The definition of ‘insanity’ is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
NOT Albert Einstein
There is another election next month, and in California, we have another dialysis related proposition sponsored by SEIU-UHW. This is the third time the labor union has used the proposition process to try and force themselves into the dialysis industry. I was so upset about it last time that I posted on the topic twice. Here is the list of propositions so far:
Proposition 8 was focused on limiting profits for dialysis centers to 15%. The vote was 59.9% against the proposition. Two years later, SEIU tried again but changed the requirement to staffing each dialysis center with a physician. This also failed with a vote of 63.4% against. For 2022, SEIU is resubmitting the same proposition as 23, but will allow a physician assistant to fulfill the staffing requirement.
This is political blackmail. SEIU is claiming that dialysis clinics are not allowing them to organize. I realize my experience is anecdotal, but all the nurses and technicians were against the prior two propositions. My clinic was part of St. Joseph hospital, but many of the providers previously worked for one of the major for-profit dialysis companies.
I predict proposition 29 will fail by about the same 60/40 margin. SEIU knows this, but their goal is not to pass the propositions, but to use the proposition process to blackmail the dialysis companies into letting them organize. This is totally fucked up. As I posted before, adding a full-time physician to each dialysis clinic would hugely increase cost with minimal benefit. SEIU is morally bankrupt and should be fined for intimidation and abuse of the proposition process. It is also telling that there is no political support for proposition 29. The Democratic party usually carries the union’s water, but there is no endorsement this time, as there was for proposition 8 and 23.
Proposition 8 (2018) support (plus two huge list of organizations and unions):
Proposition 29 (2022) support:
We still have another month until the election. Perhaps the usual suspects union supporters will speak up before the vote. If nothing else, the union has cost the dialysis companies a lot of money.
| Expenditures | For | Against |
| Proposition 29 (2022)* | $7.9M | $76.5M |
| Proposition 23 (2020) | $8.8M | $104.7M |
| Proposition 8 (2018) | $19.3M | $111.4M |
Life with chronic diseases 