Workers' Rights Board Fair Election Oversight Commission Report

Workers' Rights Board Fair Election Oversight Commission hears testimony about anti-union intimidation tactics in Providence Health & Services hospitals.

In May 2006, a panel of community leaders heard testimony from Providence hospital employees about anti-union pressure, management interference and bullying tactics that make it impossible to hold free and fair union elections.

Over 300 people crowded a hearing room at the Portland Building to attend a Workers Rights Board Fair Election Oversight Commission hearing convened by Portland Jobs with Justice and chaired by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. Election experts, faith and community leaders, and Providence employees from Oregon, California and Washington all testified.

The panel determined that Providence hospital employees in Oregon do not have access to free and fair union elections under the current environment and recommended that Providence management negotiate fair union election ground rules with employees and representatives of their chosen union.

Providence hospital employees in Oregon are trying to form a union with  Service Employees International Union, Local 49, in order to have a voice on issues that affect their patients and their jobs. So far, management has refused repeated requests from employees and community members to negotiate fair union election ground rules.

The goal of the commission was not to advocate for or against a union, but to allow workers to access a fair process that allows them to decide, for themselves, whether to form a union.

The hearing went on despite pressure from Providence Health & Services and the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. Last week, Providence hospital executive Russ Danielson asked Secretary Bradbury to disband the fair election commission, and OAHHS CEO Andrew Davidson questioned Secretary Bradbury's authority to chair the commission.  Secretary Bradbury replied "workers have the right to a union election that is treated with the same respect as we would treat any other  election in this American democracy."

Read the Workers' Rights Board Fair Election Oversight Commission Report