[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by RNadvocate

PS -- I say hypocrits because I don't understand why CNA call's partnerships with management "backroom deals" if SEIU does it but not when CNA does it? SEIU members use their resources to negotiate fair elections, then Calnurses are happy to co-opt them after trashing it.

CNA’s previous track record of entering into the same “backroom” deal they bash SEIU for building is legendary -- you can't buy the bull anymore can you? Catholic Healthcare West? Tenet? come on...

**Santa Ana, CA (July 6, 2006)** – A Western Medical Center nurse has filed class action unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against his employer and the California Nurses Association (CNA) union to stop an illegal scheme designed to push unwanted unionization on him and his fellow registered nurses.
Sherwood Cox filed the charges at the NLRB Region 21 office in Los Angeles, against the CNA union and Western Medical Center in Santa Ana with assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Cox’s charges seek to protect the nurses’ right to choose freely whether or not to unionize. The charges detail how CNA union officials illegally bargained with the nurses’ employer over their wages and working conditions despite the fact that the nurses have not chosen to unionize. Included with Cox’s charges is a copy of a 26-page “neutrality agreement” negotiated by union officials with the medical center that describes how the employer will assist the union in organizing the medical center’s registered nurses, and it details specific collective bargaining concessions, including terms for wages and health benefits, that the medical center will receive in exchange.

http://www.nrtw.org/press/2006/07/nu...dom-choose-whe

I am Sherwood Cox, the nurse who filed the suit. When the SEIU formed the "backdoor deal" with Tenet Healthcare, the vast majority of nurses there opposed any form of unionization and a few of us formed a very vocal group. Then the California Nurses Association stepped in, not because they wanted to help the nurses but because they wanted a slice of the pie. They cried out in the press.....

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...2/ai_101031432

that the Tenet/SEIU deal was illegal. That Tenet nurses deserved a choice, they then made a backdoor deal of their own. SEIU was out, they would no longer court RN's at any of the Tenet hospitals. The CNA now was the only choice on the ballot. A neutrality agreement between Tenet and the California Nurses Association was formed. Same contract, same deal. Why is it ok now?
The California Nurses Association has made two attempts to organize Western Medical Center Santa Ana. They spent months at the hospital serving meals to nurses, passing out flyers and trinkets. Organizers roamed our halls and invaded our cafeteria and break rooms. The union must have spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if you count the salaries of the organizers. I countered them every chance I could and the union spread vicious rumors about me, sending anonymous flyers to nurses homes depicting me as a "puppet of management" In the end, in two NLRB supervised elections over a three year period, Western Medical Center RN's chose to be union free.

http://www.nrtw.org/sherwood-cox-exp...ment-hypocrisy

Thanks,

Sherwood Cox, R.N., CCRN

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by critcarern3

I am one of the nurses from the Catholic System, and I am PERSONALLY OFFENDED at the idea that we had some sort of backroom deal. We had a real shot to fix our patient care, to get better staffing and form a union, and this outside group, the California Nurse Associates shows up and ruins it. I am so angry--I am a nurse and I went to our union meetings for years--we worked, PUBLICLY, for 3 1/2 YEARS to get to our vote, and now we had to cancel it because everyone is so confused about what's happening. HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO US!! GO BACK TO CALIFORNIA! thanks to them my patients will have the same short staffing they've always had!!

The Ohio Nurses Association saw it coming and warned everyone to watch out for the "interlopers" from California:

http://k.b5z.net/i/u/6011029/i/pdf/f...029NNOCrip.PDF

I posted this on my website in early 2005, saved it for you. Please don't send them back to California........ We don't want them either. Thats why their after your paychecks now.

Sherwood Cox, RN, CCRN

[RN Power Ohio]

A few other facts left out of the story above

1. The employer-CHP- filed for this election (sound fishy-it is)

2. By manipulating the system SEIU did not have to show the usual 30% of support through card signing- in fact they produced none

3. The majority of the 8,000 employees vaguely recalled that SEIU had had some activity in the area in 2005 but were unaware that an election was coming up until they received a letter in the mail.

4.The employees had only 7 business days to make a decision about union representation

5. Their "choice" a hospital chosen union or no union

6. In this letter the employees were told that they were NOT to discuss this election amongst themselves but rather to call a hospital or SEIU hotline for information


There are apparently a few employees who want representation by SEIU who feel that their opinions should dictate the many. With so many excellent unions in this country why should the employees at CHP be MADE to choose SEIU or nothing?

The only way the employer would file for election is if concessions had been made- this has been the method of SEIU around the country. Contracts at the expense of power and voice of workers!

Bad, bad deal! Completely contrary to everything the US labor movement stands for!

[RN Power Ohio]

Originally Posted by Sherwood

The Ohio Nurses Association saw it coming and warned everyone to watch out for the "interlopers" from California..
Sherwood Cox, RN, CCRN

Sherwood,
Please check out this link from the ONA website- thanking "nurses and organizations" for stopping this sham election.

http://www.ohnurses.org/AM/Template....entDisplay.cfm

[samanthaRN]

Why not listen to the nurses who actually work at the CHP hospitals?

Read this quote from a CHP nurse (incidentally, posted in this same thread). Some of you claim that nurses did not know what was going on and that you speak for a majority of the CHP employees, yet you provide no evidence, just assertions. All over allnurses.com I have seen posts by nurses who actually work at these facilities and all of them express devastation that CNA swooped in without being invited and slung mud until these elections were compromised. Use whatever labor law rationalizations you want, what happened at these hospitals was union busting, by a union no less.

Originally Posted by critcarern3

I am one of the nurses from the Catholic System, and I am PERSONALLY OFFENDED at the idea that we had some sort of backroom deal. We had a real shot to fix our patient care, to get better staffing and form a union, and this outside group, the California Nurse Associates shows up and ruins it. I am so angry--I am a nurse and I went to our union meetings for years--we worked, PUBLICLY, for 3 1/2 YEARS to get to our vote, and now we had to cancel it because everyone is so confused about what's happening. HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO US!! GO BACK TO CALIFORNIA! thanks to them my patients will have the same short staffing they've always had!!

[Ludlow]

Originally Posted by Sherwood

That Tenet nurses deserved a choice, they then made a backdoor deal of their own. SEIU was out, they would no longer court RN's at any of the Tenet hospitals. The CNA now was the only choice on the ballot.

Sherwood forgot to mention that, like in Ohio, SEIU showed up without 1 card being signed from 1 nurse. On the other hand, hundreds of nurses did sign authorization cards for California Nurses Association representation. Democratically choosing your union (that is the American way) and not having one hand-picked for you by the corporation was the issue at the Tenet hospitals and is the issue here in Ohio.

Sherwood is rabidly anti-union and since CNA is the best representative of a real union, Sherwood is exceptionally anti CNA. I take that as a compliment.

[samanthaRN]

Didn't CNA show up at the CHP hospitals without one card being signed? None of the rationalizations for CNA's union busting in Ohio remedy the disappointment and loss suffered by the CHP nurses who are now much further away from having any union at all.

[RN Power Ohio]

NNOC was at CHP to oppose/expose the election NOT be part of it.

[Sherwood]

Originally Posted by Ludlow

Sherwood forgot to mention that, like in Ohio, SEIU showed up without 1 card being signed from 1 nurse. On the other hand, hundreds of nurses did sign authorization cards for California Nurses Association representation. Democratically choosing your union (that is the American way) and not having one hand-picked for you by the corporation was the issue at the Tenet hospitals and is the issue here in Ohio.

Sherwood is rabidly anti-union and since CNA is the best representative of a real union, Sherwood is exceptionally anti CNA. I take that as a compliment.

To me democratically choosing your union to me means:

1) No Card Check Elections PERIOD!

2) Absolutely NO "Neutrality Agreements". Neutrality agreements prevent free exchange of information among those that need it the most, we the employee, the ones most affected by the decision to unionize or not.

3) An NLRB sanctioned and supervised secret ballot election. All voters ID's are checked before voting. All employees vote in private and not surrounded by union supporters in the parking lot, break room or back alley to SIGN THE CARD!!!!

4) NO union security clause (no closed shop). If the union is so great they must prove themselves by keeping their promises. If they are worth the price the employees will be dues paying members, if not then the union loses support and out they go. It will keep both employers and the union on their toes.

Yes, I am not particularly fond of the California Nurses Association, I have dealt face to face with them. I do not like the SEIU any more or less, they have gotten in my face as well.
I have posted the California Nurses Association LM-2 financial reports on my website. I see they are paying you well for your "rabid support". Perhaps some of you will take a look at the CNA financial reports as well. Here is a link from my site to the most recent report. I also have the last four years listed as well as the California Nurses Association bylaws. Know what your getting into.

http://k.b5z.net/i/u/6011029/i/CNA.LM2.2007.pdf

Best of luck to the Nurses of Ohio. I am sorry the California Nurses Association crashed your party. I must say though that I hope you all take this opportunity to think long and hard about choosing any union to represent you personally or professionally. Attend all employer and union sanctioned "educational meetings". Listen carefully to what everyone has to say, read between the lines and research the facts. Do not take anything at face value. Save flyers, save mailers and save employee bulletins. They can and will come in handy one day.
I am very very Pro Nurse, I support each and every one of you who work so hard to represent yourself in a positive and professional manner. I believe that if all of us continue to speak up and speak out in a positive way, we can make things better. If we find something we believe is wrong, don't just say "This is wrong", say "this is wrong because...." and "here is what I believe is the solution....."
I think all of us can do this together without a union.

Sherwood

[ingelein]

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:eb-wY7TStnQJ:www.stopunions.com/updates+sherwood+cox&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

November 2007 - Stopunions.Com and Sherwood Cox take it to the United States Supreme Court with assisstance from the National Right to Work Foundation. A Brief of Amici Curiae was submitted and accepted by the Supreme Court in support of Chamber of Commerce vs Brown (06-939).
California Gov't Code Section 16645.2(a) bars private employers who are "recipients of a grant of state funds" from "using the funds to assist, promote, or deter union organizing." Similarly, Section 16645.7(a) bars "a private employer receiving state funds in excess of [$10,000] in any calendar year on account of its participation in a state program" from using such funds "to assist, promote, or deter union organizing.
This law threatens the rights of emplyees to seek information and educate themselves on the pros and cons of unionizing. Forcing employers into a "neutrality agreement" with the unions. Stopunions.com agrees that this law directly violates federal law as outlined in the National Labor Relations Act and our 1st amendment rights of free speech and restricts the free flow of information in the workplace.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=6&gl=us

The employer, WMCSA, through its supervisors and/or agents, created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, interfered with laboratory conditions, and made a free election impossible by engaging in campaign activity within close proximity to the polls on the election days

The Petitioner asserts that Petitioner Representatives Roy Hong and Chito Quijano would testify in support of Petitioner’s Objection No. 5.

Roy Hong and Chito Quijano would testify that on December 27, 2006, for about one hour during each of the voting sessions from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., unit employee Sherwood Cox, an alleged agent of the Employer, positioned himself on the sidewalk outside the main entrance to the Employer’s facility to distribute leaflets there and so that he would see every unit employee who entered the hospital from the outside in order to vote.