For its part, the healthcare union, known as NUHW, has filed charges alleging that the SEIU has colluded with employers to defeat the new group.
Starla Rollins, an administrative worker at a San Bernardino hospital, said she began circulating petitions after concluding that the SEIU had become a "top-down" organization that cut members out of contract talks. Rollins said about 400 of 600 workers signed the petitions, and "people are very upset" that the elections have been blocked.
"It is our right as workers to choose who we are represented by," Rollins said.
The free choice act has been labor's No. 1 legislative priority, seen as a vehicle for reversing the long slide in union membership nationwide.
Under current law, workers cannot unionize by signing petitions unless their employers agree to that method, known as "card check." The more common scenario is that unions collect the signatures of a minimum 30% of workers -- the mandatory threshold -- and demand a secret-ballot election.
The SEIU and other backers of the free choice act say employers routinely derail union campaigns by intimidating workers in the run-up to elections, or by engineering delays through the national labor board. The act would permit workers to have union representation as soon as a majority signs petitions.
The SEIU has thrown its financial and political clout behind the measure, although the bill's prospects are uncertain.
Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), the House's principal sponsor of the act, declined to comment on the California fight and any implications it might have for the proposal. But Miller and two other House Democrats sent a letter to the labor board calling on the agency to process the petitions and SEIU charges in a "timely manner."
That was 2 1/2 months ago. Labor board representatives say they don't know when, or if, the elections will be held, because investigators continue to sift through the claims. The board has found that existing SEIU contracts bar elections for the time being at a number of hospitals and clinics.
"This is not your normal situation we're dealing with here," said Will Baudler, an attorney for the board's Oakland region. "This is a massive amount of charges."
He said the board is handling the case as a "top priority."
But the interim president of the new union, Sal Rosselli, said the board appears to be dragging its feet because of the SEIU's influence with the Obama administration. The SEIU was one of President Obama's biggest supporters during his White House run.
"The average election is scheduled in 60 days, and nothing has been scheduled here," Rosselli said, noting that many of the signed petitions were filed in February.
Baudler and another NLRB representative said they had felt no political pressure. SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette denied the union has tried to get the administration to intervene with the board.
Meanwhile, in the San Pablo election, the SEIU has alleged misconduct by the new union and the employer.
A state panel issued complaints based on the charges, and a hearing is pending. The other election beyond the labor board's purview is for a Hollister hospital and two nursing homes. The votes will be counted Thursday.
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paul.pringle@latimes.com
