[Organize1199]

Out-of-state union can't know what's best for us

Springfield News Sun (Op-Ed)


Thursday, March 20, 2008


By Sue Allen, RN at Springfield Regional Medical Center-Fountain St. Campus


I keep hoping that I will wake up to find this was all a bad dream. How can it be that everything my colleagues and I spent years trying to achieve here in Springfield was suddenly destroyed by the underhanded actions of an out-of-state organization?


In my 33 years as a registered nurse, I have never experienced anything so personally or professionally devastating.


Those of us who work at Mercy and Community hospitals had been looking forward to the day when we could finally vote on whether to form a union. Many of us felt that joining together in SEIU would make us better advocates for our patients and our community. In any event, it was our decision to make, and ours alone. Thanks to all of our letters to hospital officials, meetings with elected leaders and appeals to the community for support, we had won ground rules that would allow us to make up our own minds.


So you can imagine our dismay when a swarm of organizers from the California Nurses Association arrived with their shocking allegations. I personally have met other registered nurses who are represented by SEIU, and I know for a fact there isn't a shred of truth to what the CNA is saying. But the CNA so confused the situation with their angry rhetoric and distortions that it simply was not possible to proceed with a fair election.


I don't know why an organization that calls itself a "union" would do what the California Nurses Association did. Apparently they have done this many times before in other states. Here's what I do know: Everything we worked for these last three years was sabotaged by an out-of-state organization that doesn't care about us, the people who live and work in Springfield.


This California group doesn't know anything about what we've been through. It doesn't know how difficult it has been to adjust to the merger of our hospitals, not just for the registered nurses, but for the whole team. They don't understand how much we wanted the opportunity to speak with one voice and work together to make our new hospital the best it can be.


It doesn't realize how insulting it is to characterize the ground rules we fought so hard to win as some kind of back-room deal. Or how arrogant it is for them to decide that we would be better off with no union than to be part of the union we chose.


SEIU is the union we've been working with for years, the union that has stood by us through thick and thin, and the union that (unlike the CNA) represents nurses and other hospital employees in Ohio — including at our sister hospitals in Catholic Healthcare Partners.


Frankly, I don't believe the California Nurses Association shares our values. If it did, it would have known how offended we were by its hostile tone, condescending attitude and disruptive actions in our hospitals while we were trying to take care of our patients.


It's time for the CNA to go back to where it came from. Only then can we wake up from this nightmare, heal the wounds and realize our dream of having the opportunity to freely choose whether to join together in a union.


Sue Allen is a registered nurse who has worked at Mercy Medical Center, now Springfield Regional Medical Center-Fountain St. Campus, for 30 years.

[llg]

I'd like to hear the rest of the story before making up my mind. The OP doesn't even give us a summary of the basic events.

[micurn55]

Check out the Ohio SEIU website: www.seiu1199.org. They have a lot of good links to newspaper articles, videos, etc. about this. I don't buy the arguments by the NNOC, that nog signing union cards makes this company unionism. Too legalistic for me, I guess!

[Chico David RN]

There is considerable dispute over both facts and interpretation of facts in this one.
I am a CNA member activist, but was only peripherally involved in this.
SEIU Claims that they had a long history of organizing here and had built substantial support which had enabled them to force the boss into giving them this extremely unusual - maybe unprecedented - organizing agreement, under which the boss filed for the election, neither side was allowed to campaign, no showing of interest by the usual signed cards was required, nurses were told by the employer that they were not allowed to even discuss the election and the total time from announcement to vote was only about 8 or 10 days.

During that extremely short time, CNA/NNOC member activists from Ohio and a very few members and staff from California passed out fliers, sent a mailer to the nurses and entered the hospitals and talked to nurses. The total activity was pretty small in so short a time, but it led to the election being cancelled.
The two questions that have to be raised, from our standpoint, are:
1. What exactly was it about this relatively small amount of oppostion activity that made it impossible to hold the election? (One might note that SEIU has attempted to block CNA elections in other places. The elections went ahead as scheduled and CNA won.)
2. If SEIU had, as they claimed spent years building support among the nurses and other workers, why did that support apparently collapse so easily under such relativley modest pressure?

There is a law fobidding "company unions" - sham unions formed by the employer to forstall the formation of a real union. In the view of CNA this was in effect a company union. In other places, SEIU has made deal with employers promising not to strike, promising to support the employer's legislative agenda, promising not to file grievances and promising not to speak ill of the employer in public. All in return for the employer not opposing unionization. Those are the hallmarks of a company union, not a real union that fights for it's members and especially not a union for nurses who have an obligation to advocate for our patients.

for a very different view of this event, go here:
http://lists.portside.org/cgi-bin/li...0&F=&S=&P=2302

[RN Power Ohio]

Originally Posted by micurn55

Check out the Ohio SEIU website: I don't buy the arguments by the NNOC, that nog signing union cards makes this company unionism. Too legalistic for me, I guess!

I guess, some need to understand the basic fundamental principles of unionism to see why this was wrong.

Others, like those who were taken aback by a letter informing them that they had 8-10 days to decide to have SEIU represent them or no union did not. There were many, many people in Springfield and other CHP cities that "smelled a rat" a mile away.

If one is choosing to participate in the ridicule of an organization that stands for a rights movement as opposed to unscrupulous methods that undermine the fundamental rights of people then one should take the time to learn the law that guides these prinicples- even if it is outside their area of expertise.

Most of the people in this forum are arguing points on a very limited base of knowledge. I understand that this is an opinion forum and not an academic forum, however, it is clear that nurses who are interested in becoming part of the labor movement need a broader knowledge base.

There is an upcoming conference that would be excellent for all to attend NNOC supporters and SEIU supporters alike:

http://labornotes.org/conference

There will be specific forums about nursing and healthcare.

[micurn55]

Check these out from the same paper as the first article on this strand:

Your Letters for Mar. 23 - Hospital Union


Sunday, March 23, 2008

Outsiders made vote impossible

I work at Springfield Regional Medical Center-High St. campus and witnessed some of the outrageous behavior by the California Nurses Association, a so-called "professional" union.

CNA organizers snuck into our hospital and plastered their ugly and negative propaganda in the nursing units. They stood outside and harassed nurses as they were walking in to start their shift. Some of us veterans even had to go escort some of the younger nurses into the building, because they were afraid of how pushy and aggressive the CNA people were being.

We worked so hard to finally have a peaceful vote, and then these people from California come in with nothing positive to say and bad-mouth something we built.

They made it so tense that a fair vote wasn't possible, and that's why we canceled our vote. To say otherwise is simply untrue.

Sally Baker, RN

Springfield


CNA robbed us of our union

As someone who has worked for over three years campaigning for fair union elections at our Springfield and Urbana hospitals, I was appalled and disgusted when I read the commentary from Rhonda Risner Hanos on March 18.

Hanos, it is clear you do not work in one of our Springfield hospitals, because if you did you would know that what you and the California Nurses Association are saying is a twisted series of lies.

Not only were we allowed to talk about the union at work, we did talk about the union at work, and we did it a lot. In fact, our right to do so was explicitly outlined for us in the packets of information we received from SEIU and CHP.

Next, to suggest that we didn't show interest in forming a union with SEIU is absolutely outrageous; in reality, my co-workers and I have campaigned publicly over the past three years to have the opportunity to form a union with SEIU.

For you and CNA to imply that we were somehow hoodwinked in this process is an insult to our intelligence. The CNA is an elitist organization that robbed us of our union. End of story

Lorie Compton, CRT/RCP

Springfield


CNA tactics were offensive

As a lifetime Springfield resident and an 18-year SEIU 1199 member, I would like to thank you for publishing an accurate report on how the California Nurses Association sunk the efforts of SEIU and Catholic Health Partners to conduct a peaceful vote on the right to organize.

The only thing that was sleazy about the efforts of SEIU and CHP was the CNA wasting valuable resources bashing the SEIU.

If I were a CNA member, I would hang my head in shame that my organization was involved in union-bashing activities that resulted in over 8,000 health care workers not getting the opportunity to vote for union representation.

I was greatly offended by the pamphlet that was distributed by CNA declaring that RNs deserve to be a part of a professional union.

As a licensed professional, I have provided a service to our community for more than 25 years and am proud to be represented by SEIU, a professional service union.

I have seen its members stand up for the rights of workers in many different walks of life.

I hope CHP workers will have a chance soon to vote for a union that will back them as professionals instead of having to listen to one that was willing to make the workers sacrificial lambs by the CNA wolves sent out to devour their right to vote.

Dorothy Lemmings

Springfield

[justice4peace]

Originally Posted by llg

I'd like to hear the rest of the story before making up my mind. The OP doesn't even give us a summary of the basic events.

In the spirit of fairness, ORGANIZE 1199 did not tell you that the OP-ED that he posted was in response to the following OP-ED:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/o/...urnnurses.html

Please read it for the other side of the issue...

[Organize1199]

This reminds me of the global warming "debate". The oil companies go out and find the last two "scientists" on earth who will argue it isn't happening. Then they call it "the other side of the story". Anyone can find two "scientists" with actual scientific degrees, willing to say anything...

Similarly, CNA found two RNs who are willing to say anything. Neither works at a hospital, much less a CHP hospital. One (the author of the letter referenced by "justice4peace") is a politician who recently placed 4th in a field of 5, in the (very small) Brooksville City Council race - despite being the incumbent. The other is "RN Power Ohio", an RN who works at a law firm in Cleveland, suing doctors.

Neither of these curious characters had a thing to do with the CHP organizing drive, until at least one of them came to Springfield to lend a hand in CNA's anti-union picketing.

That's not "the other side of the issue". There is no other side of the issue. No more so than two Exxon "scientists" denying global warming.

Sallie Baker, Lorie Compton, Sue Allen and Michaela Silver - these are a few of the many voices we have heard from. These are front-line care givers at CHP hospitals who have been fighting for a union for the last three years. For quality patient care. For the security of their families. For the families of their coworkers, nurses and non-RNs alike.

These hospital caregivers, have risked their livelihoods time and again to stand on ONE side - in SOLIDARITY with their coworkers. There is no other side.

[Chico David RN]

Looks like more of the same on this thread too. Having nothing else to offer, you fall back on the mainstay of personal attacks. I suppose I could keep this up as long as you could, but I think I'll take a break from it for a while until you find something more interesting to talk about. Or they bring in someone with more interesting ideas.

[NRSKarenRN]

When discussing unions there are 3 schools of thought:

a. CNA type union with RN only focus, need for patient ratios, aggressive organizing tactics, and progressive social action agenda is the way to go to improve issues faced by bedside nurses.

b. SEIU type union partners with management, all healthcare workers unite to improve working conditions together, passionately organizes and promotes social change.

c. Unions only take my money and do little to improve actual bedside conditions. I can take care of myself thank you.


These positions all have pluses and minuses. Please remember when posting

From our Terms Of Service

Debates

We promote the idea of lively debate. This means you are free to disagree with anyone on any type of subject matter as long as your criticism is constructive and polite.

Personal Attacks

Our first priority is to the members that have come here because of the flame-free atmosphere we provide. There is a zero-tolerance policy here against personal attacks. We will not tolerate anyone insulting another individuals opinion nor name calling and will BAN repeat offenders

When one engages in name calling or devisive posting, only hurts your cause and turns off posters.... also results in loss of membership.