Labor Board Rules Against Pomona Valley Hospital

The regional office of the National Labor Relations Board has turned aside objections from Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to a vote by its registered nurses last fall to join a labor union.

The hospital said that supporters of the Service Employees International Union had vandalized opponents’ cars, threatened them with lawsuits, smeared feces on a bathroom wall, defaced anti-union literature and videotaped the polling area.

But a regional hearing officer with the labor board said that the hospital had failed to prove that union supporters were responsible for any of the alleged actions. “Simply, the employer failed to demonstrate that employees were harassed, intimidated and threatened for opposing” the union, Lisa McNeill wrote in a decision this week.

She also wrote that some of the anti-union employees lacked credibility.

The hospital, which employs 750 registered nurses, has until March 25 to appeal McNeill’s report to the labor board’s national headquarters, which will then determine whether to certify the election. The nurses voted 393 to 275 to organize.

“We are all so thrilled,” said Debbie Pendergraft, a neonatal intensive care nurse involved in the organizing effort. “What we’re asking for is a voice in patient care decisions because we are the nurses at the bedside.”

A hospital spokeswoman, Kathy Roche, said the hospital is reviewing the hearing officer’s findings and deciding how to proceed. “We remain focused on providing this community the same high level of care that we have for 100 years,” she said.

This is the second time in recent months that the regional labor board office has rejected a challenge filed by a Los Angeles-area hospital over unionization.

In January, a hearing officer rejected the objections of Providence St. Joseph Medical Center to a September vote by its nurses to join the union. The hospital has appealed the findings to the labor board’s Washington office.