National Nurses Union wins rights to unionize at Kaiser's L.A. Medical Center

"National Nurses United and the affiliated California Nurses Association say they've won the rights to unionize nurses at Kaiser Permanente's flagship hospital in Los Angeles, months after it called for a strike at the hospital despite not representing its nurses.

NNU won the vote Thursday at Los Angeles Medical Center by nearly 70% with 696 votes, beating out the San Dimas-based United Nurses Associations of California-Union of Health Care Professionals, which received 305 votes, according to NNU. One nurse voted against unionization in the secret ballot vote conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, the union said.

In April, NNU called for nurses at LAMC and eight other hospitals to go on strike over concerns about nurses staffing, even though LAMC's unionization vote was yet to take place. Kaiser criticized the union's tactics and said it was “entirely inappropriate to attempt to disrupt patient care or service as part of a union organizing effort.""

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