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May 18, 2014
Volume 1 Issue 2



One of the common claims made by union opponents is
that unions are bad for business. In reality unions increase
productivity, have lower employee turnover, improve
workplace communication, and are better-trained then
their non-union counterparts.
Since the first contract both the Co-Op and its
employees have thrived. The average wage for a co-op
union member is $14.86 an hour. Benefits to both full-time
and part-time employees includes: affordable dependent
health insurance coverage; life insurance; 401(k) match up
to 5 percent; paid time off (20 days after 3 years); 6 paid
holidays; shift premiums; 15 minute rest breaks (without
timers); and free food in the break room. The retention
rate has dramatically improved since we organized in
2000. 69% of the workforce has been at the Co-Op for
more than 4 years; 40% for more than 8 years; 26% for
more than 10 years; and 10% for more than 20 years.
Since we organized, the co-op has opened a new store
in Eureka (2006) with sales and customers increasing every
year at both locations. And this year they began leasing
the former Ten Pin Alley in Arcata for increased warehouse
space. Clearly they have thrived with an organized
workforce.

After enforcing the stores illegal policy against break room
soliciting, Kane Hawk took advantage of the stores new
policy by launching a publication dedicated to defending
the status quo.
For weeks the management team at Eureka Natural
Foods carried out an illegal policy of confiscating all Union
related literature from the break room. The material was
removed quietly and usually without witnesses. The
information was intended to share important information
about unions, workers rights, and our organizing efforts.
On one occasion Kane was confronted while confiscating a
stack of flyers. Kane justified his action as being the
prerogative of the private property owner. The
management team never made any attempt to inform the
staff of their policy against break room solicitation.
The removal of union literature had a demoralizing
effect on the organizers. Our ability to communicate with
our coworkers was curtailed. I confronted the
management in order to enforce our rights. Several
members of the management team denied knowledge of
the policy and assured me they would not remove
information.
The following morning a poster I made was removed. I
confronted Kane who unapologetically admitted to taking
it. He acknowledged that it was store policy.
In a meeting the following week, Rick stated that he did
not know the policy was illegal. He explained the policy
was implemented on the advice of their consultant. He
thanked me for calling the matter to his attention and




advised me on the terms of the new policy. He explained
that literature would be allowed in the newly installed
literature rack.
The newly installed rack is full of old magazines and
wellness product advertisements. Union literature blends
in and is easily overlooked. Additionally unknown
individuals consistently conceal union information by
tucking it behind other publications.
Kane Hawk used the opportunity won by union
organizers to publish his Hawks Nest. The Hawks Nest
touts itself to be a view from above the drama. According
to Kane his publication was a big hit as many coworkers
thanked him and asked when he would be writing another
installment. In response to demand Kane decided to
continue to publish subsequent issues. The Hawks Nest has
grown from being one man publication into collaborative
effort of several employees who find Eureka Natural Foods
to be an exceptional employer.
Meanwhile, my efforts, to enforce our rights, seem to
have backfired. The ENF Union was met with no response
whatsoever (aside from The Hawks Nest). A lack of
contributors has also delayed the publication of this our
second issue. It is unclear if the contrast in response is a
result of popular opinion or simply the prevailing opinion.
It is certainly safer to voice support for the owners and
management then it is to express support for a not yet
established union. Supporters of the status quo could
represent a majority or simply a vocal minority. Until more
people sound off we wont know.
2

Service workers at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka have voted
149 to 74 to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers
(NUHW), with 223 of the 227 eligible bargaining unit
members voting. The ballots were counted Friday, April 18.
The workers voting for representation include nursing
assistants, housekeepers, monitor technicians, cafeteria
workers, operating room aides and emergency room
technicians, phlebotomists, medical records and
admissions clerks, unit secretaries and others.
Shortly after the vote was announced, St. Joseph
Hospital-Humboldt President David OBrien issued a
statement to staff and board members vowing to honor
the employees' voice "and prepare to enter into good faith
collective bargaining with the NUHW ..."
"With the vote behind us, its time to move forward
together," O'Brien said. "Yes, there were differences of
opinion and strongly held views. That is to be expected. So
it is especially important to remember and keep our focus
on what unites us, and that is our deeply held commitment
to provide safe, quality care and compassion to our
patients and their families."
It was indeed not an easy battle, according to those on
the service workers' side. The unionizing effort began in
May 2013. One of the organizers, Kerry Sweeney, a labor
and delivery nurse at the hospital for 12 years, said the
effort was propelled by concerns similar to those of St.
Joseph nurses. During informational picketing last
year, some of the hospitals 350 nurses, represented by
the California Nurses Association, complained about
staff reductions, especially among nurses aides and other
positions that nurses rely on for help. The hospitals chief
nursing officer, Carol Reeder, countered at the time that
the hospital would never compromise patients safety.
The CNA is affiliated with the NUHW.
Sweeney said another concern is service workers not
having received a raise in four years until they got one
last year, which Sweeney said she suspected came in

to the union effort.
The hospital administration, while posting union-effort
informational literature around the hospital as required by
the National Labor Relations Board, was opposed to it.
Some managers wore Vote No shirts and put up flyers
countering union claims. The hospital also started a web
page called SJE Just Facts in January, after the labor board
notified it there would be an election. The site has
provided neutral information on the election process, as
well as plenty of arguments against going union. Under
Facts about NUHW strikes, for instance, the hospitals
website notes that NUHW-represented workers in
California went on an average of 12 strikes in just two
years, averaging one strike every two months.
Sweeney said the nurses, who unionized in 2001, have
had four contracts in 12 years and not a single strike. The
hospital has countered that thats the CNA not the
NUHW, which in a flyer addressed to employees the
hospital indicated has numerous problems including debt
and a poor record of negotiating contracts.
Both sides have called each other's informational
materials misleading or even false at times.
On Monday, Linda Cook, the hospital's vice president of
Human Resources, responded to some of the arguments
given by the union organizers as reasons for service
workers to unionize. She said the hospital employs many
nursing assistants in its medical-surgical and progressive
care areas "to make sure, whenever possible, that our
caregivers are not overworked." Sometimes, she said, a
nursing assistant might be reassigned to sit by a patient
who's confused or suicidal, and that sometimes there isn't
another nursing assistant available to fill in elsewhere for
that "sitter." Cook also said last year's wage increase "had
nothing to do with the organizing efforts by NUHW, but
was the result of the hospital ending fiscal year 2013 with
a positive margin for the first time in years." She added
that it had actually been less than three years since the
previous raise.

Labor Council Endorses Move to Amend Initiative
By John Frahm UFCW5 Representative

The Humboldt and Del Norte Counties Central Labor
Council believes in getting corporate money out of the
elections process, believes that only human beings have
the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights as incorporated
into the U.S. Constitution, and believes it is the role of
human beings to control corporations and not the other
way around.
To this end, we encourage the citizens of Humboldt
County to sign petitions circulating throughout the county


to qualify this initiative for the county-wide November
ballot the deadline is June 9. Petitioners will be at the
following events:
May 31-June 1 Summer Arts and Music Festival at Benbow
June 7, 10am 5pm Sustainable Living Expo in Arcata
June 7, 6 9pm Arts Alive in Eureka
To reach Humboldt County Move To Amend visit:
https://movetoamend.org/ca-eureka
or send a message to Humboldt@movetoamend.org












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