National Union of Healthcare Workers gets its first members

A new Oakland, CA-based union—the product of a fight between the elected leaders of healthcare workers in Northern California and their superiors in Washington—has announced that it gained its first members. North American Healthcare agreed to recognize the National Union of Healthcare Workers as the representative of more than 350 nursing home workers at four of the company's facilities in Northern California, the union said. But United Healthcare Workers West and its parent union, the Service Employees International Union, which had until now represented those workers, are not giving them up without a fight.