[brian]

Nurses opposed to the current union representation at Inland Valley Medical Center filed a petition Friday with the National Labor Relations Board calling for another election that could oust the union.

The required 30 percent of the nurses at Inland Valley back the effort, said nurse Debbie Moss, who hand-delivered the petition to a labor board office in San Diego. There are 235 nurses at Inland Valley, said Teresa Fleege, director of marketing for Southwest Healthcare System, which runs the hospital.
The petition calls for another election to see if the Inland Valley nurses still want to be represented by the California Nurses Association. The nurses first voted to be represented by the union in 2004.
Union organizer Sean Fulkerson said a majority of nurses continue to support CNA.

"This (filing) is just a result of a nine-month, intensive, union-busting campaign by management," he said.

The petition has been put on ice by the labor board until two unfair labor practice charges filed by the union against Inland Valley last year are fully investigated, said Kelly Selvidge, supervisory examiner for the board in Los Angeles, which is handling the petition. The investigation into the two charges ---- which allege discrimination and refusal to bargain by hospital administration ---- is expected to be completed this month, she added.

Full Story: Inland Valley nurses gather enough support to oppose union [North County Times,CA]

[Sheri257]

Here we go again ...

That headline from the article is somewhat misleading. If the nurses had actually gathered enough support to oppose the union, they wouldn't need an election at all. If more than 50 percent of the membership had signed the petition, the union would be out already.

But only 30 percent have signed at this point so, that's not exactly a majority. 30 percent is only enough to call an election so the majority can vote and decide whether or not to keep the union.

There's been two decertification elections in California in recent months where 30 percent signed the petition for an election. But the majority of nurses voted to keep the union in both cases. So ... we'll see if this election is any different.

[mobilsurgrn]

That headline from the article is somewhat misleading. If the nurses had actually gathered enough support to oppose the union, they wouldn't need an election at all. If more than 50 percent of the membership had signed the petition, the union would be out already.

But only 30 percent have signed at this point so, that's not exactly a majority. 30 percent is only enough to call an election so the majority can vote and decide whether or not to keep the union.

As I understand labor situations, getting over 50% of the employees to sign a decertification petition during bargaining causes more harm than good. The group of nurses that filed the decertification petition seems to want a second election. It puts pressure on both sides (union and hospital) to talk about how they will respond to the nurses expectations. If the nurses had signed enough cards to cause the union to leave immediately there would be no real resolution. The union goes away and a lot of people are left wondering, "what if?" Also, the law requires at least 30% to file but they could have a lot more signatures.

I think it's smart that these nurses have exercised their right to make both sides accountable. Decertifcations are rare, especially in nursing. This will be an interesting situation to follow.

[Sheri257]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

As I understand labor situations, getting over 50% of the employees to sign a decertification petition during bargaining causes more harm than good. The group of nurses that filed the decertification petition seems to want a second election. It puts pressure on both sides (union and hospital) to talk about how they will respond to the nurses expectations. If the nurses had signed enough cards to cause the union to leave immediately there would be no real resolution. The union goes away and a lot of people are left wondering, "what if?" Also, the law requires at least 30% to file but they could have a lot more signatures.

I think it's smart that these nurses have exercised their right to make both sides accountable. Decertifcations are rare, especially in nursing. This will be an interesting situation to follow.

I agree that decertification elections are a good thing, in that they make unions more accountable. But I don't think it helps contract negotiations. It probably delays negotiations more than anything else. Why would the hospital bother to negotiate with the union if they might not be around anymore? In one of the recent decertification elections here in California, there was no contract until after the decertification election was held and union prevailed.

As for having the 50 percent of signatures already, well ... it certainly hasn't shown up in the votes during the elections. In fact, with the last decertification election, the union got 75 percent of the vote. So ... either at least some of the 30 percent that signed their petition changed their mind, something was screwy with the signatures, or the opponents didn't turn out to vote.

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

That headline from the article is somewhat misleading. If the nurses had actually gathered enough support to oppose the union, they wouldn't need an election at all. If more than 50 percent of the membership had signed the petition, the union would be out already.

But only 30 percent have signed at this point so, that's not exactly a majority. 30 percent is only enough to call an election so the majority can vote and decide whether or not to keep the union.

As I understand labor situations, getting over 50% of the employees to sign a decertification petition during bargaining causes more harm than good. The group of nurses that filed the decertification petition seems to want a second election. It puts pressure on both sides (union and hospital) to talk about how they will respond to the nurses expectations. If the nurses had signed enough cards to cause the union to leave immediately there would be no real resolution. The union goes away and a lot of people are left wondering, "what if?" Also, the law requires at least 30% to file but they could have a lot more signatures.

I think it's smart that these nurses have exercised their right to make both sides accountable. Decertifcations are rare, especially in nursing. This will be an interesting situation to follow.

Inland Valley Hospital, its nurses and the union have a couple of weeks left to get their ducks in a row and submit documentation to finalize the decertification vote of the California Nurses Association.
In case you have all forgotten I submit a quote from my website:

October 2006 - Registered Nurses at Inland Valley Medical Center have voted to decertify the California Nurses Association by a vote of 113 to 95. The California Nurses Association, disrespecting the voices of the Nurses have chosen to contest the results of the election delaying the certification of the votes.

Nurses at Inland Valley Hospital have been telling me that efforts by the CNA to regroup have been laughable and that they feel confident their vote, which has been held up by the CNA's legal wrangling, will be certified soon

[mobilsurgrn]

Originally Posted by Sherwood

Inland Valley Hospital, its nurses and the union have a couple of weeks left to get their ducks in a row and submit documentation to finalize the decertification vote of the California Nurses Association.
In case you have all forgotten I submit a quote from my website:

October 2006 - Registered Nurses at Inland Valley Medical Center have voted to decertify the California Nurses Association by a vote of 113 to 95. The California Nurses Association, disrespecting the voices of the Nurses have chosen to contest the results of the election delaying the certification of the votes.

Nurses at Inland Valley Hospital have been telling me that efforts by the CNA to regroup have been laughable and that they feel confident their vote, which has been held up by the CNA's legal wrangling, will be certified soon

I'm sure the vote will be upheld. CNA sent a worthless group of reps (Hirsh-Garcia and Fulkerson, neither nurses and both never spent any time at the hospital- they sold the bargaining team out!!) to try to keep their original election intact. They never had a message or anything the nurses didn't already have..

[mobilsurgrn]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

I'm sure the vote will be upheld. CNA sent a worthless group of reps (Hirsh-Garcia and Fulkerson, neither nurses and both never spent any time at the hospital- they sold the bargaining team out!!) to try to keep their original election intact. They never had a message or anything the nurses didn't already have..

BTW, Has the CNA ever been decertfied?

[mobilsurgrn]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

I'm sure the vote will be upheld. CNA sent a worthless group of reps (Hirsh-Garcia and Fulkerson, neither nurses and both never spent any time at the hospital- they sold the bargaining team out!!) to try to keep their original election intact. They never had a message or anything the nurses didn't already have..

BTW, Has the CNA ever been decertified?

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by mobilsurgrn

BTW, Has the CNA ever been decertfied?

Once before at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California that was over 20 years ago. Coincidentally, Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas California has filed for decertification of the California Nurses Association and will vote February 6th and 7th 2008.
The CNA was elected there about three years ago and it took over a year for the them to obtain a contract with the nurses. By then the CNA because of bad press that they created, had already lost the hearts of a lot of nurses. In order to get the nurses to accept a contract they agreed to drop the union security clause most unions demand. Scripps nurses who at one time enthusiastically supported the union dropped their memberships in droves and now only a less than 12% of the nurses support the union by paying dues.

Sherwood