Union blasts HUP measures

A union hoping to represent 1,900 workers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania accused HUP officials, in a recent newspaper advertisement, of intimidating and misleading their employees as they decide whether to unionize. The campaign to unionize about a third of HUP employees escalated this week with the full-page ad in The Philadelphia Daily News, eight days before the official vote on the matter. The workers who would be affected are most of the hospital's "non-professional" staff, including lab technicians, secretaries and nurse's assistants. The National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees District 1199C sponsored the ad and are organizing a rally for Tuesday. HUP officials deny all of the allegations, but they admitted that they are discouraging unionization because they say things are fine the way they are and a union could negatively affect HUP's quality of care. "We don't believe that being unionized is the best thing for our employees," Health System Vice President for Human Resources and Strategic Planning Gavin Kerr said yesterday. The union's ad called HUP "first in the provision of excellent health care and DEAD LAST in respect for it's employees [sic] right to freely choose." It stated that the hospital is taking away the workers' right to a free election by forcing them to attend staff meetings. "We're going to kick HUP's butt until they say 'we're going to let the workers freely choose,'" Union President Henry Nicholas said. Kerr said HUP officials were "taken aback" by the ad. "It was so outrageous and out of context with reality," he said. "It had nothing to do with the facts." But Nicholas said that the ad is part of the consequences for threatening jobs, lying and intimidating workers. "I know it was harsh and I know they didn't like it but it comes with the turf," Nicholas said. Nicholas said the staff meetings that HUP is holding with employees to explain the issues are preventing next week's vote from being a "free election" because only the hospital is able to fully make its case, and officials are pressuring the workers to vote against the union. "The playing field is not level," Nicholas said. Kerr explained that the meetings and "education sessions" to which the ad and Nicholas refer aim to "walk the employees through" the National Labor Relations Act, the government document that describes the rights of employees and employers in unionizing. The meetings are mandatory but employees can request not to participate, Kerr said. "We're trying to educate the employees and give them as much knowledge as we can," he said. "There is nothing in the process that is coercive." "We've got issues and we know it," Kerr said, adding that he does not think a unionized workforce would be able to handle them any better. Kerr said the ad and the rally are both normal union organizing tactics although "the ad was a little more extreme than usual."