NLRB judge overturns union vote held at Memorial Medical Center last year

An administrative law judge has nullified the results of a union election held last year at Memorial Medical Center, opening the way for another election at the Modesto hospital.

Tuesday’s ruling by Judge Ariel Sotolongo of the National Labor Relations Board set aside the June 26-27 election and directed that a second election be held. Registered nurses at Memorial, by a 110-vote margin, rejected a proposal to join the California Nurses Association but the union contested the election.

The hospital, at Coffee Road and Briggsmore Avenue, is affiliated with Sutter Health of Sacramento.

After hearing extensive testimony by nurses and hospital managers, the judge upheld the CNA’s complaints that Sutter told nurses the hospital would cut their benefits, freeze wages and impose more difficult working conditions if they supported union membership.

“Sutter’s behavior made a fair, democratic election impossible due to a disgraceful campaign of threats, chilling and incessant ‘rounding’ by managers, and pulling nurses away from their patients to pressure them to vote against having a collective voice for their patients and colleagues,” union President Malinda Markowitz said in a news release.

Daryn Kumar, chief executive officer of Memorial, said hospital management is disappointed by the judge’s decision. The hospital noted that most of the 27 objections filed by the union after the election were overruled.

“We feel that a fair election was held, and that the democratic process was allowed to run its course during the election, where the issues were discussed and opinions shared, free of any objectionable conduct,” Kumar said in a statement.

The union claimed that Sutter used tactics to coerce nurses soon after a petition was filed last year to hold the election. Sotolongo considered testimony claiming hospital managers worked in teams to approach nurses and solicit their concerns about working conditions and other grievances. According to the union, managers left a false impression the grievances would be remedied if they rejected the union.

Union leaders also complained that Sutter hired anti-union consultants who manipulated nurses during mandatory meetings. Information gathered during the meetings was used in a video, titled “The Nightmare,” that was mailed to nurses the week before the election. The video warned of staff cuts, wage freezes and cuts to patient care if the union prevailed. The judge ruled the video was a coercion tactic.

David Johnson, a spokesman for the nurses association, said the timing of a new election is unclear because the hospital can appeal the ruling. Memorial said it is reviewing the decision and will consider an appeal to the five-member NLRB in Washington, D.C.

This story was originally published April 2, 2015 at 11:50 AM with the headline "NLRB judge overturns union vote held at Memorial Medical Center last year."