Sal Rosselli – head of NUHW
Like the failed 2004 merger of Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), the shotgun wedding of the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has crumbled after only 3 years. As in most union insider intrigues,
money and competition between unions appear to be the driving factors in the dissolution of the relationship. NUHW, formed when a large SEIU local went its own way, balked when the AFL-CIO labor federation agreed to an anti-raiding policy with the SEIU, NUHW’s favorite poaching target. When the NUHW suggested leaving the AFL-CIO, the CNA refused. There was also the matter of the $7.2 million loan from CNA to NUHW used to pay off huge legal fees associated with the stormy birth of the healthcare union. Apparently the loan has been forgiven, allowing NUHW to survive the recent divorce.