I work at a large hospital in Florida and the Union has shown up at our front door.... can't say I am against it due to the fact that I always have 3 very sick patients every time I walk in the door (I should add that I work on the MICU floor with no aids). Everyone at our hospital is stretched so thin that we have now developed a "survive the shift" mentality most days, which I hate. My main question is, has anyone heard about the UFCW? as a Florida resident I am not very familiar with the in and out's of the union.
Any info about this particular union or the good, bad, and ugly about any union would be helpful. Needless to say administration is freaking out and is on some serious damage control and telling us that the union is horrible and will be the demise of the hospital.
I have to disagree with you. I worked for SEIU for 7 years and we always had the members involved every step of the way. I am now a nurse and a shop steward and on the bargaining team. We move with the members. If members don't get involved then they get what they get. The union is the members.
There are exceptions to everything and there is never 100% perfection or ideal situations. Anyone can find SEIU or CNA or UHW shops that are not engaged in best union practices. In those cases the members need to get involved and create change.
I look at it this way- I pay for my cell phone, all my utilities , etc because I need those services. Do I have a say in what my rates are? No. Do I get to choose what is offered to me? No.
A union allows workers to have input and there is no other alternative.
To the other posts- It's such propaganda that CNA was exclusively reason why ratios were passed in California. That is just a slap in the face to the SEIU members and non union RN's and LVN's, techs, phlebotomists, etc who worked hard to get ratios and safe needle laws changed.
Total drivel.
It's easy to take credit for something after that fact esp when most people don't:jester: have a clue how laws get changed or created and all the work that goes into it.
After my time with the SEIU I can truthfully say that they are a "slap in the face to themselves"
And for any union to claim that they are solely responsible for all the changes and laws affecting todays nursing work force is so silly. When it can all be attributed to the natural growth of the profession
I can only hope that you proceed with organization and realize that it will be a battle that can be won, and won for your practice and your patient!!
Expect the hospital to throw it's weight around and use intimidation. It is your right, guarenteed by federal law that allows you to unionize.
Your patients are the beneficiaries of the struggle against the hospitals tactics and don't forget the goal of better patient care. Collective bargaining is what it says, collective. RN's can negotiate nurse/patient ratios and so many other areas in their practice. It's not all about the money for the nurse, it's about safe and sound nursing practice. The corporate executives want nurses to remain voiceless and therefore powerless, and they have a financial interest in holding on to the status quo, their own pocketbooks. Nurses are on the front line of patient care and advocate for their patients right to have good care!
centralflunionnurse, You say some very wise things. I applaud your information.
I worked briefly at a central Florida hospital and felt as if I'd stepped back into the Twighlight Zone of the 70's. (Yes I've been doing this a long time, 38 years full time) Hearing horror stories from other nurses, I could say that nurses in Central Florida are in need of some CB(Collective Bargaining) ICU, they're in critical condition! I didn't realize that there were unionized nurses/hospitals in Florida and keep hearing the old and warn cry, "Unions are bad, this is a right to work state". Right to Work? Work overtime and don't record it or be disciplined, work understaffed, work without lunches or breaks, work without questioning the institutions policy to determine the level of your practice, ie RN 1/patients 8 or higher, work harder with fewer ancillary staff, work for $10-$15 less an hour than you professional counterparts across the country. This is a right to work state?
I hope to relocate to Central Florida permanently and hope to find a place that is unionized. I was a member of the Michigan Nurses Association for 16 years and see the impact of nurse activism on patient care. It's beautiful thing to behold. I can truly say that the 3500 nurses at the University of Michigan are awesome and give FANTASTIC patient care and are some of the best nurses I've ever seen and yes they are unionized. Unions do work!!
centralflunionnurse, You say some very wise things. I applaud your information.
I worked briefly at a central Florida hospital and felt as if I'd stepped back into the Twighlight Zone of the 70's. (Yes I've been doing this a long time, 38 years full time) Hearing horror stories from other nurses, I could say that nurses in Central Florida are in need of some CB(Collective Bargaining) ICU, they're in critical condition! I didn't realize that there were unionized nurses/hospitals in Florida and keep hearing the old and warn cry, "Unions are bad, this is a right to work state". Right to Work? Work overtime and don't record it or be disciplined, work understaffed, work without lunches or breaks, work without questioning the institutions policy to determine the level of your practice, ie RN 1/patients 8 or higher, work harder with fewer ancillary staff, work for $10-$15 less an hour than you professional counterparts across the country. This is a right to work state?
I hope to relocate to Central Florida permanently and hope to find a place that is unionized. I was a member of the Michigan Nurses Association for 16 years and see the impact of nurse activism on patient care. It's beautiful thing to behold. I can truly say that the 3500 nurses at the University of Michigan are awesome and give FANTASTIC patient care and are some of the best nurses I've ever seen and yes they are unionized. Unions do work!!
The original poster is probably gone from the thread, but for others....
If your issues are health and safety, we need to ask different questions. Basically the way a union works in the US is that they roll in(either by getting a call from someone at a hospital, or by targeting the hospital), talk to people, get commitments to join a union from 51-75% of the employees and then either file for an election or negotiate with the employer to voluntarily recognize a union.
If you manage to get a contract (it's a big fight), then health and safety CAN be negotiated. It's not a mandatory factor in bargaining at all. Realistically when unions can, they roll over on these issues for a few reasons. Management hates to sign papers about staffing ratios and the like. The reason is makes them accountable on some low-level for that, and it's a fight to change it. If they toss a raise and some vacation days however, they get to keep control over the work-process, and only loose some change.
That's a super truncated version of the contract stuff. Basically to fight around things like staffing ratios you have to be prepared to work with your coworkers, organize collectively, and fight hard and keep it going until you win. The union may help, but ultimately they can't do it without you (and sometimes may resist you doing it yourself). As workers we have to be willing to organize this fight ourselves to keep it democratic and keep it from being taken over and sold out by others who have different interests than ours. That's basically what a union should be, but you'll have to fight to get it to be that way.
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
i'm sure these nurses were unified and strong to accomplish this. and proximity to california probably helped.
huge breakthroughs in patient safety with rn staffing ratios 29.5% pay hikes, pension, retiree health will aid rn retention...
..."saint mary's nurses have negotiated the best contract in the state of nevada," said labor and delivery rn mary maupin.
the ratios, which match those won by cna/nnoc in california law and hundreds of california hospitals, and strengthened through enforceable contract law, are the first-ever california-style, hospital-wide ratios achieved for any rns outside california.
"we set initial goals for staffing ratios and have gone well beyond our expectations. we are so proud to be the first state outside of california to have achieved the california ratios in our contract," said neo-natal intensive care unit rn marylea hall.
additional key elements of the pact include more patient safety protections, with limits on unsafe assignments of rns to areas where they do not have clinical expertise, and safe patient handling procedures...
The original poster is probably gone from the thread, but for others....
If your issues are health and safety, we need to ask different questions. Basically the way a union works in the US is that they roll in(either by getting a call from someone at a hospital, or by targeting the hospital), talk to people, get commitments to join a union from 51-75% of the employees and then either file for an election or negotiate with the employer to voluntarily recognize a union.
If you manage to get a contract (it's a big fight), then health and safety CAN be negotiated. It's not a mandatory factor in bargaining at all. Realistically when unions can, they roll over on these issues for a few reasons. Management hates to sign papers about staffing ratios and the like. The reason is makes them accountable on some low-level for that, and it's a fight to change it. If they toss a raise and some vacation days however, they get to keep control over the work-process, and only loose some change.
That's a super truncated version of the contract stuff. Basically to fight around things like staffing ratios you have to be prepared to work with your coworkers, organize collectively, and fight hard and keep it going until you win. The union may help, but ultimately they can't do it without you (and sometimes may resist you doing it yourself). As workers we have to be willing to organize this fight ourselves to keep it democratic and keep it from being taken over and sold out by others who have different interests than ours. That's basically what a union should be, but you'll have to fight to get it to be that way.
The above generally matches my experience. I would add that it makes a huge difference what union you are talking about. Unions run by and for staff nurses tend to put nursing issues front and center, but some are much more effective at it than others. Because many state nurses association choose not to be involved in representing nurses for collective bargaining (and some others do so, but poorly) that left a vacuum in many places that has been filled by non-nurse unions - for example, the United Steelworkers, Teamsters, Laborers and various teacher and government employee unions all have RN bargaining units. Some of them are more effective than others, but my opinion is that none of them do as well on professional issues as unions where the leadership are nurses.
Iam46yearsold
839 Posts
SEIU= Serve Employers Instead of Us
Beware of SEIU. I used to be a shop steward