Unionista Goes Postal in a Hospital Zone
Posted on May 5, 2006 at 10:00 pm by Chuck Muth
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been busy lately trying to retain its right to represent employees at a hospital in Las Vegas. The executive director of Local 1107, Jane McAlevey, has been especially aggressive in trying to keep the staff at the Desert Springs Hospital and Medical Center from de-certifying the union. And just to give you an idea of the mentality and “goonishness” of these gutter-mouthed unionistas, take a look at this first-hand report from a hospital staffer about an incident this week involving Ms. McAlevey - who had to be physically removed from the hospital grounds. (Some names have been withheld to protect hospital personnel from union retaliation. Broken windshields and slashed tires are expensive to replace)…
We have spent much of the last week escorting the SEIU out of patient care areas, or helping to stop illegal or impermissible solicitation in other areas. The SEIU is contractually entitled to have two (2) representatives here at one time, announced to Human Resources, for the purpose of adjusting grievances, not soliciting or organizing. Contractually, and legally, they are never entitled to be in patient care areas (except in isolated instances with a management escort to investigate a grievance), nor are they ever entitled to interfere with employees while they are working.
When I was called to the Respiratory break area, just after (name withheld) had left Ms. McAlevey there, I found Ms. McAlevey and another union organizer in the break room talking to an employee, (name withheld).
When I entered the room, Ms. McAlevey and the other organizer announced they were going to go and “talk to employees.” I said I would go with them and that they would have to decide which of the eight to ten organizers they wanted to stay, since they were only entitled to two at a time. At this time, Mr. Lewis Cates, Director of Security, and another Security officer joined me and we followed Ms. McAlevey. Mr. Cates is a retired federal judicial officer, a US Marshal.
Ms. McAlevey refused to comply with the request to remove the balance of the organizers and instead began to curse at me, calling me a “lying a___hole,” a “f______ a__hole,” a “f_______ liar – just like the rest of management,” a “c________” and a “mother f________.” This tirade lasted down the entire Radiology Dept. hallway, in front of employees, patients and families, and we were joined by (name withheld) as we passed the Radiology Dept. desk.
I believe she must have used the f-word more than 200 times in 20 minutes.
This tirade was a running commentary past Radiology, down a public hallway, into the patient elevators, up to one of the Medical-Surgical floors (Tower 3) and into the break room. It too occurred in front of patients, patient’s families and employees.
I asked Ms. McAlevey why the union would not agree to debate you [Sam Kaufman, the hospital’s CEO] and she said we were lying and that you had refused. I noted that this was not true, and that in any event, she had the chance to debate now and why would she not do it?
She screamed that you just wanted to break the law and threaten people. I assured her that in fact, as she well knew, what you really wanted to be able to do was (answer) the question that was on everyone’s mind, “What are you going to do for us if the union is removed.”
I pointed out that we could not lawfully answer that question unless she signed the waiver.
In any event, Ms. McAlevey did hit me on the arm several times – I would say three, as we walked down the hallway with her. I asked her why, and she said I was a “f_____ a_____.”
When Ms. McAlevey left the break area on Tower 3, right outside a patient room, she saw Mr. (name withheld), and not recognizing him as a supervisor, introduced herself this way, “Hi, I’m Jane – I’m from the Union – This a_______ is a f_______ liar – you can’t believe him. Do you have any questions?” He said, “Yes, why don’t you debate Sam?” This set her off, and she went right to the nurses station and began to campaign, announcing that we were liars and she was from the union. At that stage, I told her she was in violation of the contract and the no solicitation policy, and would have to leave.
Ms. McAlevey refused to leave. Mr. Cates, the former US Marshall, calmly instructed her to leave – “Yes ma’am, you have to leave the premises right now.” She refused saying she was not in a patient care area. (The nurses station – not a very plausible suggestion.) Mr. Cates politely instructed her to leave, as the nursing station certainly is a patient care area.
She declined again and walked off, announcing that she was going to other floors. Mr. Cates informed her that if she did not immediately exit the premises, she was guilty of criminal trespass. She refused to leave, but got on the elevator and hit the 4th floor button – Mr. Cates overrode it and took her downstairs to the lobby. She walked out in a hale of profanity, got to the curb and announced she could stay there, that she had won a case elsewhere on that very issue.
Had we not overridden the elevator, Ms. McAlevey would have been up on Tower 4 campaigning. In my opinion, her intention was to crate a distraction and a scene and try to get us to overreact. That did not happen. The disruption in the patient care area was the precipitation event to remove her, because I was unaware that she had previously disrupted the giving of report in the Respiratory area.
