, another union has filed for a third election involving registered nurses at one of the centers.



The elections were held pursuant to an agreement by parent company HCA, Inc., to remain neutral during the union campaigns for employee support at their hospitals. The agreement also called for expedited elections, to be held within 14 days of a petition being filed.



On August 18, employees at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kansas voted 140-to-59 in favor of SEIU. The union was certified as the bargaining representative on Monday.



On Tuesday, August 31, balloting was held at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, with 285 employees voting in favor of the union and 136 opposed. The results have not yet been certified.



On Monday, August 30, the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Missouri/NNU filed a petition for a vote covering registered nurses at Research Medical Center. The parties have not yet entered into an election agreement in that case.



The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.

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