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.
The union elections I've been involved in have been 'yes' or 'no'. It's my belief that having more than one union to choose from would be detrimental to the election process---In my experience, the vote for a union or not was close enough without having to choose between unions at the same time. I'd think more employers would win in that scenario. And, I sure wouldn't want to be working for one of those unions if I were an organizer.
CNA and the NNOC's timing in this whole escapade was not an accident. They did not intend to organize these nurses (and, ultimately, ignore the other 5,000 CHP employees). Their actions were intended to derail the election. Period. They weren't passing out cards or educating nurses. The timing was to prevent the elections, which they did. Their actions were deplorable and indefensible.
Seems to me that intervening before the election (before the travesty occurs) was the correct procedure and in fact the only option--and in the nick of time!
Getting on the ballot wasn't an option since the employer filed for the elections with not one single employee's union card showing interest in SEIU. Unlike in a normal union election, in this case because the employer filed for an election, there was no process for other unions to intervene. Incidentally, if the election had gone through, a small minority could have voted in SEIU. It was in SEIU's interest to keep the turn-out as low as possible. Getting an election to get out of SEIU, on the other hand, would have required 30% of all RNs signing cards.
Waiting wasn't an option, since the NLRB agreed to run the elections in less than a week's time.
Standing back and watching RNs get swept into a union not of their own choosing and without having the information necessary to make an informed decision was not something that we'd let happen.
Being in a union is about having a say in your own work-life. It's about RNs having a vehicle to collectively stand up for their patients and their practice. It's about self-determination.
This election was about an employer and SEIU working together to quickly impose representation by a union that routinely disregards the voices of RNs and patients, choosing instead to defend the employer's bottom line. Not on our watch.
Since this whole thing was announced only 8 or 10 days before the election and the nurses were told by management that they were forbidden to talk about it with each other, obviously the first priority was to stop this illegitimate process. Then the organizing can start to help the nurses join a real union. And once again I ask:
What exactly was it about a few fliers and a few public questions that made it impossible to hold the election?
Most union elections are held after weeks-long campaigns where everybody gets more information than they care to hear. Why did this one have to be rushed through with no discussion and no chance to even think clearly or get information?
The obvious reason for the timing of the election was that CNA had started organizing in Ohio and working toward a safe staffing bill in Ohio - the hospital's worst nightmare. I feel quite certain that SEIU went to the hospitals and said "Give us your nurses and we'll protect you from CNA/NNOC."
An interesting little side note: Until a few months ago, the UAN (United American Nurses - an amalgam of state nurses associations and the collective bargaining arm of the ANA) was the largest nurses union in the country. Then SEIU made a deal with the leadership to take it over and guess what happened - most of the state assns left the UAN and it is now a tiny rump of its former self. Left to avoid being taken over by SEIU. Those state leaders understand what that would mean for them and for the profession.
My heart goes out to the Ohio RNs. But they must learn to do this right the first time. Read labor history; even recent labor history is engaging these days. SEIU left the AFL-CIO to pursue their agenda of "change to win". Say what? Change the rules of democracy to win members?
Oh, while you're in a reading mode, look up the Employees Fair Choice Act, think about it, and hopefully support it. We must get beyond these civil wars.
We did so much educating in these cities! NNOC spoke to hundreds if not thousands of employees (not just nurses) who had so many questions and concerns about this election. We spoke with them about the nature of the filing of this election- one that nearly no one had heard of until the letter.
We met with nurses who were anti-union and nurses who were feeling against a wall- "We want a union, many of us want a professional union- but I guess we get to choose between SEIU or nothing- something is wrong"
Another nurse in tears- what will this mean for us if we say "yes"? I called the hotline and got evasive answers! This is what I am supposed to use to make my decision?"
A painter buttonholed me thinking I was SEIU- what kind of deal did you make to let this happen?? He said! I explained that I was with NNOC and that we represent nurses but that the "deal" is bad for all workers. I told him to call the NNOC hotline and we would put him in touch with a union that would defend his rights and not make deals with the employer.
Another, a janitor came to my defense when he saw clearly I was being attacked (physically and verbally) by the SEIU "thugs"- he said " why are your flyers all over my hospital, why did my boss tell me to vote you in- get away from that lady and leave us alone- we know what you are up to! We don't want any company union!"
There are hundreds of other examples...SEIU did not have the majority support, they did not even have the support of the minority! The only support that was proven was the support of CHP!
Thousands of nurses around the country sent letters to the council of bishops- over 4,000 names collected by NYSNA and CNA/NNOC!
You seem to feel that it is ok to have a company union or no union. And while I agree that these workers need a union as much as or more than anyone (the conditions in these hospitals were horrid!) having an unfair, rushed election that sets a bad precedent for the entire labor movement is not the way to go about it!
I stand with conviction that NNOC did the right thing by exposing this election. I encourage the employees of CHP to organize! I also encourage them to choose an organization that will fight for them and what is right for their community. NOT an organization that is willing to make concessions, circumvent the law and help to promote the will of the corporation!
The educational process will continue as we follow up on the many, many calls and emails of employees of CHP. Hopefully, they will learn why this was wrong and hopefully they will have the strength to unite.
You are part of a CHP/SEIU bargaining unit in Lorain. Your unit has VERY strong leadership. Your unit was formed PRIOR to the recent antics of SEIU. Your bargaining unit was formed with the support of a strong organizational base. This was not the case in the CHP hospitals subject to this election.
We did so much educating in these cities! NNOC spoke to hundreds if not thousands of employees (not just nurses) who had so many questions and concerns about this election. We spoke with them about the nature of the filing of this election- one that nearly no one had heard of until the letter.
Guess you did a little more than "hand out a few fliers." Wonder how many of your other claims are trustworthy?
My understanding of the election process in this case is that neither the seiu or chp was campaigning at all inside the hospitals, only employees could debate the union and organize either for or against. (Don't understand how that process is unfair -- I would love it for my hospital.)
To me, "educating thousands of nurses" and meeting and instructing those who were against the seiu or any union seems absolutely outrageous under these rules. How are the pro-seiu nurses supposed to compete with paid staff who can spend every hour of the day campaigning, and who have presumably lots of resources including propaganda at their disposal?
I anticipate a few of you will respond with "those aren't really the rules" so I'm including a newspaper article that came out on the subject. A neutral source, unlike some of the posters who are so virulently anti-SEIU.
Online reports say that only 25% of California RNs are in a union. If CNA has such brilliant ideas about how to unite RNs it would be great if they would get started.
I do, however, take issue with your statement that I 'seem to feel it's ok to have a company union or no union.' That's a total distortion --but fits nicely into your response. I am totally a union advocate--please don't mistake that.
I am a union RN working at a CHP hospital in OH. I have first-hand knowledge of union campaigns. Over 10 years ago, we tried to get ONA to help us organize. They provided minimal advice and they actually didn't show up for a very public meeting we held at the library when our organizing efforts were in their infancy. We were devastated.
Someone called SEIU. I have no idea who, but they came in and taught us to organize ourselves. It took almost two years campaigning, then another two years to reach a contract. During that time, CHP utilized every anti-union tactic available. They were found guilty of almost 100 ULP's. It was a long, stressful, emotional campaign. CHP does NOT want to deal with unions--their past clearly demonstrates that. So, to intimate that SEIU is a 'hand-picked company union' is ludicrous.
The methods used to set up the cancelled elections at the CHP hospitals are board sanctioned and were the result of YEARS of SEIU campaigning and research. As an RN member of SEIU and an employee of CHP, I want to see all of CHP organized under SEIU. It will benefit all of us--and, know that my years as a member of SEIU and my work with the union are part of the ground work that helped set up this process. It's not lost on us that NNOC/CNA's union-busting activities have disrupted that process and have damaged the work that we all have done--a legal and legitimate union organizing effort. CNA/NNOC represent only the RN's---they don't organize the other hospital workers. We would be divided---and we all know we're stronger when united.
A week or two of 'educating in those cities' is totally trumped by all the SEIU work it took to get to those elections. It's my perception that CNA/NNOC saw a fruit ripe for the picking and jumped in. They have exhibited the same negative behaviours they've accused SEIU of exhibiting.
Instead of being on the road to improve their working conditions and the services they provide to their patients, 8,000 CHP employees' lives are in limbo because they still don't have that all-important voice at the table. It boggles the mind that a group (CNA/NNOC) calling itself a union can be so destructive toward another union's organizing efforts.
If the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) becomes the law, an employer will recognize a union without an election IF the majority of employees sign a petition.
This is the way unionization happened originally. Notice that proof of majority with signatures still will be required. The Ohio scenario would not have happened under EFCA.
HobbesRN
49 Posts
The union elections I've been involved in have been 'yes' or 'no'. It's my belief that having more than one union to choose from would be detrimental to the election process---In my experience, the vote for a union or not was close enough without having to choose between unions at the same time. I'd think more employers would win in that scenario. And, I sure wouldn't want to be working for one of those unions if I were an organizer.
CNA and the NNOC's timing in this whole escapade was not an accident. They did not intend to organize these nurses (and, ultimately, ignore the other 5,000 CHP employees). Their actions were intended to derail the election. Period. They weren't passing out cards or educating nurses. The timing was to prevent the elections, which they did. Their actions were deplorable and indefensible.