[Chico David RN]

from SEIU PSYCH RN:
SO help me understand anti-your union is not anti-union

I'll give a short answer, even though I think most nurses can get the distinction without needing it spelled out for them. There's a big difference between these two messages:
1. Unions are bad.
2. This is not the best union for you, you deserve better.

But that's the last I'm going to engage on this subject tonight, because I am just having too much fun savoring our incredible organizing victory in Texas, which you can read about here:
http://allnurses.com/forums/f323/inc...on-291972.html
And, before anyone asks, this was won under an organizing agreement, but a VERY different organizing agreement than what SEIU had in Ohio.

[Organize1199]

I am glad the Tenet nurses decided to form a union and I congratulate them on their victory. After the years of work SEIU put into winning the agreement, it would be heartbreaking to lose.

http://allnurses.com/forums/f195/ohi...ml#post2713829

[RN Power Ohio]

Originally Posted by Organize1199

"RN Power",
You drove down from your Cleveland law firm to stop hospital workers from organizing a union. You betrayed 8,000 Ohio families. Have you no sense of decency, of right and wrong? Can you even distinguish the truth from the lies you've been repeating?

Oraganize 1199,

As we are all setting the record straight on these forums. I would like to do so here. You did a "google" search and decided you know enough about me to make comments about me and other NNOC Ohio members.

I am a registered nurse- are you?

For years, I spoke out in my workplace as a patient advocate and went up against the hospital time and time again. Have you?

I worked in a "world class hospital" and watched as the roof caved in on my patients (literally) while new and illustrious buildings were being built all around them. Yet everytime it rained the ceiling in my unit leaked on the patients who were predominantly uninsured- got wet! Yet again, I raised issue for my patients.

I witnessed the loss of dignity that my patients suffered because I was unable to care for them appropriately.

I decided to defend the patients I saw being injured day after day. As an independent consultant- I am proud to say that I work with some of the most respected plaintiff attorneys in the state of Ohio and the US. Through my work I have the priviledge of educating the brightest attorneys about the most complex theories in medicine and standards of care- ensuring that only meritorious claims see the light of day in the court room.

I discovered that the corruption of the hospital runs deeper than failure to staff appropriately. I have sat in court rooms where I heard the hospital defend itself using their own negligence as a defense! "You see jury- there is no way the RN could have checked the vital signs she had 13 post op patients to care for! How can a nurse be everywhere at once. This is why the patient was sent home with a blood pressure of 70/30" By the way tha man died. Not by fault of the RN but by negligence of a hospital who took no responsibility to ensure safe care environment. There is a standard of care for nurse staffing- and it is to staff unsafely! I believe that patients deserve better than this and am an advocate for ratio legislation in Ohio.

I have seen the way that tort reform has prevented all but the most severely injured and deceased from getting any sort of financial assistance for the injuries inflicted upon them. I have learned that the value of all lives are not equal in the eyes of the hospital and insurance industry. I have spoken with hundreds who are financially devestated because of the bills these unnecessary incidents have incurred.

Doesn't SEIU lobby for tort reform on behalf of hospitals and nursing homes so that people who are injured can't seek retribution for neglect, injury and death?? Tell me about the "deal" SEIU has made in Florida for it's staffing bill and in California for the right to organize nursing home workers?? Why are you taking away injured patients rights when you could be using your "power" to be sure that the care environment is safe. This is what SEIU "partnerships" do for American citizens. http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-06-30/n...ners-in-slime/

I am proud of what I do. You can try to make it sound negative- SEIU would as an advocate of undermining peoples rights and in the process undermining human rights. I am proud to be an NNOC Ohio activist, a direct-care registered nurse, a legal nurse consultant, a voice for guaranteed healthcare, an open and public patient advocate, an independent business professional. As Justice4Peace told you- your comments truly shine the light on how little you know about nurses our profession and the contributions we make to our communities.

It is for these reasons that I will stand out in a blizard with my toes numb while getting called names and enduring harrassment of SEIU organizers to expose a sham election that undermines union democracy.

[Organize1199]

A secret ballot election, administered by the NLRB. You need 50% + 1 for the union, to get the union. There are separate elections for each of 54 units which were voting.

Ground rules:

- No harassment from the employer
- No harassment from the union
- Each side sent a position paper to workers about why to vote their way
- Each side staffed an 800 number, so workers could talk to both or either side if they want to
- Workers can do whatever they want, as long as they are not supervisors (e.g., run VOTE YES or VOTE NO campaigns)

It is the most democratic format for a union election that has ever been devised.

There's just one thing CNA didn't like - they couldn't figure out how to raid it. Why was SEIU on the ballot, and not CNA? Well, heck why not UAW, ONA, UAN, NYSNA, the Teamsters, the Amalgamated Bakery Workers, the KY Nurses Association - why not put dozens of unions on the ballot?

SEIU ran a three-year campaign, which CNA did not participate in at all. CNA had no more business raiding in Ohio than any of those other unions.

Sorry, but if you don't campaign, you sometimes don't get to be on the ballot. Those are American democratic values.

[kam11882]

First, let me say that I am not an RN, but work closely with RNs. As such, I read allnurses religiously, but refrain from posing or replying. This is the first time I've posted at all.

My question is Organize1199-- are you a nurse?

[micurn55]

I find much of the language used by pro-CNA/NNOC posters on this site to describe SEIU troubling. (i.e. SEIU hurts human rights, SEIU is sleazy, SEIU is against patients.) This incredibly negative hateful language contrasts sharply with the posts by SEIU members, who seem to love their organization and to have made great strides with it.

To me, the question is why is the CNA/NNOC so focussed on SEIU, literally to the point of foaming at the mouth when this organization is mentioned in a positive light? Isn't the purpose of the CNA/NNOC to help nurses rise standards? To me, if that is the goal of the CNA/NNOC, it should focus on uniting nurses and not on tearing down SEIU.

By the way, I think there are a lot of posters on this site who are not nurses (both pro-CNA and pro-SEIU). No real way to regulate it on a website like this.

[SEIU PSYCH RN]

CNA is an organization who only organizes Rn's. We believe we are all stronger together. At my hospital we represent all professionals including Social Workers, Doctor's. Nurses. Pharmacist, and Sami counselors to name a few. They do not care about any other worker's, They prefer these nurses have no union because they want their brother and sisters to be a part of the process.

[SEIU PSYCH RN]

Those were not SEIU organizers you encountered they were not allowed to be there. These were the worker's who had fought for three years to get the chance to vote whichyou interferred with.