Measure empowers large health care union workers by giving them a vote to approve their organization’s spending of large sums of money on ballot measures and requires annual notification for health care workers on how their dues are being spent on political activities.
Sacramento, CA — Today, the Californians for Health Care Workers’ Right to Vote campaign notified the Secretary of State that it has exceeded the 25% required signature threshold to qualify the Health Care Union Transparency, Accountability & Union Member Right to Vote Act. The following statement can be attributed to Carmela Coyle, President & CEO of the California Hospital Association:
“California voters are eager to sign our petition to empower health care workers by giving them a right to vote on how their hard-earned dues are spent on political activities. We are well on our way to qualifying this measure and are confident that voters will overwhelmingly support more transparency for health care workers at the ballot in November.
“For too long, a few health care union executives have spent tens of millions of dollars of their members’ dues on political campaigns and activities without getting input or approval from the very members they are supposed to represent. These cynical measures waste union member dues and often jeopardize patient care and health care worker jobs. This measure will ensure California health care union members have more transparency and oversight on how their dues are used and in a way that reflects their priorities.”
FOR BACKGROUND
The Health Care Union Transparency, Accountability & Union Member Right to Vote Act requires major health care unions to get approval of their members before spending more than $1 million in a single year on a statewide ballot measure, or $100,000 or more on a local ballot measure campaign. It also requires unions to provide annual reports to members – by mail and email – showing exactly how much dues money went into political campaigns.