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.
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.
Thanks for a POSITIVE post and for sharing some really good news. I just came home from a 12 hour shift and saw the message that someone had just posted a new message on this thread. Frankly, I hesitated and was almost afraid to look, but I'm glad I did. Great job on the compare and contrast.
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."
Please, answer me this:
Why didn't SEIU file for the election on behalf of the workers? The employer filed for the election and the employer cancelled the election. It seems to me that CHP pulled one over on all of you...just a thought. If they had 2,400 card signers, and all that support why didn't 1199 file the petition for election? I don't see where these weak sisters get off blaming NNOC Ohio or CNA for that matter, if y'all had such a committed, long term relationship. That dog won't hunt.
Here's a look at the REAL DEAL for RNs:
The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) is a national union and professional organization for Registered Nurses, Advance Practice Nurses, and RN organizations throughout the country who want to pursue a more powerful agenda of patient advocacy that promotes the interests of patients, direct care nurses, and RN professional practice.
(and yes, I'm an RN/NNOC organizer with many years of organizing experience with a proud tradition of organizing the unorganized. I disagree with your premise. It's not easy to organize if nurses aren't willing to organize and run it; it's gotta come from the heart and the mind, and the workers have to own it; it's their union. And when they do, "...ain't no power like the power of the union, 'cause the power of the union won't stop"):redbeathe
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.'
The 'facts' are that SEIU worked with those workers for YEARS. They absolutely did do their job. Their campaign started with our unit 10 years ago. CNA swooped in a few days before the vote to disrupt that process. Of those 8,000 workers, CNA's interest is only extended to the 3,000 of their number who are RN's. But the damage done was to the entire group of CHP employees.
If you have a working knowledge of the work of union organizing--- and doing it ethically and within labor laws ---then you'd also know that it's a very tenuous effort until that vote. It doesn't take rocket science to disrupt that effort. It's relatively easy work compared to the intensity of organizing--and CNA employed methods straight out of management's 'union busting' textbook.
The 'facts' you put forth are simply CNA's 'blah...blah...blah' to justify their union busting activity.
That one 'union' is disruptive to the organizing efforts of another union is grievously offensive--but the campaign to justify that behavior is just as deplorable.
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."
Please, answer me this:
Why didn't SEIU file for the election on behalf of the workers? The employer filed for the election and the employer cancelled the election. It seems to me that CHP pulled one over on all of you...just a thought. If they had 2,400 card signers, and all that support why didn't 1199 file the petition for election? I don't see where these weak sisters get off blaming NNOC Ohio or CNA for that matter, if y'all had such a committed, long term relationship. That dog won't hunt.
Here's a look at the REAL DEAL for RNs:
The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) is a national union and professional organization for Registered Nurses, Advance Practice Nurses, and RN organizations throughout the country who want to pursue a more powerful agenda of patient advocacy that promotes the interests of patients, direct care nurses, and RN professional practice.
(and yes, I'm an RN/NNOC organizer with many years of organizing experience with a proud tradition of organizing the unorganized. I disagree with your premise. It's not easy to organize if nurses aren't willing to organize and run it; it's gotta come from the heart and the mind, and the workers have to own it; it's their union. And when they do, "...ain't no power like the power of the union, 'cause the power of the union won't stop"):redbeathe
As many of us have said before, there is more than one way to organize workers and card signing is only one of them. Bloggers on this site keep referring to 'card signing'---that's not the method used to organize this group. And, it's not the only means to show support for a union. SEIU would be foolish to go forth with a union vote without substantial reason to believe they had support among employees.
ONA cannot even be considered an organizing option--we approached them first--and they were not committed to our efforts. Believe me when I say, we are NOT weak sisters-- a comment totally unsubstantiated, considering our 10 year fight to get to this point in our efforts to organize CHP.
This was an agreement between the union and the employer that provided for this election---and the agreement to postpone the election after CNA disrupted the efforts for a 'free and fair' election. As posted before, CHP is historically anti-union. The insinuation that they solicited SEIU in some scheme is ridiculous, even laughable, considering their history. SEIU fought to get this agreement with CHP on behalf of CHP employees.
CNA/NNOC is not the answer to every nurse's employment issues and their 'dream' union. There are much different issues in Ohio vs. California. It's also not lost on us that CNA's track record outside of California has been more destructive than constructive-the latest being our own CHP elections.
I applaud your enthusiasm and loyalty to CNA/NNOC--but to denigrate CHP RN's because we choose to organize with SEIU and not your union is egocentric. We feel that same loyalty and enthusiasm to SEIU -- based on actual experiences with CHP as our employer and SEIU as our union. It's proven tried and true.
The 'facts' are that SEIU worked with those workers for YEARS. They absolutely did do their job. Their campaign started with our unit 10 years ago. CNA swooped in a few days before the vote to disrupt that process. Of those 8,000 workers, CNA's interest is only extended to the 3,000 of their number who are RN's. But the damage done was to the entire group of CHP employees.
If you have a working knowledge of the work of union organizing--- and doing it ethically and within labor laws ---then you'd also know that it's a very tenuous effort until that vote. It doesn't take rocket science to disrupt that effort. It's relatively easy work compared to the intensity of organizing--and CNA employed methods straight out of management's 'union busting' textbook.
The 'facts' you put forth are simply CNA's 'blah...blah...blah' to justify their union busting activity.
That one 'union' is disruptive to the organizing efforts of another union is grievously offensive--but the campaign to justify that behavior is just as deplorable.
Didn't we agree to
* Don't use this venue to trash CNA/NNOC
* Don't use this venue to insult, demean or belittle CNA/NNOC members
* Check facts before posting anything that has anything to do with CNA/NNOC.
* Don't use this venue to insult, demean or belittle CNA/NNOC members
* Check facts before posting anything that has anything to do with CNA/NNOC.
So, CNA/NNOC isn't accountable for it's actions as an organization? That's not playing fair in open forum? But, SEIU is fair game?
This is supposed to be an open forum, but apparently only if it's forum for CNA/NNOC recruiting?
It's obvious that you don't want to face the reality of CNA's 'end justifies the means' 'no holds barred' philosophy. SEIU is not trying to recruit you or change your loyalties. As a Ohio CHP employee, we wanted to grow our SEIU membership among our fellow employees to enhance our bargaining position, much like CNA members try to do in California. The fact, reality, whatever, is that CNA disrupted that election process.
This thread was an open forum for that discussion--sorry if we stayed on track.
Because the hospital chain requested the NLRB election of SEIU to represent it's employees. The hospital chain's reasoning has to do with the fact SEIU functions in "partnership" with the hospital chain, to promote profit. The correct name for this type of union representation is called "a company union". This type of union provides bargaining for wages and benefits (the management's). For service you may call a centralized complaint hot line, like the power company has. You will not need to worry about grievences, as SEIU partnership protects the management from grievences. Hope that answered your question.
This is absolutely false, and utterly disingenuous. CNA continues to trash other unions with no regard for the truth. More disturbing, is the way the CNA uses the fear of sexual violence to unnerve workers who are considering joining the union, as part of their anti-union campaigns.
It occurs to me that CNA's communications folks are much like Karl Rove. The similarities don't end with the willingness to use the politics of fear (even the fear of rape) to win a short term victory against working-class people. As a more general tactic, CNA employs the Bush administration tactic of saying things that are outright false, and that a great many people know to be untrue - but just repeating the lies over and again until folks without first hand knowledge just don't know what to think...
Eventually that tactic catches up with a person. It'll catch up with the California Nurses Association too.
RN4MERCY
328 Posts
Thanks for a POSITIVE post and for sharing some really good news. I just came home from a 12 hour shift and saw the message that someone had just posted a new message on this thread. Frankly, I hesitated and was almost afraid to look, but I'm glad I did. Great job on the compare and contrast.