St. Rose union issues.

I am a St Rose RN; I'll be honest and say that I've been voting CNA.

For those not at St. Rose: SEIU has been our union for several years. However, despite "staffing ratios" that are not enforced, and employee grievances that are never addressed, and phone calls to SEIU that are never returned, several nurses asked CNA to come in and fight for nursing rights.

Nurses were not "poached", as per local newspapers. Nurses asked CNA to assist in what looked to be a hopeless situation. We are frustrated with a poor pension plan, crappy health care benefits, and unenforced staffing ratios (all of which SEIU states they are addressing, but our health care has worsened since 1/08 and our pension has not been initiated yet; and staffing ratios are enforced at the discretion of the manager, per the SEIU contract).

Our election was held.

CNA won 400 votes. SEIU won 377. "No Union" won 26.

6 votes were contested.

A "majority" of 401.5 was needed for a win. Although CNA had a majority, the lack of 1.5 votes resulted in CNA not being the representative of the majority.

Of those 6 contested votes, I personally know of two, pro CNA, that were valid. The fed. labor dept. will hold hearings this week re. the contested votes.

However, if the votes contested were examined, and those two votes were allowed, CNA would have won uncontested.

Viva le' SEIU.

Most likely, the election will end in a runoff vote.

St. Rose can set the tone for the rest of the Vegas Valley. Better pensions (CNA pension plans give $9000/ month after 15 years of service . . . and St. Mary's Reno already has locked that in in less than 3 months of contract negotiations . . . with retroactive credits for working in a CHW hospital . . . ); better pay (CHW hospitals overall have better pay than what we have in the Valley); and better ratios (ratios that are ENFORCED by the union-- unlike SEIU ratios which are at the discretion of the manager).

Vegas healthcare trust is at an all-time low. Perhaps a change, towards better patient care and a professional nursing union, can improve perception of health care and forward the progression of nursing.

Of course, we could always assume status quo, and be underinsured, understaffed, and underappreciated.