ROADBLOCK TO UNION BID HOSPITAL DEMANDS SECRET-BALLOT ELECTION FOR NURSES.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Fighting a unionization effort among nurses, Antelope Valley Hospital officials said Monday that it can only be done through a majority vote in a secret ballot election.

California Nurses Association officials petitioned the hospital last week to be recognized as the nurses' union representative on the basis of having collected union authorization cards from a majority of the hospital's 575 registered nurses.

But in a letter faxed Monday to the CNA, hospital administrator Mathew Abraham said the hospital's policies do not provide for, or recognize, the petition process.

``Your request that the hospital recognize CNA as the exclusive representative of the registered nurses at the hospital solely on the basis of authorization cards deprives Antelope Valley's registered nurses of their right to vote in a secret ballot election, and is inconsistent with the hospital's policy manual,'' Abraham wrote.

``If you indeed have the support of the majority of the hospital's employees in an appropriate representation unit, you should have no objection to following the procedures outlined in the hospital's policy manual, which allows the employees to show their support through a secret ballot election,'' Abraham said.

A state law that took effect in January says employee unions at a public agency - like Antelope Valley Hospital - can be formed after union authorization cards are collected from a majority of workers. The collection of cards essentially constitutes the election, union officials said.

Beth Kean, CNA's organizing director, said state law calls for an election only when there is a competing union that wants to represent the same group of workers.

``They do not recognize the card check recognition procedure,'' Kean said. ``They are insisting we go through an election process.''

Kean said she contacted the state conciliation and mediation service on Monday to request that it step in to conduct the check of authorization cards.

The CNA represents 44,000 registered nurses in California, more than double the membership the union had about seven years ago of 20,000, union officials said.