SEIU to File Motion to Dismiss CNA Restraining Order [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-17-2008/0004795414&EDATE=

Service Employees International Union taking immediate legal steps to
dismiss temporary restraining order filed yesterday by California Nurses
Association

WASHINGTON, April 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) today announced plans to file a motion to
dismiss the temporary restraining order filed yesterday by the California
Nurses Association against SEIU President Andy Stern and SEIU.

"This is an entirely frivolous injunction being used for political
purposes," said Attorney Stephen Berzon, a partner with Altshuler Berzon
LLP, the San Francisco-based law firm handling the case. "The CNA designed
their suit to interfere with SEIU's legitimate, constitutionally-protected
free speech activity. The CNA ran into court and procured the order without
giving SEIU notice or an opportunity to be heard. Once SEIU gets its day in
court, this illegal injunction will be overturned very quickly."

This week's legal maneuvering by the CNA is the latest tactic in a
campaign of untruths and misinformation led by the California-based union.
After waging a vicious "vote no" operation at Catholic Healthcare Partners
(CHP) hospitals in Ohio that sabotaged a three-year effort by nurses and
hospital workers to win a fair process to freely choose whether to form a
union with SEIU, the CNA has inaccurately characterized efforts by CHP
workers and supporters to engage CNA leadership over the union's anti-union
tactics as "harassment." Video footage shows what the CNA called "5 male
staffers harassing CNA Board members" was actually a registered nurse and
respiratory therapist going door-to-door to try to speak to CNA leadership:
(available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGw2QJTgw4I).

The temporary restraining order -- filed Wednesday afternoon by the CNA
without providing notice to either SEIU or SEIU President Andy Stern -- was
issued under the California Code of Civil Procedure 527.8 intended for
"Employees subject to violence or threats of violence at the workplace."

"Under no circumstances have SEIU members or staff harassed CNA members
or leadership," said Andy Stern in response to the temporary restraining
order. "It's shameful that the CNA is continuing to spread misinformation
and distorting reality to divert focus from the real issues -- the
anti-union tactics that sabotaged the opportunity for more than 8,000
nurses and other hospital workers in Ohio to freely choose whether to form
a union with SEIU."

For more information visit http://www.ShameOnCNA.org.