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Is the Fox Guarding the Henhouse?
Opinion Mar 05, 2015
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Dear Editor:
I’d like to share my view of the “supposed” Nurse press conference recently held at Huntington Hospital on Thursday 2/26. Unfortunately this press conference was not meant to represent the HMH nurses so much as to offer one more excuse for the CNA to berate Huntington Hospital’s reputation. This time they brought civic leaders under the guise of seeking a fair union election process. Councilman Victor Gordo did an exceptional job of stating he’s an elected official of the city of Pasadena and his only purpose was to seek the cooperation of all involved to have a fair election. I was there and his speech sounded genuine and sincere. It was only when I did further research that I found the following facts on the Pasadena City Council web page.
Direct quote from the city web site:
“Professionally, Victor served as an attorney for the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 777 from 2001 through 2007, and was promoted to general counsel in 2008. In 2009, he was elected Local 777’s Secretary/Treasurer and now serves the organization in both capacities”
Not only is Mr. Gordo strongly affiliated with Union activities but his District 5 dosen’t include Huntington Hospital.
Huntington Hospital is in District 6.
It really makes one wonder what Mr. Gordo’s real intentions are!
It certainly seems to me that it would be impossible for Mr. Gordo to ensure a fair union election in much the same way as we would never place a fox to guard the henhouse.
The second elected official who made a speech was Vice-Mayor Jacque Robinson, who also spoke of wanting a fair election. After a review of the Pasadena City Council web page I also learned the following, Direct quote form the city web page:
“Jacque has spent the majority of her professional life fighting for working families as a labor community organizer. She has worked on community, issue-based and electoral campaigns with the California Teachers Association, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, California Federation of Teachers, and the Los Angeles Urban League.”
The District she represents is District 1, again not the district Huntington Hospital is in!
The prior work she has performed in support of unions and her not representing Huntington in her district brings serious questions to mind of her motives!
I’m proud to have been able to work at bedside at Huntington Memorial Hospital for almost 40 years, side by side, with nurses and other healthcare professionals. Its extremely unfortunate that we are now faced with a very small percentage of disgruntled employees that are fueled by an apparently unscrupulous and dishonest union seeking to make millions off the backs of honest hardworking individuals. I’m proud of my fellow employees who had the courage to speak out against the lies being read and spoken regarding Huntington Hospital. It took real courage and passion to voice their opinions regarding the wrongs being put out there by union organizers & representatives.
Since it appears that we have the tail wagging the dog right now, I encourage all Huntington employees to carefully consider the facts and vote their conscience when the time comes.
Remember we all need to work together no matter what happens after the election, so lets stop the lies and focus on facts.
Thank you
Kevin Durston, Respiratory Therapist
