Local 1199

venom600 · Nov 30, 2003

My dad get 1199 coverage.

I'm not 100% sure if all coverage is the same for all but from what i hear its pretty good health care insurance.

There is no co pay for anything.

I think you get like 2 dental check ups a year. Does not cover pulling of wisdome teeth.

every year or 2 times a year for vision. 1199 will pay like 50 dollars for frame and lenses, something like that. If you want better ones you have to pay for difference.

Thats all that i know of.

nowplayingEDRN · Dec 1, 2003

Thanks for the input venom. I guess I am looking more for info on how they are in representing the nurses and things along that line. But your attempt to answer my question was appreciated.

-jt · Dec 1, 2003

No offense taken, untamed. :) We can only speak from experience and, although nothing in life is absolutely perfect, I have had the opposite experience youve had.

My brother in law works in a hospital in the building services dept. He's in 1199 and is pretty happy with his contract and benefits, so its probably doing a good job for those members. The problem we had with 1199 is that since most of their membership is not RNs, the RNs issues always seemed to get thrown into the back seat.

Bear in mind that the following was 20 yrs ago & things may be very different now: Our RNs were in 1199 with all the other hospital employees - from 1971 to 1983. There were 3,000 employees in it at our hospital - only 700 were RNs. Our issues kept getting put on the back burner because the other 2,300 employees (kitchen workers, housekeeping, techs and aides) were the majority and the union had those problems to deal with first. We didnt feel we were being well represented and we felt the dues system was unfair - 1199 takes 2% of the individual workers full salary in dues, so the RNs were paying the most since their salaries were higher, and the senior RNs were paying the most out of everyone, but since the RNs were just the minority of the membership and our issues were not being addressed, we were getting nothing for it. By contrast NYSNA staff RN union dues are 1.6% of the lowest base RN starting salary in the region and every f/t NYSNA union RN in that region pays that same amount. Part time and per-diem staff RNs union dues are just 1.2% of the regional starting salary. Dues for nurses who are not in the union branch of NYSNA are even less - and any nurse with a NY license and working in any field or belonging to any other union can join NYSNA's professional association without being in the NYSNA union branch)......

Anyway, we decertified from 1199 and voted to join the RN-only NYSNA - whose sole priority was the RNs issues. Everything immediately improved. Of course nothing is always perfect in anything, and theres always room for improvement but theres been no regrets in all 20 yrs.

The union officials who ran 1199 at the time we got out of it went to jail. As we were in the process of decertifying from it, a scandal erupted in the news regarding 1199's misappropriation of members dues - the officials spent it on themselves - and they were arrested & convicted. The leadership that is there now came in, fixed the problems, cleaned up the organization, & re-built. Its the largest trade union for hospital workers and the majority of its whole membership are support staff. The majority of its nurse members are LPNs. To its credit, SEIU/1199 did finally develop a branch that deals with just the nurses - LPNs and RNs -and their issues. You can find out more about its overall nurses branch at http://www.nursealliance.org.

Oh - one more thing - and this is pretty recent - at the last US Presidential election, 1199 set up "voter registration" tables at several NYSNA hospitals in Brooklyn, Bronx, and Staten Island, stopping RNs coming in & out of work & supposedly signing them up to vote. The cards they gave them to sign asked for their SS #s. Some nurses got suspicious and informed NYSNA. It turned out that 1199, without the nurses knowledge, was transferring those "voter registration" nurses signatures & SS #s onto union decertification cards to submit to the NLRB -- and claiming that these nurses were requesting to throw out NYSNA & join 1199. They were raiding NYSNA bargaining units, using the RNs names and signatures illegally with the nurses not even knowing it. NYSNA sued them and 1199 had to stop these illegal tactics. Info on all that can be found with a search at http://www.nysna.org.

Another current thing - we are now in negotiations with my hospital again. Most of the RNs in the hospitals in our system are NYSNA - one hospital is 1199. My hospital keeps trying to reduce the NYSNA contract to match the one from the 1199 hospital. Things like changing our staffing ratios and mandatory ot language, putting in unlimited floating language, cuts in continuing ed, tuition reimbursement, sick time, vacation time, on call pay, just to name a few. Obviously, NYSNA's contracts are better or the hospital wouldnt be trying so hard to give us 1199's contract.

In any event, this is just my experience. Dont let it scare you. It may be different at the hospital youre going to. You might get a better idea if you stop by the cafeteria and ask some RNs what they think of their contract & representation. Once youre working, youll be better able to assess the working conditions and representation. If you feel you arent getting your money's worth, you can always move on to greener pastures.

1199 has about 350,000 healthcare worker members in NY. 7,000 of them are RNs. To get an idea of where they stand and what they do for nurses, along with details about their RN contracts and RN representation specific to NY nurses, browse the union's NY website at: http://www.1199rn.org

Good luck in your new job.

nowplayingEDRN · Dec 2, 2003

-jt :)

Thanks for taking the time to share your info with me. I am sorry to hear that so many RNs were treated so poorly and so unfairly. But like you said, nothing is perfect in this world and every one has had a different experience. I also think that it is low and cut throat for one union to scalp off another union.

I have been to the 1199 for RNs web site and what I read sounded pretty good but sometimes you know, what the company wants you to know and not the real story. I had planned asking around once I got in to get a feel for how things go with the union. Again, thanks for taking the time to respond and thank you for the well wishes.

Christie

-jt · Dec 2, 2003

Youre most welcome. We have a presentation for newly employed RNs to educate them about the union, the contract, their rights, etc. This is a mandatory meeting that the hospital must schedule as part of the nurses orientation. One of our staff RN delegates conducts it. Im sure 1199 has something similar for newly hired employees and you will be able to find out a lot of info and ask questions there. Also, you should be getting a copy of your contract along with all the other material new employees are given. If you dont get one, ask for it and then read it. :)

Know your contract inside out.

All the best to you.

nowplayingEDRN · Dec 2, 2003

Oh yeah, I know only too well that I need to know that contract insiode and out and you can bet your sweet behind that I will get a copy of that contract one way or another.

smily nurse, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2011

a very strong and powerful union