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.
Are we to assume that everything that you have posted to date is NOT "totally biased"? Give me a break! Just because you don't agree with information that comes from a different point of reference certainly doesn't make it "misinformation". I would like to ask this question: Why is giving people full disclosure of information considered "union-busting"? If the employees of these facilities had time to sort through information from all sides of this issue and then voted yes (or no for that matter) on unionization then that would have been fine. The vote was requested by the employer and a vote was set up quickly (not by accident either) and the Ohio Hospital Association thinks "that this was a great deal" so if that doesn't smell like a rat then nothing does!
Of course I have a biased opinion! So do a lot of bloggers here. I'm allowed to have that opinion but understand that it is from first-hand experience with CHP and SEIU, not speculation. I have first-hand knowledge about some of the facts being discussed here. There are several points that have been shared here that are assumptions and, as I have read the propaganda from CNA, I can vouch for a lot of misinformation and twisted facts printed in those flyers and postcards.
I think what bothers me most is that this is a forum for discussion--I shouldn't be chastised for discussing my own experiences with the parties being discussed or voicing my opinion.
If it weren't for SEIU's campaign against CHP that has gone on for years, there wouldn't have been an agreement to hold the election. CHP did not voluntarily agree to anything--it's taken years of work.
SEIU has enormous resources and experience in this arena and are very capable of representing registered nurses--along with other hospital employees. Again, I speak from personal experience--not speculation.
Look up 'union-busting'---CNA's activities in this instance could make them a poster child for union busting!
It was only a matter of time before SEIU and unions who believe in democratic, open, and principled relationships with employers met on a battlefield somewhere.
NNOC never campaigns AGAINST employers, only FOR patient care and improvements in working conditions for nurses. One matter that will never stand with NNOC is SIGNING AWAY YOUR RIGHTS in the attempt to forge a contract.
What kind of legitimacy do you expect this contract to have with the rank and file, when there is no open record of majority support?
mountaincat says: "what kind of legitimacy do you expect this contract to have with the rank and file, when there is no open record of majority support?"
baloney. there were secret ballot elections scheduled, one for each unit of 9 hospitals to vote. 50% (plus one) had to vote for the union, to get the union.
mountaincat says: "nnoc never campaigns against employers"
they need to stop campaigning against workers.
moutaincat says: "one matter that will never stand with nnoc is signing away your rights in the attempt to forge a contract."
cna/nnoc stopped 8,000 workers from organizing. they stopped 8,000 workers from having any contract. the only thing the cna knows how to forge is a good lie.
I guess I'll just quote myself from another thread, since it seems necessary to keep repeating these questions:
"I'm afraid I just have to keep asking the same questions again and again here, since no one seems to be able to answer them on any of the threads related to this subject:
1. If there was so much work done on this campaign and so much support for organizing, why was it so easy for a handful of people to stop it in 4 or 5 days with a few flyers?
2. What was it exactly about the presence of a few CNA/NNOC volunteers and staff that made it impossible to hold an election?
SEIU has come in to attack and try to block CNA/NNOC elections in a number of places with little success, since the actual support has been built to win.
I would also take exception to the repeated use of the term "union busting".
I've seen that literature - it repeatedly makes the case that SEIU is the wrong union and that there is a better union. It never uses anti-union rhetoric or management talking points. Which SEIU has done in more than one case when trying to block a CNA/NNOC election. For example, one of the most common anti-union talking points is to try to scare nurses about strikes, which is what SEIU did in our successful campaign in Reno."
I might also point out that CNA/NNOC is not a "San Francisco" union - it is a national union, with collective bargaining members in Maine, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Nevada and over 5,000 individual members in all 50 states. And will have collective bargaining members in more states before the year is out.
I've been mulling over the course of this thread and it brings to mind an old, possibly apocryphal story from my long ago pre-nursing discipline of history.
While Sir Walter Raliegh, having incurred the displeasure of the Queen, was inprisoned in the Tower of London, he spent a long time writing a history of the world. One day while he was at work, two men got into a fight in the yard outside his window. After the fight was broken up and an officer arrived to investigate, both participants and the various witnesses gave very different accounts of what had happened and none of the accounts matched what he had seen. He decided that attempting to write about events from hundrends of years ago was ridiculous when no two people could agree on what had happened five minutes ago. He then burned the result of all his work.
This thread has devolved to one of partisans with very different world views shouting at each other for a very small audience. Not a good us of my time. I think I will disengage from it now and try to discipline myself not to come back. Not certain I'll be able to keep that resolution, but I intend to try.
The fact that the topic brought a lot of new posters to the site shows how strongly nurses are compelled to speak out against the unconsciable tactics of CNA.
I disagree with you. The disingenuous and unconscionable anti-CNA campaign you're, (unwittingly), participating in misses the mark and the stench smells like sour grapes. The union busting shoe just doesn't fit CNA; never has, never will! I think a couple of definitions and/or descriptions would be helpful.
1. From the Wikipedia: "Union busting is a practice that is undertaken by an employer or their agents to prevent employees from joining a labor union, or to disempower, subvert, or destroy unions that already exist."
"The California Nurses Association, and its national arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, is one of the nation's premiere nurses' organizations and health care unions. One of the fastest growing health care organizations in the U.S., CNA/NNOC presently has 80,000 members in 50 states representing nurses at scores of hospitals, clinics, and home health agencies. Since 2000, over 19,000 RNs at 50 hospitals have elected to affiliate with CNA.
CNA/NNOC is a leading national advocate for universal healthcare reform, through a single-payer style system based on an improved and expanded Medicare for all."
"WE PLEDGE OUR SOLIDARITY TO SUPPORT RNs IN COLLECTIVE PATIENT ADVOCACY
To speak and act on behalf of our patients.
To unite against actions by a health care facility, government agency or private interest group that infringe upon our obligations as RNs.
To unite against actions that interfere with RNs' right to form their own organization, take action in their own name and improve conditions for all nurses."
Please refrain from shooting the messenger in the interest of fairness and justice and intellectual integrity.
The CHP employers filed the petition for election and called off the election, at the behest of the SEIU as I understand it. When the SEIU organizers did their assessments they realized they were about to become the biggest losers of all, and embarrassed losers at that; there was no support for their partnership scheme. This begs the question, who "prevented" the CHP employees from joining or voting for a union? Any reasonably intelligent person would recognize that the blame lies with the CHP employers.
I've been mulling over the course of this thread and it brings to mind an old, possibly apocryphal story from my long ago pre-nursing discipline of history.
While Sir Walter Raliegh, having incurred the displeasure of the Queen, was inprisoned in the Tower of London, he spent a long time writing a history of the world. One day while he was at work, two men got into a fight in the yard outside his window. After the fight was broken up and an officer arrived to investigate, both participants and the various witnesses gave very different accounts of what had happened and none of the accounts matched what he had seen. He decided that attempting to write about events from hundrends of years ago was ridiculous when no two people could agree on what had happened five minutes ago. He then burned the result of all his work.
This thread has devolved to one of partisans with very different world views shouting at each other for a very small audience. Not a good us of my time. I think I will disengage from it now and try to discipline myself not to come back. Not certain I'll be able to keep that resolution, but I intend to try.
Wow, great post! I was thinking the same thing with regards to effective use of time, however I appreciate the dialogue and the opportunity to participate in this forum. Resolutions are made to be broken; you lend an eloquent, articulate voice as an advocate for truth. Hope springs eternal that the seeds of truth that you've planted will grow in the hearts and minds of all who've made the journey here.
"Ay, there's the rub," to quote Shakespeare,
"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?"
Patients are in a sea of trouble without enough RNs to provide safe, therapeutic and effective care. RNs are in a sea of trouble when a hostile labor board and unscrupulous employers form partnerships that rob them of their ability to advocate for their professional practice and their patients.
It's been said that truth is the daughter of time. It's important that we continue to deflect the slings and arrows and educate, agitate, and organize by speaking truth to build and mobilize our collective power as nurses. In 1903, Sister Agnes Karll, (German Nurses Association), observed: "The only practical remedy for all abuses is self-organization."
RNs organizing with the NNOC is the noble and effective way to "take arms," (against the sea of troubles), to end the abuse!
A partnership is a cooperative relationship between people or groups who agree to share responsibility for achieving some specific goal. The SEIU/CHP partnership was a paternalistic, self-serving scheme that restricted RN rights and thereby posed a threat to patient safety!
A contract is a legally binding agreement between parties that the law will enforce.
CNA/NNOC contracts are negotiated by the direct care registered nurse members and they specifically preserve the duty and the rights of RNs to advocate in the exclusive interests of their patients. The contract proposals are developed by a democratically elected RN bargaining team based on survey. There are no barriers to advocacy or encumbrances on the rights of RNs in CNA/NNOC contracts; in fact, there are specific provisions that protect our rights and duties.
From what I've read and from the conversations I've had with NNOC members in Ohio, the smarmy SEIU/CHP partnership dangerously restricted and encumbered RN's rights. No RN worth her license could ever, in good conscience, agree to any barriers to their ability to advocate for their profession or their patients. That would violate an RNs' moral and ethical duty and the social contract that is inherent in the public's trust of the profession of nursing.:redpinkhe
I disagree with you. The disingenuous and unconscionable anti-CNA campaign you're, (unwittingly), participating in misses the mark and the stench smells like sour grapes. The union busting shoe just doesn't fit CNA; never has, never will! I think a couple of definitions and/or descriptions would be helpful.
1. From the Wikipedia: "Union busting is a practice that is undertaken by an employer or their agents to prevent employees from joining a labor union, or to disempower, subvert, or destroy unions that already exist."
"The California Nurses Association, and its national arm, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, is one of the nation's premiere nurses' organizations and health care unions. One of the fastest growing health care organizations in the U.S., CNA/NNOC presently has 80,000 members in 50 states representing nurses at scores of hospitals, clinics, and home health agencies. Since 2000, over 19,000 RNs at 50 hospitals have elected to affiliate with CNA.
CNA/NNOC is a leading national advocate for universal healthcare reform, through a single-payer style system based on an improved and expanded Medicare for all."
"WE PLEDGE OUR SOLIDARITY TO SUPPORT RNs IN COLLECTIVE PATIENT ADVOCACY
To speak and act on behalf of our patients.
To unite against actions by a health care facility, government agency or private interest group that infringe upon our obligations as RNs.
To unite against actions that interfere with RNs' right to form their own organization, take action in their own name and improve conditions for all nurses."
Please refrain from shooting the messenger in the interest of fairness and justice and intellectual integrity.
The CHP employers filed the petition for election and called off the election, at the behest of the SEIU as I understand it. When the SEIU organizers did their assessments they realized they were about to become the biggest losers of all, and embarrassed losers at that; there was no support for their partnership scheme. This begs the question, who "prevented" the CHP employees from joining or voting for a union? Any reasonably intelligent person would recognize that the blame lies with the CHP employers.
Your above quote from Wikipedia is EXACTLY what CNA/NNOC did! Those CHP nurses did NOT invite CNA's interference!! CNA prevented not only the nurses, but all the other eligible CHP employees from forming a union! Your own definition of 'UNION-BUSTING.'
ironically, wikipedia lists cna as a union-busting organization:
in 2008, a new form of union-busting has emerged with the california nurses association (cna) urging hospital workers to vote no in an election involving the service employees international union in ohio. the cna conducted these activities despite having no plans to hold an election of their own. [68] these actions are new because it is not the employer who is engaging in the anti-union activity but rather another union.
I'm disappointed that you're choosing to obfuscate instead of taking a stand for truth and justice. How about some facts for clarity? The link you posted, (to the Tribune article on March 12), was added very recently as a "reference" to the longstanding original Wikipedia Union Busting article and it apparently has raised the editor/moderator's suspicions. It remains with this caveat: "This page is currently protected from editing until March 26, 2008 (UTC) or until disputes have been resolved."
"Protection is not an endorsement of the current version...The neutrality of this article is disputed."
A posted speed limit of 65 is a lawful matter of fact, not "speedbusting."
Truthful and factual information distributed among peers, who are interested in receiving it, is not "unionbusting."
If a "union" is chosen by the employer and does not have the support of the nurses who are being consigned to it, then it doesn't exist. It can't be raided, or busted if it doesn't exist. I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who wrote that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. I'll assert that the same holds true for a just and democratic union. Another Jefferson quote that I like: "...Let facts be submitted to a candid world."
According to Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO, and Executive Director of NNOC/CNA: "SEIU depends on the complicity and support of employers even without any indication of support from the workers they are pretending to represent. That's not what unions should stand for, and it's not democratic," said DeMoro. She noted growing opposition from SEIU members across the nation, reflected on the website www.reformseiu.org." "DeMoro sharply criticized CHP and SEIU, along with the labor board for "determining among themselves the destiny of a workforce that is primarily women. The chauvinism and arrogance of their behavior is appalling, and has received the repudiation it so richly deserved."
"But their conspiracy of silence and the whole shoddy scheme fell apart when it was exposed to the light of day and the nurses and other employees became aware that they had alternatives to a union selected for them by their employer," said DeMoro.
HobbesRN
49 Posts
Of course I have a biased opinion! So do a lot of bloggers here. I'm allowed to have that opinion but understand that it is from first-hand experience with CHP and SEIU, not speculation. I have first-hand knowledge about some of the facts being discussed here. There are several points that have been shared here that are assumptions and, as I have read the propaganda from CNA, I can vouch for a lot of misinformation and twisted facts printed in those flyers and postcards.
I think what bothers me most is that this is a forum for discussion--I shouldn't be chastised for discussing my own experiences with the parties being discussed or voicing my opinion.
If it weren't for SEIU's campaign against CHP that has gone on for years, there wouldn't have been an agreement to hold the election. CHP did not voluntarily agree to anything--it's taken years of work.
SEIU has enormous resources and experience in this arena and are very capable of representing registered nurses--along with other hospital employees. Again, I speak from personal experience--not speculation.
Look up 'union-busting'---CNA's activities in this instance could make them a poster child for union busting!