February 24, 2022

Dear ESC-Represented Walk-in Care APCs,

You should be receiving your ballot to vote on decertification of our union sometime this week. Decertification would be catastrophic to our efforts to secure fair and equitable wage increases. We have all seen the communications Sutter has sent out regarding our status as union employees and raises, and we want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there is no evidence to suggest that Sutter would agree to wage increases if we did not have a union. In fact, Sutter’s last wage proposal, which it eventually rescinded, would have resulted in just a 1-to-2% raise for only 20 of us, and nothing for the rest. To be clear, there is nothing standing in the way of Sutter agreeing to a fair wage increase with the union, they have just chosen not to.

However, union-represented employees who have bargained a first contract with Sutter are guaranteed raises. That is why we strongly encourage everyone to vote YES to keep ESC Local 20 as our union so we can continue fighting at the bargaining table for the wages and benefits we all deserve.

You can find more information regarding raises here.

We have been informed that the NLRB is running behind, and the deadline to return ballots has been extended to March 14th. Nonetheless, we encourage everyone to complete and return your ballot ASAP in order to have it counted on time. The U.S. Postal Service has experienced unprecedented delays in service this year. In order to ensure that your ballot is received in time by the NLRB and counted in the election, we recommend returning your ballots no later than March 8th.

A quick reminder of the process of voting:

• Your ballot must be filled out and received by the National Labor Relations Board office in Oakland by mail by March 14th, with the ballot count to take place on the 15th.
• The ballot will ask if you would like to keep ESC Local 20 as your union and will give you the option to vote yes or no. 
• Make sure there are no other markings on your ballot aside from the X you put in the yes or no box. 
• Enclose your ballot in the blue envelope, then place the blue envelope into the yellow addressed envelope and sign the back in the space provided. The envelope must be signed to be counted in the election. 

If you have not received a ballot in the mail by Tuesday, March 1, 2022,  you should communicate immediately with the National Labor Relations Board by either calling the Region 32 Office at (510) 637-3300 or Field Examiner, Nicholas L. Tsiliacos at (510) 671-3046.

As we spoke about in our general membership meeting last week, we are asking everyone to wear their ESC Local 20 lanyards in the lead up to the election. Wearing your ESC lanyard shows Sutter that you are committed to standing in solidarity with your colleagues. Lanyards will be sent out to everyone this week; please be on the lookout, and plan to wear them to work during the week of March 7th!

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Engineers and Scientists of California, Local 20 IFPTE
ifpte20.org | joinlocal20.org