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.
As a new member to this site I have been following this dialogue for over a week. As a bedside RN for 30+ years, I have watched as the health care industry has changed from an industry in which nurses had a significant voice, to an industry that is profit driven, and controlled by corporatists. As nurses we all know this is true. Most people become nurses because they care about humanity, and care about making a difference in the lives of the sick and vulnerable. So how do unions fit into this picture? I have been reading about "devastating emotional reactions" to the called off SEIU vote for representation for workers in a large catholic health care corporation. SEIU, "Change to Win", quite the statement. If you do diligent research on SEIU, you discover their goal is a "partnership" with management. That is the "Change" SEIU is pushing. It is their statement, and their goal, not mine. It is no accident the "employer" filed for this election. They were counting on the emotional feelings of the employees to decide that SEIU was better than no union at all. This is called a management union. Why would nurses vote for any union? Is it for better wages, retirement benefits? Why, as a nurse, would you vote for a union? The most valid reason in my mind is to protect my patients and my nursing practice. In case no one has noticed, nursing practice is under assault by corporate health care. Are you, in your clinical judgement, able to provide what your patients' need? Or does your administration tell you how you will practice your art of nursing? I work for a large catholic health care chain, and I am being told all the time how I should practice nursing. I am accused of not being a "team player" by the administration. My response, "To which team are you referring? I am on the patients' team".
I believe as nurses we have an obligation and a duty to do what is best for our profession, and thereby our patients. We need to stop the emotional reactive responses that do not serve our profession. If nurses are interested in collective advocacy, i.e. unionism, they better do their homework, and diligently research the history, and political stance of each union. It is about more than wages and retirement. It is about more than having a union, any old union will do. It is truely about survival of nursing practice. Corporate health care does not want nursing practice to survive, as it takes too long and costs too much money, cutting profits, when nurses do an excellent job of caring and advocating for their patients. Have you done your diligent research on the two unions involved in this blog, or are you using this forum as an emotional outlet for your disappointments?
I have always wondered about organizations & professionals that are "all about me", nobody else can "understand me & my issues", only if "I am with my own kind can we address our"... fill in the blanks.
That elitism is demeaning to the other members of the healthcare team. Last time I checked, it takes all of us: a team, to provide quality patient care, especially in today's hospital setting.
For the CNA/NNOC to portray it's RN ONLY organization as the "whistle-blower" and "savior" of other job classifications by "referring them to other unions" & of the RNs by telling them: "we ruined your ability to improve patient care right now & we hope you will have the ability to do it sometime in the future" is demoralizing and insulting.
As a bedside RN I make life saving decisions at least every day.
Please do not add insult to injury by telling me that I do not have the intelligence or critical thinking skills to be able to hold my union accountable & to be able to negotiate improved patient care in any way possible.
RNs in Ohio and everywhere else do not need saving from SEIU!
We need to be able to have a collective voice to hold management accountable to their choices and the ability to participate in the decision making process.
A voice & an ability that CNA/NNOC has just managed to postpone in Ohio!
I do not understand in this day and age of more and more workers going without a collective voice and less and less unionized jobs, the CNA's undefendable actions of UNION BUSTING. Ask the CNA about their plan to organize a group of nurses in St. Louis, where they pulled the same disgusting union busting tactic and then turned tail and ran, no plan to organize, no plan to come back and give the protection and benefits offered by SEIU to this group of workers, just the same old message of vote NO on UNION????? If the goal was to organize then why not come in with a plan other than just nuking the entire hospital and leaving 8000 families, not just nurses, but actual living, breathing, putting bread on the table and paying for little Jimmy's braces, families who now have no Union protection at all now thanks to the dispicable and shameless UNION BUSTING tactics of the so called Union CNA. And then to top it off the CNA has the audacity to single out only RN's for their elitist organization, while SEIU had a plan in place to ORGANIZE all workers, in a collective effort to sustain real gains for ALL employees of these hospitals, not just the nursing staff. And again, CNA, all without a plan to do anything whatsoever productive or any plan to ever give these workers the voice and justice they deserve, just like a hit and run. It is appauling to see an organization that spends the dues money of the members that they do have to deconstruct and defile other organizations rather than take the time and plan and create something.....how do they call themselves organizers, they should call themselves professional deconstructionists, wait in the wings until a proactive organization like SEIU has all of the pieces in place to allow the workers the right to vote in a rare unpoisoned atmosphere and then show up just in time to poison the whole well....undefensable. I urge any member to ask their president why he decided to spend their dues in this fashion. All members of CNA should shoulder their share of the blame for being a member of such a disingegious organization with an extra large helping being served to the destructionists who showed up to spread the lies and destroy hopes, dreams and possibilities of real families and workers. What do you plan to do next, crash the democratic convention and tell all of labor that it is better to vote republican? Makes about as much sense. Realize this, you have done nothing but weakend the labor movement. Your homes and offices must be without mirrors because I honestly do not know how you look at yourself, you have done the boss a favor again CNA, do everyone a favor next time and stay in California. Fence jumping Union Busters
Round trip airfare (first class)from California to Ohio - $950.00 per person
4 nights hotel accomodations + meals - $540 per perosn
Destroying the hopes, dreams and hard work of 8000 Springfield, Ohio families in need of a Union- apparently priceless to the CNA
some things money can't buy - for UNION-BUSTING there's the C N A - official union busters of the midwest
When any working group, such as doctors, airport flight controllers, janitors (environmental technicians), teachers, nurses, respiratory therapists, to name only a few, discuss the needs of their members, it does not make that group "elitist". All members of the health care team are valuable for what they contribute. But each group has different duties and responsibilities. I surely would not want my friend Diane, who is a hard working and caring housekeeper, receiving the openheart patient from the OR, for which my RN friend Pamela is responsible. If any group of workers desires to organize for a collective voice, I would hope the workers had researched and requested a union of their choice. In this instance, the employer requested the union. The employer picked SEIU. SEIU likes employer partnerships. You must ask yourself, why? As an RN, with different responsibilities from other health team members, I want a collective RN voice that addresses the issues of corporate assault on my nursing practice, competancy, and patient/nurse safety. In reading the angry blogs it is apparent the authors do not have their facts straight regarding NNOC/CNA. I would ask, where did you obtain your facts? Certainly, other members of the health team have issues. There are other unions out there that will not form employer/union partnerships. Have you looked? I challenge all workers to do a little research regarding what is happening in the labor movement. It is bigger than one facility, or one job. We are all in this worker bee boat together. Personally, I would not support a union that does management partnerships. They are surely not going to be looking out for my best interest.
Let me be up front and admit that i am a Seiu member. I also have additional insite in that i have been on organizing campaigns in Illinois Texas and San Antino.
The Cna's activities amounts to blatant union busting. are they even interedted in staying and attempting to organize there works?
And this is not the first time the have cost worker's a chance to have a union. They did the same at a hospital in Chicago. At least there the filed to be envolved in the election. But after we split the yes vote the no vote won. But at least that was the honorable way to go about it.
SEIU where i work represents Physicians Psychiatrist Rn's Pharmacist and Social workers and does it very well. Yes some issues are position specific but those can be handle in Labor Management discusses. To say a patient is going to be handed off to an unqualifird employee just because we are in the same union is laughable.
Wow, you and CHP certainly support the same position! Now you're back to defending CHP getting to handpick SEIU as their union of choice. It disheartens me to hear an RN argue that our fellow RNs can't assess two unions on a ballot and make an educated, informed decision about which union they want to be a part of. Do you believe that RNs are that easy to confuse? SEIU and the CHP tried to rush this election through so that RNs wouldn't have time to adequately research the implications for themselves.
As soon as light was shed on the process, CHP and SEIU obviously realized that they couldn't pull it off, so they cancelled the election (oops, RNs got information, now we can't let them vote).
Guess what! If RNs are going to successfully negotiate staffing language and patient care protections into their first contract and build organization in their hospitals to defend patients and RN practice, face off against the healthcare industry to win legislation that improves staffing, etc., we're going to have to be strong enough that we don't fall apart every time the someone puts out a leaflet that challenges our position.
Why do RNs need to be protected from a leaflet that is critical of the practices of the union that they're being rushed to join? Oh that's right, too much data and we might get confused and actually vote in our own interests!
Nice tryu at double talk but you did not answer her question. The presence of multiple unions on a ballot only works to the value of the employeer splitting the union vote and allowing no union even if a vast majority votes to be union. I have done multiple campaigns as a member orgaanizer and have often said "If you feel the comprting is a better choice by allmeans vote for them but vote union it is always the better choice"
There are other unions out there that will not form employer/union partnerships. Have you looked? I challenge all workers to do a little research regarding what is happening in the labor movement. It is bigger than one facility, or one job. We are all in this worker bee boat together. Personally, I would not support a union that does management partnerships. They are surely not going to be looking out for my best interest.
Isn't a contract a partnership with the employer? Both sides have to agree to the terms of the contract. I am a proud SEIU member and my chapter represents 32 different professions. We have learned together that we share many issues and also that the strength of our membership will help resolve issues that are specific to a very small group of our members.
We have build a partnership with our employer without compromising our rights. I am a firm believer that we accomplish more by talking to each other then by being intransigeant at all costs.
You say that the labor movement is bigger than just one facility or one job, I agree... that is exactly why as union members we need to work together to fight big conglomerates. Raiding each other is not helping the big picture.
After reading many posts, I still fail to understand why CNA, if they were so concerns about the welfare of the nurses, did not get a few cards signed to allow CNA to be on the ballot...that would have been the democratic thing to do!
The nature of the election - rushed and petioned by the employer prevented ANY other union from being on the ballot.
Agreements that either undermine the rights of patients (ala SEIU lobbying for tort reform) or workers (ala an election that is rushed and does not allow freedom of discussion or true choice) is not an agreement that is healthy for America.
Please take the time to objectively read the Q&A document NNOC has published :
Consider the recent history of SEIU across the country and maybe you will see why NNOC is opposed to these tactics.
This new strategy eliminates the previous fundamental of unionization which is a strong base of support for the union in the hospital. This organizational base was not present in the CHP elections. A hallmark of "top-down" unionizing. A hallmark of a company union.
kat nurse advocate
13 Posts
As a new member to this site I have been following this dialogue for over a week. As a bedside RN for 30+ years, I have watched as the health care industry has changed from an industry in which nurses had a significant voice, to an industry that is profit driven, and controlled by corporatists. As nurses we all know this is true. Most people become nurses because they care about humanity, and care about making a difference in the lives of the sick and vulnerable. So how do unions fit into this picture? I have been reading about "devastating emotional reactions" to the called off SEIU vote for representation for workers in a large catholic health care corporation. SEIU, "Change to Win", quite the statement. If you do diligent research on SEIU, you discover their goal is a "partnership" with management. That is the "Change" SEIU is pushing. It is their statement, and their goal, not mine. It is no accident the "employer" filed for this election. They were counting on the emotional feelings of the employees to decide that SEIU was better than no union at all. This is called a management union. Why would nurses vote for any union? Is it for better wages, retirement benefits? Why, as a nurse, would you vote for a union? The most valid reason in my mind is to protect my patients and my nursing practice. In case no one has noticed, nursing practice is under assault by corporate health care. Are you, in your clinical judgement, able to provide what your patients' need? Or does your administration tell you how you will practice your art of nursing? I work for a large catholic health care chain, and I am being told all the time how I should practice nursing. I am accused of not being a "team player" by the administration. My response, "To which team are you referring? I am on the patients' team".
I believe as nurses we have an obligation and a duty to do what is best for our profession, and thereby our patients. We need to stop the emotional reactive responses that do not serve our profession. If nurses are interested in collective advocacy, i.e. unionism, they better do their homework, and diligently research the history, and political stance of each union. It is about more than wages and retirement. It is about more than having a union, any old union will do. It is truely about survival of nursing practice. Corporate health care does not want nursing practice to survive, as it takes too long and costs too much money, cutting profits, when nurses do an excellent job of caring and advocating for their patients. Have you done your diligent research on the two unions involved in this blog, or are you using this forum as an emotional outlet for your disappointments?