[PediRN*FL]

Hi All-

I work at St. Joe's Children's Hospital in Tampa, FL. Myself and fellow RN's are interested in getting a union. We are trying to get together with other nurses that work for St. Joseph's and form a Union Commiette to get the ball rolling.

I have contacted a Union but have not heard back from them at this time.

If you work at SJH/SJCH or for Baycare in general and are interested please contact me.

I would also like input on how to improve staffing and patient load without union invlovement!

Thanks so much!

[Gr8Dane]

Its a good way to get fired fast. Just the mention of union at my hospital in Florida is grounds for immediate termination. (Its even stated in the manual we get when hired lol)

[PediRN*FL]

Didn't even think of it beinging in the policy...Can they legally do that? I was reading on the National Labor Relations Act Section 7-8 and it sounded like they could NOT do that.

You don't by chance work for Baycare do you...Becasue then it would be in my policy as well!

[Gr8Dane]

Na I live in Citrus County which is North of you It is in our policy, wasnt worded as bluntly as I typed, but it basically says NO LABOR UNIONS OR UNIONS OF ANY SORT.

[Tampagirl]

I did my pedi clinicals their. Anyway, I don't know how you would go about doing it but I do know that there are unions in some hospitals in Florida. Brandon Regional has a union but it's only open to full time RNs. Maybe you could search HCA's website and see what it includes and go from there for ideas. You also might want to contact a lawyer to see how and what you need to do to actually start a union.

Good luck.

[PediRN*FL]

Just curious...since you have experienced the hospital...would you want to work there as you saw it?

I contacted the NNOC last week via email but I have not heard anythinig from them. I have also sent the email page link to fellow nurses that I work with so they can also submit information.

[Julia RN]

You can also contact the United American Nurses:

http://www.uannurse.org/organize/union.html

They have some bargaining units in Florida and I know a few of the nurses that are members.

http://www.floridanurse.org/advocacy/lerc.asp

[Tampagirl]

Originally Posted by PediRN*FL

Just curious...since you have experienced the hospital...would you want to work there as you saw it?

No, I wouldn't want to work their but not for the reasons that you are having problems. I didn't appreciate the way that we were treated by almost all of the staff while we were their. When I was their the ratio was 5:1 or 6:1 (a pod and maybe 1 pt from another but this was rare) 2 or 3 aides per floor. We weren't allowed to do anything towards pt care expect for what the aides did because most pts got a lot of IV meds (we weren't allowed to give) and other things that we weren't allowed to do because the hospital/school wouldn't allow us. There were RN students their at the same time and they were able to do more pt care.

I did hear that right before we went that the hospital had changed some policies regarding the nursing staff and a lot of them weren't to happy about it. I don't know how ture that was but maybe that's why things were that way when we were there.

Hopefully things get better and you all are able to get the answers you want. Good luck.

[Proud Union RN]

Originally Posted by PediRN*FL

Hi All-

I work at St. Joe's Children's Hospital in Tampa, FL. Myself and fellow RN's are interested in getting a union. We are trying to get together with other nurses that work for St. Joseph's and form a Union Commiette to get the ball rolling.

I have contacted a Union but have not heard back from them at this time.

If you work at SJH/SJCH or for Baycare in general and are interested please contact me.

I would also like input on how to improve staffing and patient load without union invlovement!

Thanks so much!

Hi PediRN FL,
I am a union nurse and I am a witness to the input we have into our professional concerns & working conditions with our union contract.
Give me a call:
305-458-2969
All the best,
Maria

[LGRN]

I am encouraged by this thread! We'll be moving to Jacksonville, FL in a month and I want to know if there are any nurses in Jax that are interested in starting a union at St. Lukes - St. Vincents.