Thousand Oaks, California (May 20, 2013) – Three nurses at Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital have filed federal charges against a major healthcare union and the hospital corporation for illegally forcing them and their coworkers into an unwanted union.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, the three nurses filed the unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

In late November 2012, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Holdings, Inc.-owned Los Robles Hospital purchased Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital. In late April 2013, HCA Holdings, Inc. and Los Robles Hospital management announced that Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital workers were “represented” by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West and SEIU Local 121 RN union officials and “accreted” into to the pre-existing Los Robles-SEIU monopoly bargaining units.

SEIU union officials and HCA management have long been parties to a so-called “neutrality agreement” designed to force healthcare workers into SEIU ranks without proper procedural protections.

In fact, the vast majority of Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital nurses have signed petitions opposing the SEIU officials’ “representation.”

And, because California does not have a Right to Work law that makes union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary, the nurses are now forced to pay union dues or fees to the SEIU union hierarchy as a condition of their employment.

“HCA management and SEIU officials have colluded to shove SEIU union bosses’ ‘representation’ – and with it forced dues payments – down nurses’ and other hospital workers’ throats,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Schemes like this show that the ultimate goal of union officials is more forced dues collected from workers, even when rank-and-file employees want nothing to do with the union.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.