Coalition of dialysis patients, doctors and providers condemns yet another reckless and dangerous ballot measure filed by United Healthcare Workers West (UHW)
August 26, 2021
Dialysis is Life Support Coalition
For immediate release: August 25, 2021
Contact: Kathy Fairbanks (916) 813-1010
kfairbanks@bcfpublicaffairs.com
Coalition of dialysis patients, doctors and providers condemns yet another reckless and dangerous ballot measure filed by United Healthcare Workers West (UHW)
Proposed measure – which is nearly identical to Prop 23 which was rejected by 63% of voters less than a year ago — is an abuse of the electoral system and a despicable threat to patients
Sacramento – A coalition representing dialysis patients, doctors and dialysis providers today condemned the new ballot measure filed by the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (UHW) union, calling it a carbon copy of Prop 23, which 63% of voters rejected less than a year ago. This new measure, predictably, targets dialysis care and is aimed for the November 2022 California statewide ballot.
“This measure is a despicable threat to patients and an abuse of the electoral system,” said DeWayne Cox, dialysis patient from Van Nuys. “This union leadership has no regard for dialysis patients like me who are already struggling to get the treatments we need to stay alive. They should be ashamed. Our state’s elected leaders need to step in and stop this abuse of vulnerable dialysis patients and our initiative system.”
This is the third ballot initiative SEIU-UHW has filed targeting dialysis patients. Voters resoundingly rejected UHW’s last two failed ballot measures – Prop 8 in 2018 by 60%, and Prop 23 in 2020 by 63%. This November 2022 initiative shakedown is just a continuation of UHW’s broader corporate union organizing campaign against health care providers. Since 2012, UHW has wasted $77.7 million of its members’ dues money funding 48 ballot initiatives across the country. More than $50 million ($53.7m) has been spent in California alone. It amounts to more than $500 per member wasted on these failed efforts.