NLRB sets re-run election at Kaiser Permanente to begin April 5

Director Will Baudler of Region 32 (Oakland) of the National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a re-run union election involving about 45,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente in California. The balloting will be conducted by mail, with ballots scheduled to be mailed to employees on April 5, 2013 and returned to the NLRB Regional Office in Oakland by no later than April 29, 2013.  The process of counting the ballots will begin on May 1, 2013.
Voters will choose whether they wish to remain represented by their current union, Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers – West (SEIU-UHW), select the petitioning union, National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), or have no union representation at all. The original election was completed in October 2010. Voters at that time favored the incumbent union, SEIU-UHW. The election was sought by NUHW.
An Administrative Law Judge of the Board recommended that the election be set aside based upon certain conduct by the Intervenor, SEIU-UHW, that the Judge found to have interfered with the employees’ exercise of a free and reasoned choice.  Thereafter, the Board granted separate motions by SEIU-UHW and Kaiser to remand the case to the Regional Director, Region 32 (Oakland) for appropriate action, including the scheduling of a new election.