How do Unions save your nursing job?

No unions do not save or protect your job- they will even throw you under the bus

So I'm curious what's that basis for this short and unsupported statement? I can only speak for my own union (CNA/NNOC) and my own experience. I've been the chief nurse rep at our hospital since 2002 and have been involved in many grievances and termination/discipline issues. We fight hard to protect the rights of all nurses to a fair procedure and, when the nurse is innocent or the punishment excessive, we fight hard for getting a job back or reducing a penalty. Contratry to the common false rap against unions, we do not protect bad or imcompetent nurses - but we do force management to use the proper procedure to terminate them and give them a fair hearing. I've saved the jobs of a number of nurses, and conversely I've also told nurses: "Look, you blew it here, there's nothing we can do the change that, you need to make this a learning experience and move on and do better in your next job." It all depends on the facts of the case.
And it is unfortunately true that some union reps do not do a good job for their members and don't provide quality representation, but that should not be generalized to apply to all - or even most.

Also, I was reading about how the AFL-CIO and Catholic healthcare facilities made an agreement to make organizing drives more civilized. It looks like it would take a lot of the stress out of it.

Some companies (very few) have a very clear non-interference policy when it comes to unionizing. It's a choice for the workers to make. The choice should be able to be made and debated without all the threats and fear that are so common today.

The SEIU has once again made the news for "members" being arrested for assaulting attendees at a health care town hall in St. Louis. This is how the SEIU deals with "opposition" (anyone who doesn't agree with them). This is what they are about. They aren't a union, they are a "rent-a-mob". They pulled this same baloney with the CNA/NNOC.

While I'm not a big fan of SEIU and SEIU does have a history of this sort of thing - I was present at the meeting you refer to when they tried to bust into a union conference to shut down a speech by a CNA leader - I have a feeling this one in particular may be a bad rap. The version of this that I heard is that a bunch of very ill-informed folks came to the townhall with the intention of shouting down the speaker and making the meeting impossible to hold. When the building had reached its fire code rated capacity and the doors were closed to stop more from getting in, some of those folks tried to force their way in. SEIU (and other union) members were manning the doors and stopped them and they claimed to have been assaulted. From the videos I've seen it looked like the assaulting may have been on the other side - this time.