By Mary O’KEEFE

USC Verdugo Hills Hospital employees, including certified nursing assistants, licensed vocational nurses, patient services representatives, unit secretaries, monitor and obstetric technicians, central processing, buyers and distribution technicians and phlebotomists, voted to decertify their union – Service Employees International Union.

The final vote was on Jan. 31. SEIU has filed an appeal and the National Labor Relations Board has yet to certify and approve the election; however, the administration at VHH feels the decertification will be approved.

“We believe in the democratic process,” said Meg Aldrich, USC-VHH spokeswoman.

Until NRLB certifies the vote, the employees will continue to work under their contract, which ended on Jan. 31. If the election is approved, the employees will no longer be under their union contract but will be employees of the hospital.

Aldrich said any employee of the hospital can still file grievances or share their concerns.

SEIU represents about 240 USC-VHH employees.

“Despite the vote being very close, it ended with our staff voting to decertify SEIU by a vote of 118 to 107. It was important to give all the SEIU membership the ability to cast a vote for representation or a direct relationship with leadership. It is the end of a long process by our staff who no longer wished to be represented by the union and initiated a process for decertification. We look forward to the NLRB certifying the election in the near future,” stated USC Verdugo Hills Hospital CEO Keith Hobbs in a release after the vote.

CVW attempted to contact SEIU with no response as of press time.

  Mary Okeefe