Results delayed in vote over whether to keep union at West Michigan hospital

Results delayed in vote over whether to keep union at West Michigan hospital
Members of SEIU Healthcare Michigan staged a 24-hour strike in August at Trinity Health Grand Haven. Credit: Mark Sanchez, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business

Results from a vote by employees at Trinity Health Grand Haven to decide whether to stay with their present union representation have been delayed. 

The National Labor Relations Board supervised the two-day decertification vote last week at Trinity Health Grand Haven, where the SEIU Healthcare Michigan represents nearly 200 employees. Both sides in the increasingly contentious labor dispute say the NLRB promptly impounded the ballot box and, at the union’s request, delayed counting the votes amid outstanding labor practice charges against Trinity Health Grand Haven. 

SEIU Healthcare Michigan has since withdrawn the request and urged the NLRB to proceed with a vote tally. 

“Due to outstanding ULP (unfair labor practice) charges against Trinity Health, the ballot box has been locked and the votes have not yet been counted by the NLRB. (SEIU Healthcare Michigan) has requested to withdraw the blocking request in favor of moving ahead with the ballot count,” SEIU Healthcare Michigan Trustee Larry Alcoff said in a written statement Monday to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “The decision to open the ballot box is currently in the hands of the NLRB regional director. We are confident that the board will rule in our favor on our ULP charges and that workers’ rights will ultimately be restored.”  

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Workers at Trinity Health Grand Haven voted last fall to join SEIU Healthcare Michigan. The bargaining unit consists of diagnostic imaging technicians, lab assistants and technologists, housekeepers, dietary workers, and social workers, unit clerks, patient care associates, medics and other positions. 

The employees previously were represented by the North Ottawa Community Hospital Employee Association. Trinity Health acquired the Grand Haven-based health system a year ago. 

The union staged a one-day strike on Aug. 4 against Trinity Health Grand Haven in an attempt to put public pressure on the health system to resume negotiations toward a contract agreement that includes pay parity with colleagues in nearby Muskegon and invests in employee recruitment and retention. 

On the day prior to the scheduled one-day strike, Trinity Health Grand Haven halted negotiations and canceled a bargaining session, citing a petition that had been filed by workers that week with the NLRB to hold a vote to decertify the union. The petition met a federal requirement that at least 30% of workers involved in a bargaining unit must sign it to force a certification vote. 

In a written statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids on Monday, Trinity Health Grand Haven blamed the union for delaying the counting of votes and results from last week’s election. Delaying the vote count means “the hospital legally is unable to make positive changes to working conditions until the results of the election are known,” Trinity Health Grand Haven said in the statement. 

We are disappointed in the union’s tactics to block the counting of the votes, and we implore the National Labor Relations Board to uphold the agreement between all parties to hold a fair election,” the health system said. “We have adhered to federal labor law every step of the way, and we have treated our colleagues with the utmost respect.” 

In a notice on the election, the NLRB said 181 employees that the SEIU Healthcare Michigan represents were eligible to vote in the decertification election, held Sept. 18 and 19 at the Grand Haven hospital. According to the notice, the NLRB was to count the votes “immediately after the conclusion of the election.” 

SEIU Healthcare Michigan has three unfair labor practice complaints pending against Trinity Health Grand Haven that were filed in May and August. The union’s claims include refusal to bargain and bargaining in bad faith, retaliation against employees, and coercive actions. 

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