California Healthcare Workers Form New Statewide Union

CALIFORNIA HEALTHCARE WORKERS FORM NEW STATEWIDE UNION TO STRENGTHEN THE FIGHT FOR PATIENT CARE

Oakland/Los Angeles, CA - The National Leadership of Service Employees International Union and Locals 250 and 399 today announced the results of a membership vote by both locals, approving a new constitution uniting them into a new statewide union with more than 130,000 members. Now, as the largest union in California and the largest healthcare union outside of New York, the newly formed "SEIU United Healthcare Workers – West" is determined to continue the fight for quality patient care and to help lead the national movement against profit-driven corporate healthcare.

"This is the beginning of a brand new chapter in the book of American labor. Healthcare for working families is in crisis across the country, and it’s up to healthcare workers on the frontlines of patient care to lead the way. The big corporations who control the healthcare industry are taking us in the wrong direction. Prices are skyrocketing, quality care is declining, working families face the daily fear of losing their health benefits entirely, and millions of Americans go each day without health coverage," stated Andy Stern, President of Service Employees International Union.

Healthcare has been transformed from community hospitals and small town doctors who make house calls, into a giant multi-billion dollar industry ruled by profit margins, corporate Boards, and accountants. SEIU United Healthcare Workers – West, is about protecting the human face of healthcare and making sure that quality care doesn’t get lost in the corporate boardroom.

Jorge Rodriguez and Sal Rosselli, presidents of Locals 399 and 250 respectively, joined President Andy Stern in praising union members for taking this courageous step forward. "Our members care about their patients, and they know that united as a statewide union, they will have even more power to do more for their patients," stated Rodriguez.

"Confronted by a rapidly changing healthcare profession, it makes sense that we act now to provide workers with the strongest voice possible to challenge the healthcare industry’s unrelenting consolidation into fewer, but larger companies. The creation of one powerful statewide union also gives us a tremendously potent voice for our members in the legislative arena—statewide and in Washington, DC," said Rosselli.

Uniting Locals 250 and 399 into one powerful statewide union is also part of a new effort led by President Stern to bring long needed reform to the AFL-CIO, and launches SEIU’s "Unite to Win" initiative that supports a national strategy to win access to quality healthcare for all. According to Stern, "forming the new statewide union in California will create a "ripple" that will be felt across the country. Healthcare is in a state of crisis for ALL Americans, and it’s only appropriate that our new action start here, and now, in California."
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Combined, SEIU Locals 250 and 399 (now known as SEIU United Healthcare Workers—West), with more than 130,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical, paramedic and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all.

With 1.6 million members, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the nation's largest and fastest growing union in the AFL-CIO.