Uaw

[StudentSandra]

any thoughts/ideas on the uaw as a bargaining agent?

i recommended this board to someone that was asking questions over on the now very quiet aol nursing union board. i thought maybe i could get the ball rolling for her. she mentioned uaw and the vote on accepting the union or not will be 1-16.

ps - hello jt, veggie and any others from over there --->>>>

[cindyln]

Isn't UAW auto workers?? Are nurses being lumped with auto workers now??

[MissdonditaBsn]

The hospital I work at has the UAW as a bargining unit. It seems that the UAW has a division that covers certain health care positions.

The nurses here seem happy with the bargining unit. They had PRNO before(PRofessional Registered Nurses Organization). I am not a part of the union now, but when I was the UAW was just getting voted in. The UAW has helped the RN's to negotiate a pretty good contract for themselves. Perhaps the best I've seen in years. They also have provided training to the officers involved in the Union, as far as procedures and what not. That was much more than the other organization provided them. Also because the UAW is such a large organization, they can provide a great deal of support to your nurses should a strike ever become necessary.

Just remember this one important fact when you are unionizing and picking your leadership. A union is only as good as the leadership representing the bargining unit. If your elected officers come in with their own hidden agendas, or don't want to fight hard for you, then it doesn't matter how strong an organization the UAW is, as a bargining unit you will be weak.

Good luck with your organiational efforts!!! It is a great deal of hard work.

[DelGR]

You should read -jt's comments about anti-union states on another thread.

[-jt]

UAW is the United Auto Workers Union. Nurses are not being lumped into it with the auto workers. There is a separate healthcare branch, I think. Most trade unions now are developing branches just for healthcare workers - separate from their original base - because healthcare workers, especially RNs, are organizing in record numbers these days. Once they organize, nurses usually take an active part in the union & are strong members, so there is competition for them. Personally I prefer to be in an all-RN organization but that is not to say that the others do not a good job for their members. If they didnt, nurses would be voting them out in record numbers. I just believe that a union that is made up of only RNs & is run by only RNs & concentrates on only the needs of the RN does it better. Still, from what Ive read, UAW is doing OK for their RN members. Your group must have shopped around & did their homework before deciding on which union to go with, so I assume that the nurses there feel that UAW will represent them the way they want to be represented or it wouldnt be coming to a vote. The way I see it, you have nothing to lose by unionizing & gaining the right & power to have an equal say with your employer. You have nothing to lose by unionizing because right now as a non-union worker, you already have nothing. No voice, no authority, no control over your own job and practice.

To get a better idea of what nurses in UAW are doing, check out:

http://www.uaw.org/index.html

and type NURSES in the search box, then click GO

(hi Sandra)