Stakes for control of labor organizing in healthcare organizations grew exponentially Saturday after a confrontation between members of two union groups in Dearborn, Mich.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee said members of the Service Employees International Union broke into a room where the group was holding a conference.
A speaker at the conference canceled her appearance. The group also is charging that SEIU members are stalking and harrassing CNA/NNOC registered nurse board members at their homes in California.
SEIU confirmed that it sent "hundreds" of members to Dearborn to "renounce recent actions by the California Nurses Association to interfere in other unions' organizing efforts."
A press release from SEIU said its members "made their voices heard during the Labor Notes Conference in Dearborn, Mich., where CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro was scheduled to speak but cancelled at the last minute, anticipating the scrutiny her actions were expected to receive."
SEIU said it sent more than 800 SEIU members to Dearborn.
Accounts from CNA/NNOC reported that more than 500 SEIU members physically forced their way into a room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where a banquet was being hosted by Labor Notes, a magazine covering union issues. The nurses' organization said the banquet culminated a weekend conference on topics including "union democracy, healthcare reform and encouraging the resurgent growth of labor."
CNA/NNOC said the SEIU members "stormed the hotel and pushed their way through doors to break into the ballroom where the event was being held," a press release said. "The SEIU staff ... physically assaulted a group of union members and activists at the door."
"At least one woman, a retired auto worker and former business manager for Labor Notes, was injured and went to a hospital for treatment of a head injury."
CNA/NNOC also alleges that SEIU members disrupted several other events and workshops at which CNA/NNOC members were on panels or participants.
"I am disgusted with the tactics of SEIU and their total disrespect for what was going on here - members from multiple unions who were discussing an agenda to fight the increased corporate attacks on working people," said Malinda Markowitz, a nurse and member of CNA/NNOC's Council of Presidents who was scheduled to speak in DeMoro's place in Dearborn. "It's clear their only agenda here was to disrupt and try to divide labor and workers. Physical violence is absolutely unacceptable."
CNA/NNOC has been contending growing influence by SEIU and unfair organizing practices.
SEIU representatives said they were opposing CNA/NNOC's recent actions, which it said "threatens the future of the labor movement for all workers."
"Open debate serves an important role as we work to strengthen our movement," said SEIU Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry. "The Labor Notes Conference is the right time and place to discuss our differences. Emergency room hallways and days before contentious union elections are not."
With 1.9 million members, SEIU claims it is the largest healthcare union, including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care; the largest property services union, including building cleaning and security; and the second-largest public employee union.