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.
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.
You are SO misinformed....Can you quote some sources for those statements? I'm very curious...
That election was the culmination of 10 years of SEIU work to organize CHP employees. SEIU demanded that CHP recognize them as the bargaining agent for their employees. Rather than do that and because they are anti-union, CHP petitioned the NLRB to hold an election. There was to be no campaigning, card signing or intimidation--a free and fair election that is totally legal under labor law guidelines. CNA/NNOC disrupted that process by making it ugly.
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. .
Wow.
Again, my personal feelings notwithstanding, though do be assured this exercise has given me newfound respect for what I financially support through CNA union dues each month, I have to tell you after thoroughly reading all sides of this issue and applying a keen and initially impartial eye, I am highly concerned for the nurses of Ohio and for your now obvious lack of respect for them both as (predominantly)women and as professionals.
It seemed sketchy enough that SEIU pulled the election simply based on CNA involvement, practically broadcasting the idea that the RN's themselves were not to be trusted to make an independent decision but instead needed someone to "protect' them from their own flighty choices.
To now suggest that these intelligent RN's would somehow misinterpret forceful bargaining language instead as intimating sexual violence, including the threat of rape, greatly strains any possibility you still had at maintaining a semblance of respect for these workers you claim to support. From where is the mindset that leads one to believe this frankly insulting tactic could succeed?
Your now misogynistic cry is clear---"save them from themselves. save them from themselves." Why would any self respecting professional nurse in Ohio ever choose to allign with a faction that so plainly views them as weak and, apparently, feeble minded as well.
Geez, have the election already. Maybe I misjudge them as well. Somehow, though, I seriously doubt it....
You are misinterpreting what I sad; I would ask you to read the original post. The language the CNA used had an incredible violent undertone, and I just don't have any other explanation for it:
It's neither educational nor informative. It's jam-packed with innumerable lies and a VOTE NO message is repeated five times. But far more insidious is the tone. Look at the words that are used:
illegal back room deal
to silence RNs
to force RNs
to Force You
to deny RNs a choice
In other literature they would say:
gagging
to deny you a choice
determining among themselves the destiny of a workforce that is primarily women
the chauvinism and arrogance of their behavior
sleazy, back room deal
to Force You
The reader will have to judge for herself. My own belief is that CNA sought to bring to mind the fear of sexual violence. They then repeated Vote "No" over and over.
CNA's language of sexual violence was reiterated and reinforced with mailed flyers, a phone banking operation, picketing & leafletting, sneaking into the hospitals, and every other alley CNA could find to communicate. They even used this website.
's would somehow misinterpret forceful bargaining language instead as intimating sexual violence (...)
Thee language the CNA used was not "forceful bargaining language".
The California Nurses Association employed shockingly violent language, indicating that the union was doing something "sleazy" and "illegal" in a "back room" to "gag" RNs and "Force" RNs to do something they would not "choose" to do.
If that's not the language of sexual violence I don't know what is.
Of course, the accusation, that I or anyone else would be a misogynist for pointing out the language used in CNA's anti-union drive - that's not only absurd (and against the policies of this website, evidently), it's also a red herring. We ought to talk about this language that CNA used. What's with the word "sleazy"? Why "gag" and "force"? Why call us "arrogant chauvinists"? If there's a real argument on the other side of this, don't call me names. Make your case.
HobbesRN
49 Posts
You are SO misinformed....Can you quote some sources for those statements? I'm very curious...
That election was the culmination of 10 years of SEIU work to organize CHP employees. SEIU demanded that CHP recognize them as the bargaining agent for their employees. Rather than do that and because they are anti-union, CHP petitioned the NLRB to hold an election. There was to be no campaigning, card signing or intimidation--a free and fair election that is totally legal under labor law guidelines. CNA/NNOC disrupted that process by making it ugly.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-hanson/just-work-united-_b_93779.html
A little research before you speculate on answers to questions, please?