Union files labor complaints against Valley Hospital

The Service Employees International Union has charged Valley Hospital Medical Center with a campaign to harass and fire employees, allegedly for supporting a recent vote to unionize nursing and technical staffs at the hospital.

The union filed charges with the federal National Labor Relations Board today and Tuesday saying the hospital "discriminated against employees on account of their union activity by singling out union activists for layoffs."

Roger Collins, Valley Hospital chief executive officer, denied the allegations. He said a reduction in the work force affected fewer than 15 employees and came because of a downturn in business at the hospital west of downtown Las Vegas.

The June vote at Valley Hospital sparked accusations from the union that company officials waged an intimidation campaign to block unionization, which company officials also denied.

The vote culminated in unionization of nursing and technical staffs at Valley Hospital. Technicians at Desert Springs Hospital also voted to join the union. Valley, Desert Springs and Summerlin hospitals are owned by Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Systems.

Tom Beatty, executive director of the union's Local 1107, said eight employees at Valley Hospital, all technicians, were laid off in August. He said no technicians from Desert Springs were laid off.

He said the layoffs at Valley Hospital were a direct result of the technicians' pro-union activity, a charge that Collins strongly denied.

"I would take exception to that," Collins said. He said the layoffs affected a very small minority of the hospital's 1,400 employees, including about 200 technicians.

The union also charged that the hospital failed to bargain with the union regarding the layoffs, and failed to specify what criteria were used to fire the technicians. Beatty, who called Valley Hospital "among the most poorly run hospitals in the valley," said the hospital has rebuffed efforts to negotiate on the layoffs.

Collins said the criteria for the layoffs involved several factors, including the employees' "contribution to the hospital." He said seniority may or may not have been a criteria for layoffs of individual technicians.

The hospital didn't bargain on the layoffs because "the union's not here yet," Collins said.

Hospital business slows down in the summer, he said. Employees might be added in the busier fall, winter or spring, he said.

Beatty said the union doesn't have officers in place at the hospital but that the unionization vote has been certified by the National Labor Relations Board.

The June election and the recent communication between the union and the company has been contentious. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board accepted an earlier set of complaints from the union, charging that the hospital issued "unwarranted written warnings" to hospital employees and, in July, fired an employee because of the employee's support for the union.

The union also charged that employees were denied wage increases because of their support for unionization and that hospital officials unlawfully prohibited off-duty employees from seeking union support.

The board has set a Feb. 15 hearing date on the earlier charges.

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