[whistle1429]

this is just a sample of what I mean about the California Nurse Assoc.
This letter is from their representing attorney.... isn't it nice to know our RIGHTS? I think we all need to read the fine print, read between the lines, and remember that the union is only as powerful as it's members.
Another side note... the NLRB isn't REAL! There are no checks and balances between the union an NLRB, so if you think there is recourse against the union, it's not through the NLRB, but through State Court!
When I filed a complaint against my union/rep with the NLRB, the NLRB contacted me and stated, "Im surprised you didn't file a complaint against the employer", I said, "I didn't know I could"... so I did. Wasn't she so sly... after filing my complaint against my employer with the NLRB, I was contacted again, and informed, "Although you do raise several issues that would probably warrant an investigation, it wouldn't look good on you, for you to go to arbitration with a complaint against the union who's representing you... so here's what I"m gonna do... I'm gonna drop the case against the union, and defer the one to arbitration against the employer.
When I later contacted her, stating that I thought it was outrageous that she gave my charge against the employer over to the same union rep that I had filed a grievance against, she dismissed my concern, and stated, "Well, the charge against the union is dropped, I'm not going back there." I informed her that I may file another complaint against the union, and she said that even if I did, she wouldn't take into account my past complaints, and I woudl have to come up with a whole new set of charges.
I contacted the DOL, Attny General, OCR, and they all stated the same, as did NLRB... there is no entity that oversee's the NLRB. So... they "babysit" the union, but who babysits them???
What a failure of the entire system... what in the world are we thinking we have protection if we have a union for when really... we're in the same boat as those who are nonunion members.. our only recourse is really suing them civally...
Read on... this came directly from CNA's attorney.... Become enlightened.....

Subject: RE: Friday meeting
From: (attorney for C N A) @calnurses.org

With respect to your question about your attorney, you have already been informed, in writing, as shown in the Jan. e-mails from ** to you which you forwarded to me, that your attorney may not be present at the arbitration preparation meeting or at the arbitration.

The reason is that the collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) is between "hospital" and CNA. As reflected in Article 16 of the current CBA, only the “parties” to the CBA have rights under the grievance procedure. Registered Nurses represented by CNA are third-party beneficiaries of the CBA but have no direct rights as a party to the CBA. As reflected in Article 16.B, at Step Two of the Grievance procedure, even for grievances between the RN and the employer, such as yours, a representative of CNA meets with a representative of the Employer to attempt to resolve the grievance. Only a party to the CBA and not an individual employee can refer a grievance to an impartial Arbitrator for determination.
CNA functions in an arbitration to advance the cause of the individual grievant while considering the impact of the case on the bargaining unit as a whole.
There’s no issue of your “waiving” your right to have an attorney at the arbitration because you do not have any such right to start with.

CNA will continue to represent you with the same care and dedication with which we represent all the RNs at Sl and hundreds of other hospitals in California and in other states.
CNA does not use attorneys for all the arbitrations; we do always use representatives who are skilled and proficient in conducting arbitrations
The types of settlement offers that CNA might accept over your objection, there is no way to create a list of hypothetical offers. The critical fact is whether the settlement is “reasonable” in CNA’s view.

Binding arbitration means that there is no right to appeal the Arbitrator’s decision to Court. Under certain very limited and narrow circumstances, a union or an employer may move to vacate an arbitration decision but disagreeing with it or having lost certainly is not a basis for petitioning to vacate. Sometimes an employer will indicate that it does not intend to comply with a decision, despite the fact that there is no legal basis to do so) and in that case the Union probably would file a court action to confirm the award.

Basically the Arbitrator orders a make whole remedy so that your compensation and benefits would be the same as if you had not been terminated. Typically a grievant does not get compensated for time spent in grievance meetings or preparing for the arbitration or for costs expended in connection with the case.
M. Jane
Legal Counsel
California Nurses Association
National Nurses Organizing Committee
2000 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94612

[erichRN]

Dear TNNurse,

The knife in the back goes right through the heart. The way I see it is that healthcare is a money-making business that has nothing to do with good patient care-- except in the instances that good patient care makes money. Get in a position to leave the life somebody else has made for you and go out on your own and provide the kind of care that you know you can provide. It may not be in a context where you will make a lot of money, but the reward of personal satisfaction is much greater. Good luck and God bless you.

[gauge14iv]

That letter is one of the horrifying and sickening things I have ever read - and it reinforces my very strong dislike and my stance against unions.

[ingelein]

Read all of Whistle1429's posts.

[Myxel67]

Originally Posted by panhandler

well I DO take offense.
I am not encouraging people to "run from job to job" and I am not encouraging people to "jump ship." You missed the point I was trying to make, to encourage others to take an objective rather than a subjective view of employment. Cheap shot, miss gauge14.

I just assumed PANHANDLER referred to bedpan--not someone on the street with a homeless sign and a tin cup. Thought it was a witty name.

[panhandler]

Yuppers, my "panhandling" is of bedpans, o course.

[gauge14iv]

I was JOKING - as I quite clearly said!

[TNNURSE]

Hi guys....well here is an update on my case:
I am suppost to go in the next few weeks with my attorney for a mediation date with the hospital.The mediator will be a judge who has been asked to act as mediator by the hospital and my atty.So...we'll see if we can reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.
I am hopeful that we can...maybe that's me being niave again....I dunno.
I look at it like this....I am just going to once again tell my account of the events that happened and listen to my atty. I did my job...and did it well. I did as the nurse practice act mandated and for that.....for trying to protect the patients that we cared for......I was fired. I was fired for speaking up about an unsafe practitioners conduct/acts.
I spent years at that hospital with letters of praise....raise after raise....and never once a write up nor a verbal warning for anything at all.....bc....I did my job and did it well. My salary in 4+ years went from 18$ an hour to over 30$ an hour....so when I say I did my job well.....it showed on my evaluations and I received emails, etc etc etc for the good job I did there. I even got a promotion only weeks before I was fired at the request of the nurse manager ( and yep another raise to boot). Then I witnessed that nurse managers best friend commit an act that ...lets just say ahem....drastically negatively impacted a patient. The manager and her best friend didnt want to have to be "lowered/demeaned" by being forced to undergo "orientation"....even though she had not routinely cared for ICU patients for over 10 years. They felt that orientation was beneath her.So she was left to "pick things up" as she went along. Does that sound safe? No...? well...it wasnt.
Then when it known that I would be going over the managers head to risk management....I was fired within hours for a false trumped up charge. I was accused of documenting vital signs early. yep....thats right.
When I went to my exit interview the manager kept saying that it "alledgedly" occured on a Sunday...yet when I asked to see any documentation she had depicting my pre-documentation....I was shown papers from a Tuesday.(tripping over her lies).Then she said it occured on the 2nd day of "June"...but then she showed me papers from the 5th of June.
Strange...I know.

Then...after my atty got involved and I told him what they showed me at my exit interview didnt even resemble my own writing and that it was an obvious forgery that we needed to have a document examiner look at. Guess what happened?....he asked to see the document the hospital (aka lying manager and her friend) are alledging showed the predocumentation.....and their atty provided us with a letter saying they couldnt provide us with that document because it was "mysteriously missing". Hmm...it became mysteriously missing after we requested a copy for forensic document examination.
they also provided us with copies of other items.....an example is :a letter a witness signed for the incompetent practitioner saying he was called to the unit shortly after 3:30 pm or just prior to 4pm and shown a copy of a form that the incompetent practitioner allegedly claimed was my writing predocumenting vital signs early. He said he signed this (copy) of the document shortly after 3:30 pm or just before 4pm. He described in detail what he saw on this copy...saying that all the 50+ blocks were completly filled in and that the vital signs were filled in completly with no holes/gaps in charting.He also said ...strangely enough the incompetent practitioner refused to allow him to even see the original document ...only allowing him to see and sign a "copy" she provided. Here's the problem.....when my atty asked to see a copy of what the "witness" signed he was provided a copy of a document that was vastly different that what the witness descibed as having signed.It had tons of "holes/gaps"...even the darned temp wasnt recorded...the blood pressure wasnt recorded and it had a ahem......ahem....unique looking signature for the witness and it was signed with a time that it was alledgedly witnessed...and the time was "signed at 1pm".Hmm....signed at 1pm......a time 3 1/2 hours before the guy was even made aware she wanted him to "witness" that the incompetent pratcitioner had a "copy" (not an original) of something.Now what he says he was shown....in no way resembles what they do have.
so...how am I? I..am mad. I feel like this nurse and her manager friend...not only manipulated me.....but also this other "witness".I know for a fact that other documents that were signed by me on that day have been tampered with after I left and altered.Numbers were scribbled thru...trying to make them into other numbers and things like that.
I still....deep in my heart....know that a few bad apples doesnt mean the whole tree is bad.That hospital has some incredible nurses and physicians.....but when the hospital condones the behavoir of this nurse and the manager by letting my termination stand it say's "They are all for breaking the state and federal law"...it says that they place patient safety on the back burner.....and for that I am going to hold that hospital accountable. I tried to use their internal reporting system to help resolve this and no one listened. To me...it's like they are saying that patient's life was garbage.....that her life meant nothing....and that's wrong. If hospitals are allowed to silence nurses and other healthcare members when they act as a patient safety advocate then they are nullifying all the state and federal laws that protect us from retaliation.....and they dont have the legal right to do that. They are not the supreme court! Every day....every day....I think about that patient...she had a mother....she had young children.....so ....this "thing" is bigger than me just loosing my job bc I spoke up. So....as far as mediation....I hope that we can reach a mutually acceptable agreement...but I dont know what that would be.I do know this though....big hospitals can not deem themselves above the law. These characters involved have done so much lying...and manipulating....I still feel sorry for their attorneys.

[TNNURSE]

I hope that someone can learn something from this post...I hope it helps some other nurse...bc I had no idea how often this was occuring until it happened to me. I did the smart thing...when I began to sense something was "up" I started tape recording everything. I carried a small tape recorder I had used for recording lectures in school with me to every meeting etc etc....and I recorded everything from my exit interview to....welll.....everything. Think about this......what position would I be in if I hadnt recorded everything? would my position be as strong as it is now? No....it wouldnt be. But I did record...now the Judges and court (if it comes to that) can hear the lies straight from the horses mouth. They can hear that nurse manager in my exit interview telling lie after lie....tripping over her lies. So....my advice...if you think somethings up.....record...make copies. I have several other major key things we are reserving in case we have to settle this in a court room that I am not legally obligated to release. So ...do like I have done ....record...document it all,,,,make copies...record some more ..and keep some key peices of evidence to yourself/your atty in case all out of court avenues of resolution fail.Get an atty involved early...bc we have to make hospitals realize they are not above the law....and they cant disregard the Nurse Practice act, state and federal anti-retaliation and patient safety laws.

[cozmo_blozmo]

Can we please kill this thread it has been well over a year and all I hear from TNNnurse is how you have all this evidence and tape recordings and someone has forged all these signatures and blah blah blah. If you had all of these things you would have had your job back the day after you visited your supposed attorney. Instead we get these delusional stories about how you were framed and you are gonna win this great lawsuit from your employer and they are all gonna pay, and I don't buy it for one minute. So please in the name of all that is holy kill it kill it kill it...