Case 6-2 Longlife Health Management and Care Workers’ Union pg. 252
Central Problem:
Longlife Health Management (the employer) is a company contracted to provide health care aides (the employees) to work at a senior citizens’ facility. The Care Workers’ Union (the Union) has been trying to organize a campaign to represent the health care aides as a bargaining unit. The Employer upon hearing about the union organizing campaign had sent out a memorandum to the employees stating its views against the union forming. However, a week after the memo was sent out, the employer terminated an employee, Guillermo Gardel, who was a participant in the campaign organizing, for failing to follow proper lifting procedures and lying when questioned about his actions. The termination of this employee was seen as an anti-union animus because the employer stated that it was opposed to unionization.
Relevant Facts:
The employer sent out a memorandum to the employees, stating that “having a union also adds extra administrative costs to business… and forces it to spend more money in lawyers and consultants” rather than putting money into wages and benefits. It also went on to provide an example of another company who had unionized and lost contract work.
On March 19, Guillermo Gardel, one of the health care aides was terminated on grounds of not following employer policies of proper lifting procedures and lying when questioned about his actions.
On March 19, Sandra Koster, the facility’s assistant care manager told Joan Havers, the employer’s district manager that she had seen Gardel bringing a resident back to their room without the aid of a lift mechanism or the assistant of another aide. Later when Havers asked Gardel about how he got the resident into the bed, Gardel had lied and said he had help from another aide.
On March 19, Havers and the president of Longlife had numerous conversations regarding Gardel’s actions and his two previous