this week, nearly 8,000 nurses and other healthcare workers in ohio saw their dreams of forming a union derailed after the california nurses association (cna) flooded the state with hostile organizers and bombarded workers with wildly false and misleading leaflets and phone calls urging them to vote against the union.
for three years the workers joined with service employees international union (seiu) members, leaders and staff to form their union. they sent letters to catholic healthcare partners (chp) officials, mobilized community support, campaigned for fair organizing rules, and signed petitions saying they wanted to unite in seiu. the effort resulted in ground rules agreed to by both the workers and chp that were designed to put the interests of workers first—not the union or employer. they called for quick elections without delays, equal access to information from both sides, and guidelines to ensure honest discourse.
because of the union-busting onslaught by cna, the ethical, fair and democratic elections scheduled for today and friday at nine (chp) hospitals in ohio have been suspended.
the following is an open letter from those os us nurses who were denied the chance to unite this week for better jobs and healthcare to rose ann demoro, executive director of the california nurses association:
march 12, 2008
dear rose ann demoro,
it’s hard for us to imagine how someone who calls herself a labor leader could purposely do what you have done to us and our families. you don’t know any of us. you have never been to our homes or met our children. you have never visited us on our shifts, or walked in our shoes. you don’t know a thing a bout the struggle that brought us to the verge of our dream to have a union. and yet without talking to a single one of us you send your bullying staff to come in and spread terrible lies for no other reason than to destroy what we worked so hard to build.
for three years we have worked with seiu members, leaders and staff to form our union. we sent letters to hospital officials and mobilized community support for fair organizing rules. seiu has supported and encouraged us through some very hard times, and helped us stand up for ourselves. we are caregivers—registered nurses and respiratory therapists, dietary and housekeeping staff, lab techs and other employees. seiu helped us understand how we could do more by speaking with one voice and standing together for our families and our patients. seiu respected our intelligence and our ability to make our own decisions.
you say you stand for democracy. but then you come in with a goal of destroying our campaign without ever asking us what we think about seiu and our agreement for fair election ground rules—ground rules we now understand you have made use of many times in california.
you say you stand for justice. but then you deny us our opportunity for a fair vote free of misleading propaganda and scare tactics.
our efforts to unite for better jobs and health care were not a secret. at any time during those three years you could have come and presented your union, compared yourself to seiu, and asked us to make a choice. but you didn’t. so it is obvious to us that your sole intention was to destroy what we have built. what kind of organization sets out to destroy the efforts of the very people you claim to stand for, and then tries to pretend it’s a moral cause?
here in ohio, union organizers and representatives don’t behave the way yours do. they show respect for hard-working people. we have read all the words about how you try to justify this, but when compared to the needs of our families and the needs of our patients, they show a complete disregard for basic fairness and decency. you have brought harm to thousands of workers and families in ohio, and you should be ashamed of what you have done.
"This is a reference to an internal disagreement within SEIU. The intensity of our internal discussion ought to tell you something: we're an incredibly democratic organization. You don't get this level of debate in an autocratic situation."
You don't get that level of debate for long at least. I'm just quoting the man's own words from a newspaper interview.
Stern is furiously trying to stifle debate, as covered pretty well in this morning San Francisco Chronicle: "Union Head Moves to Oust West Coast Dissident"
Hope this link works (again, I'm an amateur at this tech stuff)
Wow, Thanks for that link! Everyone should read this and once again ask: Why would any RN want Andy Stern and his ilk to represent them? If anyone has followed what Arnold, the Governor, has done to healthcare and the nurses in CA. they should be afraid-very afraid.
Excuse me?? Who's confused? Not me--I am an RN, work for CHP, and a member of SEIU. I certainly have the personal experience to determine that SEIU has done it's job. Where are you getting your 'facts?' Personal experience or CNA?
Another example of CNA proponents ignoring facts, distorting truths and just posting rhetoric.
I am talking about the 8000 unrepresented workers in CHP. If SEIU had done their job they would have build up a movement of support among those workers. They did not. That is the problem. Those are the 'facts.'
That's a totally inappropriate comparison- especially if you've actually worked to organize a union, rather than the relatively easy work of busting a union.
We, in partnership with our union, SEIU, have worked diligently and with success to improve our working conditions and to provide excellent, safe care to our patients. We continue to work to maintain that excellence in the dynamic profession of nursing.
Obviously, you know not of what you speak. I find NNOC's actions deplorable. I would be embarrassed to be associated with them.
Do you work 12 hour shifts? I do. By law and contract negotiated by a team of bedside nurses and CNA staff, I get a 1/2 hour lunch and three 15 minute breaks. That's a total of 75 minutes. Every shift. I'm rested and able to concentrate on what my patients need. How about you?
I work in the ICU. Depending on how sick my patients are, I have 1 or 2 patients. No more. Ever. When I am on break my patients are being watched by a nurse, who at the time of watching my patients, still has no more than 2 patients. Ever. (That's the ratios law that CNA fought for and SEIU joined with hospital bosses to fight against.) How about you?
When we had a physician who was very unsafe and I mean VERY unsafe, we protected our patients by refusing to open the room he was working in. CNA helped us organize our protest on behalf of our patients and backed us all the way. We invoked the Whistle Blower's Protection Law that CNA was key in passing through the California state legislature. This gave us a safety buffer protecting us from being accused of insubordination. A committee of physicians reviewed the performance of the unsafe MD, then they and our medical director declared him acceptable. Even our director of nursing opposed us saying that we had no business passing judgement on a physician. Still we knew he had harmed patients and we were not going to put any more patients in harms way. Were we at a non-union hospital or a hospital represented by a union that was a partner with the administration, we would have all been fired for insubordination. But this was a true case of protecting our patients from a horribly incompetent MD. We stood firm, CNA gave us all the backing and cover we needed. The incompetent doctor resigned. What do you feel safe doing to protect your patients?
I could go on about my superb pension (yes pension, not 401K though I can also set aside money in a similar account) that I'm vested in and my excellent wages and other benefits. But I won't because I have made my point. All the safety nets for me and my patients, all the benefits and blessings that I have being a nurse here in California come to me because of the hard work and the vision of the bedside nurses in the CNA. And I am very grateful for them.
There is a better way for you and your patients; for all nurses and all patients. CNA/NNOC has the best vision for nurses and patient care and health care.
You are SO wrong!! If CNA truly wanted to educate the nurses, they would've been there 3 weeks before, not 3 days before. Their goal was to confuse and alarm the workers.
This campaign started 10 years ago. It was no big secret. CNA organizers actually went to patient care areas--totally an illegal labor practice.
The election was canceled at the last minute because CNA had disrupted the process for a free and fair election. They are an embarrassment to organized labor.
Pardon, me, Hobbes, but you're just so wrong about this. Three weeks, three days??? :nono:You absolutely don't know what you're talking about!
:nurse:There are Ohio NNOC RNs who have been members with us and they've been instrumental in helping to build a powerful social advocacy movement since the inception of NNOC in 2004. http://www.calnurses.org/nnoc/about-nnoc.html
NNOC has had ongoing meetings and educational seminars throughout Ohio. Personally, I've attended and participated in several in 2006/2007. I was with the first delegation of NNOC nurses who attended an ONA meeting in 2006 as a proponent of stronger Nurse Practice Act language to protect RNs duty and right to act as a patient advocate without fear of retaliation.
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
I have written Chico David here, to talk about the point NRSKarenRN raises. This just isn't a very nice conversation, and we ought to figure out what we have to do to make this a positive space. My letter is here.
I have written Chico David here, to talk about the point NRSKarenRN raises. This just isn't a very nice conversation, and we ought to figure out what we have to do to make this a positive space. My letter is here.
I agree that we can be passionate, articulate, and try to identify issues that we have in common and debate those where we disagree. I believe we can seek the truth, proclaim the truth, and make factual statements and offer opinions that support the truth without trashing the messenger. Many people who've attacked CNA/NNOC viciously and falsely try to portray us as union busters offend me, and I take them personally, yet I don't label their posts hostile. An exortation to wake up, or go outside your box and look around, was made in the "try it, you might like it" (and I hope you do!) frame of mind... not as a personal affront.
I have written Chico David here, to talk about the point NRSKarenRN raises. This just isn't a very nice conversation, and we ought to figure out what we have to do to make this a positive space. My letter is here.
When I negotiate a contract, I want terms defined, and there are lot of terms in your suggested rules on which we would likely disagree as to definitions. And then, agreements usually have a mechanism to resolve disputes.
I think the site has a perfectly fine set of rules, as articulated in the terms of service. I'll do my best to abide by those rules, and let you do your best to do the same. The site administrators are well capable of judging that, and well capable of enforcing their rules for their site. It seems highly presumptuous for us to set rules for a site owned by others.
And that's the last I shall engage on either of these threads tonight - or maybe for a while, because I am too much enjoying savoring our incredible organizing victory in Texas. You can read about it here:
And, since someone might ask, it was won under an organizing agreement - one won at the bargaining table by the power of thousands of Tenet RNs in California - but a VERY different sort of agreement than the one in Ohio. An agreement that required a show of interest through signed cards and allowed for a full length campaign.
justice4peace
10 Posts
Chico Davis RN,
Wow, Thanks for that link! Everyone should read this and once again ask: Why would any RN want Andy Stern and his ilk to represent them? If anyone has followed what Arnold, the Governor, has done to healthcare and the nurses in CA. they should be afraid-very afraid.