Providence employees have asked management to agree to free and fair union election ground rules in order to ensure that workers can decide whether to form a union free from intimidation and coercion.
What are Fair Election ground rules?Ground rules are a proven way to hold fair and democratic elections. Other health systems, like Catholic Healthcare West and Healthcare Corporation of America, have ground rules for union elections. We want to hold a secret ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board where we all vote on whether to form a union. However, we first need to be sure that the atmosphere leading up to an election will be fair.
Ground rules are mutually agreed to guidelines that ensure a fair process, with access to truthful information, without pressure or intimidation. That way, we can make up our own minds without management telling us how to vote.
Ground rules based on the following principles allow employees to freely choose whether to form a union without intimidation, fear of retribution, or interference of any kind:
- Allow for open discussion in the hospital, so that employees are free to meet in non-patient care areas and have access to factual and truthful information;
- Prevent negative campaigning, misleading communications and heavy-handed tactics that will only create tension and conflict;
- Ensure that employees are not pulled away from their patients and forced to attend meetings with their supervisors regarding our union;
- Protect precious health care resources by ensuring they are not wasted on consultants and attorneys who conduct campaigns designed to interfere in employees’ freedom to choose whether to form a union; and
- Respect employees’ right to make the choice through a fair and expeditious process.