The SEIU’s power grab puts patients at risk – Daily News

Labor union membership is plummeting and major players like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are feeling the pressure. This union in particular has taken an interest in hospital workers – specifically nurses – as a way to bolster its diminishing membership. 

New research even shows the union could be doing more harm than good at the hospitals it organizes – leaving patients across California worse off. 

The SEIU boasted that unionization would “fix major retention problems and improve patient care.” It even celebrated labor contracts like the “victory” at Anaheim Regional Medical Center, where a union contract was announced in 2024. But a close look at how hospitals with SEIU-represented nurses fared overall – compared to ones where the SEIU does not represent nurses – tells a different story.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – which tracks hospital ratings based on patient outcomes – hospitals staffed by SEIU-reprensented nurses had lower ratings on average than hospitals with non-union nurses. 

Out of a five star CMS rating (with five being the best and one being the worst), SEIU hospitals averaged a meager 2.37 stars, while non-union hospitals averaged 3.14 stars – almost an entire star difference. Hospitals where nurses were affiliated with unions other than the SEIU averaged 3.10 stars. 

Even when adjusting for income levels in each hospital’s zip code, the analysis found that hospitals with SEIU- represented nurses had even lower ratings than those with non-union or other unionized staff. 

Despite representing just 11 percent of California’s hospitals, SEIU hospitals account for more than a quarter of all 1-star rated hospitals in the state. It’s worth noting that not a single hospital where nurses were represented by the SEIU earned a 5-star rating. Meanwhile, over 17 percent of non-union hospitals and 12 percent of hospitals with nurses under other union representation received a top tier rating. 

These statistics raise an important question: What is driving the SEIU’s poor hospital outcomes? 

The CMS data doesn’t provide an explanation for the union’s poor performance, but evidence suggests its the SEIU’s penchant to prioritize power grabs in California over worker and patient care. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, SEIU 121RN launched a ten-day strike that was declared unlawful by a federal judge, saying the union violated its contract with the hospital. 121RN was forced to pay the hospital over $6 million in damages and took necessary care away from patients at a time when they needed it most. 

Hospitals with SEIU-represented nurses are also bogged down by rigid, union-imposed rules that limit flexibility and hinder quick decision-making needed for patient care. Nurses aren’t empowered to respond quickly or effectively to patients’ needs when they’re chained to a union contract muddled with loads of red tape.

For example, SEIU121’s contract includes language that could hinder disciplinary actions against RNs accused of patient safety issues, potentially putting them back on the floor without resolving dangerous habits. This includes placing “time limits by when the hospital can impose discipline” and preventing hospitals from automatically reporting issues without first conducting an investigation, which takes additional time and hospital resources.