Nursing Unions

U.S.A. Arizona

Published

Just wondering if there are any hospitals that are union based for nurses? I never liked the idea of unions but I must say it has done wonders for nurses here in NJ and I am looking to relocate.

::SNIP::I do not see any other profession governed so inappropriately, and so cruelly. This state, if alone in this mess, is in huge disarray.

I think that you are confused with the roles of unions and the Board of Nursing. Unions, as this thread started out addressing, has to do with the employer/employee relationship. This has nothing to do with the licensure or regulation of registered nurses. The Board of Nursing is a board appointed by the Governor to oversee the licensing and general practice of nursing, while fulfilling the Governor's platform.

Innocent until proven guilty, or the presumption of innocence, is a legal principle which governs the rights of the accused in criminal trials. It has nothing to do with unions, licensure, the board of nursing, not the CANDO program.

Here is the list of staff on the Arizona Board of Nursing Arizona State Board of Nursing | Staff DirectoryThere are nurses and non-nurses on the board including administrators, secretaries, lawyers, and the like. When you are brought before the board for disciplinary action you are judged by a board of your peers, meaning a board comprised of nurses. Your investigator may or may not be a nurse however.

It is rare for a nurse to appear before the board of nursing for chemical dependency and have their license revoked. Usually the individual is referred to the CANDO program. For a license to be revoked that usually means that there were extenuating circumstances that placed the public at an unforgivable risk, actual serious patient harm, prior history of drug abuse, or a refusal to comply with the Board's requirements, etc. etc.

The fact is you or I do not know the circumstances of your friend's circumstances nor where we there in the board meeting. Something sounds very odd though that he was not referred to the CANDO program though.

I am proud that nursing regulates the profession so thoroughly, in fact I think that things are actually softer than what they should be. We are not plumbers, secretaries, dock workers, retail managers, or CPAs. We are professionals and when we mess up people die. We hold a sacred trust with the public, a trust that even physicians do not enjoy. Lets keep that trust.

If only other professions regulated their own as half as much as we do.

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Arizona employers make people (regardless of where they work) sign a document stating that they understand that they are being employed "at will" because earlier on, the Arizona State Supreme Court ruled that a verbal agreement by a new hiree and their employer is actually a legal contract, so in effect all workers are actually "contract laborers", not just union members.

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BTW I am curious - I know the VA is union of course - I would expect them to be. What about County Hospital? I just assumed they would also be unionized as they would be county employees.

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Specializes in retail NP.

Yeah, good luck with that...

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I've heard the AZ Board of Nursing is more harsh and less forgiving than the AZ Medical Board. It would be interesting to know how our board compares to other states.

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Yeah, good luck with that...

Good luck with what?? Which post are you replying to here?

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I used to work in a closed union shop for a short time before I moved to AZ and before I got into healthcare. A closed shop means that in order to work there, you must be a member of the union. All "right to work" means is that there can be no closed shops anywhere. You can work at any union place you please, but you don't have to join the union in order to work there. That's all "right to work" means.

"At will" employment means that both the employee or the employer can terminate their association at any time for any reason or for no reason at all, without prior notice. You are basically working from paycheck to paycheck and when you receive your pay for the last pay period you are technically "done". Then you begin once again. In actual practice employers expect at least a weeks notice even though they will not give you any if they lay you off. Not really fair or just but that's just the way it is. From time to time there have been movements politically to pass laws saying that employers must give at least two weeks notice if they are planning on layoffs, but these proposals always die a quiet death in the halls of Congress

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.
BTW I am curious - I know the VA is union of course - I would expect them to be. What about County Hospital? I just assumed they would also be unionized as they would be county employees.

No, Maricopa County employees are not unionized. The VA hospital is under federal auspices.

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No, Maricopa County employees are not unionized. The VA hospital is under federal auspices.

Yeah I already figured VA was union because if you work there you are a federal employee. I admit I am mildly surprised that County isn't unionized because they are government employees granted they work for county government. An organization like AFSCME (Assoc. of Federal, State, County, & Municipal Employees) would or could include them under it's labor umbrella

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Hi Kimmie,

How can i find more information on how to become a member?

Agree on the extra protection and would like to explore more about it.

How does your hospital react to people the are unionized?

Thanks

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