Labor Board Rejects Appeal by Northern Berkshire Healthcare
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The health system had argued to the National Labor Relation Board's Region 1 that nurses and certain certified nursing assistants at Sweet Brook Care Centers had supervisory duties and thus should not be eligible to vote on a proposed bargaining unit.
In a 19-page decision, the regional board reviewed and rejected Northern Berkshire Healthcare's position. NBH then appealed to the labor board's executive office.
At issue was whether registered and licensed practical nurses at the nursing facility had authority over nursing assistants and other staff. NBH officials said they did, which would prevent them from voting on whether to organize a local bargaining unit of 1199 Service Employees International Union.
But in a one-sentence response last Thursday, Chairwoman Wilma B. Liebman and member Peter C. Schaumber declined to even review the appeal.
"Employer's request for review of the regional director's decision and direction of election is denied as it raises no substantial issues warranting review."
"We are disappointed that the NLRB did not agree with us, because previous court decisions support our position," wrote Dianne Cutillo, vice president of external affairs at Northern Berkshire Healthcare in an e-mail Friday. "In the Health Care & Retirement Corp. and Kentucky River cases, the U.S. Supreme Court established the supervisory status of nurses under whose direction CNAs perform their work."
Officials had cited the court cases in their reasoning before the regional board.
Reached Monday, 1199SEIU spokesman Jeff Hall said the national board had echoed what the regional board had determined.
"From the outset, this attempt by NBH executives to deny indefinitely workers their right to vote has been incredibly misguided and has been an epic waste of patient care funding," he said.
SEIU and workers at Sweet Brook have complained the health care system is wasting time and money and using intimidation tactics to obstruct a unionizing vote. Health care officials say they are only trying to ensure all workers have a clear understanding of what a vote will mean.
SEIU, which also covers employees including LPNs at North Adams Regional Hospital, filed a number of complaints last month over NBH's actions and requested the postponement of the March 26 union vote. Hall said the election would not move forward until the National Labor Relations Board resolved the complaints.
The National Labor Relations Board would set and oversee the election.
Cutillo wrote Friday that Northern Berkshire Healthcare had not yet been contacted about the complaints.
"We continue to support a free, fair, and secret ballot election," she wrote. "We look forward to completing the election process when set by the NLRB."
