Fairview Ridges Union News!!!

[thefrayh2sal]

there has been movement in the hospital to learn more about the union (mna). as a result, the hospital responded by having the nursing forums so we could bring our concerns to upper management, but what has happened? what are your concerns? we've developed this thread in this forum to get information out there. is there interest in having the union in ridges hospital? the information meetings have stopped, but are we ready to just let this go? did you know that the mna (minnesota nurses association) has been contacted numerous times over the last 10 years? did you know that there has been attempts to bring the mna into ridges 3 times in that 10 years? i didn't, i only knew about 1 attempt. what happened to the other 2 attempts? the word never spread, so here you go... tell us your concerns, either way, pro or not...

[partylikearockstar]

yes, i agree. more information needs to get out there so we can make a decision if union is the way we want to go. but how do we talk about it so we don't feel threatened by our co-workers and management? this is a great way to ask questions and nobody know who you are!

[themoonclouded]

It seems as though most of the information and push for the union is coming from one department. When other departments are asked about their thoughts about a union it seems they are unaware that it is even being considered. (that seems to be the trend according to the above post)

Other departments need to get on board at least getting informed about the pros and cons. There are a lot of misconceptions that I have heard about.

This forum is a good way to get the ball rolling and to get questions answered but information needs to get out to other department to log on from the privacy of their own homes and get the information, ask questions and then be able to make an informed decision. :typing

Does anybody have information that compares about the benefits offered to to the union hospitals (in our system) vs the benefits offered by Ridges?

[thefrayh2sal]

it was asked if there was a way to look at the benefits from the other hospitals in our system that are union. the answer is yes, there are copies of the union contract available to look at. some of what we hae at ridges is the same, but there are differences. the obvious is holiday pay... we get our regular time and half for holidays, they get double on most holidays and christmas is triple... plus, they have 3 floating holidays they can use, we don't... then there's the idea that when on-call and called in, we receive straight time, they get straight time and half. there are other differences.... you just need to look...

how can we get the info out?

[themoonclouded]

I think the department that seems most active needs to give this web info out(plus its a great forum for any nurse to surf for any reason) and need to sum up what has been discussed so far.

I know that vacation and PTO are issues.

What about long term benefits, pension?

[themoonclouded]

sorry, went through twice.

[thefrayh2sal]

one reply stated that the organizing if mainly coming from one unit. why are others not involved? i know other units have issues. i really do not want to pay the dues, but what is upper management going to do? more support staff? that's great, but doesn't solve all the problems. just another bandaid. and, how long with the "changes" last??? and, when will be seeing them????

are there others that can't take a vacation because they do not have the vacation time to pay themselves?

how about re-imbursment for continueing education? i noticed that the other hospitals in our system get $1000 more a year than we do! what's up with that?

did anyone know that according to the union hospitals contract, they get more vacation time than we do, not to mention the split of sick time verses medical leave.

oh, and the pension with the union hospitals is better. in the past this has been a huge issue and a great scare tactic from upper management. you will not lose what has been put in your current pension, just gain a better one...