More than 150 security guards and dispatchers at Stanford Hospital are now being represented by Teamsters Local 856, according to a press release from the union released Monday morning. This news comes several months after allegations that Stanford Health Care (SHC) illegally threatened security staff over efforts to unionize in August. 

The recently formed United Security Associates Union (USAU) is composed of security guards and dispatchers at several Stanford Health Care facilities throughout the Bay. According to the press release, they decided to join with Teamsters Local 856 due to its “reputation of delivering strong contracts and representation to its 17,000 members across Northern California.”

Last summer, Stanford Health Care faced a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint from Teamsters after allegedly violating several of the security staff’s NLRB rights. These allegations included threats of replacement by contract security, changes to work assignments since the topic of organization came up, promises of promotion as a reward for not unionizing and more.

A Stanford Health Care spokesperson told The Daily that while Stanford Health Care “respected” its workers’ right to organize, “in this specific instance because the Teamsters represent other work groups besides guards, federal labor law restricts the Teamsters union from pursuing a traditional petition and NLRB election, a fact that the Teamsters have acknowledged and confirmed.”

On Jan. 20, however, the NLRB “certified the results of an election in which a majority of Stanford Heath Care security officers who voted chose to be represented by the United Security Associates Union,” according to a Stanford Medicine spokesperson. 

The spokesperson added that SHC will be “working with the United Security Associates Union on the next steps in this process.”

A Teamsters Local 856 representative has yet to respond to a request for comment.