INCREDIBLE CNA/NNOC victory in Houston.

Nurses Union

Published

I'm posting this fast, and don't yet have all the details, but here is what I do know:

CNA just won a representation election for the RNs at Cypress Fairbanks Hospital, a part of the Tenet chain in Houston Texas.

Other than a small number of RNs employed by the federal government, this represents the first unionized nurses in the entire state a very tough organizing environment. It is the first major fruits of a three year statewide campaign.

The election was run under an organizing agreement won at the bargaining table by Tenet nurses in California.

Don't yet have numbers or other details, will make a second post when I do. I've met some of these Texas nurses and they are just the greatest. This is only the first of many organizing victories to come in this state.

Bittersweet-

Don't give up on the members so easily. The history of labor, like the history of this nation, contains corruption but also reform. Members can and do challenge elections, form caucuses and take the union to court if they have to.

We can have honesty and integrity in the campaigns- if we hold the leaders accountable and demand it.

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As a Texas NP I have changed my mind regarding unions in Texas. Please come and organize us so that we can reap the benefits without having to pay dues. I love something for nothing!

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Specializes in Psych , Peds ,Nicu.
As a Texas NP I have changed my mind regarding unions in Texas. Please come and organize us so that we can reap the benefits without having to pay dues. I love something for nothing!

Now Now PICUPNP at first I thought Holy *rap , PICUPNP has gone over to the dark side, but fortunately your better nature came through , in the last sentence . My reality came back into focus , the foundations of Texas settled and your surefire conviction to anti unionism is maintained. Don't scare me like that ;)

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Now Now PICUPNP at first I thought Holy *rap , PICUPNP has gone over to the dark side, but fortunately your better nature came through , in the last sentence . My reality came back into focus , the foundations of Texas settled and your surefire conviction to anti unionism is maintained. Don't scare me like that ;)

I have to admit, you Anti Union nurses in Texas, deserve all of your low pay, bad benefits, and abusive manament. Nurses who were fed up with the conditions you put up with, unionized to improve our lives, and it did. California does not have doctors who bribe their way to an indictment of nurses who rightfully reported them to the Board of Medicine. Same in Washington State. Unions here may not be great, but they sure beat what non unionized nurses have to put up with. I guess that there will always be nurses who are gluttons for punishment. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Administration (briefly).
As a Texas NP I have changed my mind regarding unions in Texas. Please come and organize us so that we can reap the benefits without having to pay dues. I love something for nothing!

Why don't you organize yourselves?

There is little value in something you have not worked for, be it security or democracy.

Pay your fair share...We need each other and sarcasm is not warranted.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Administration (briefly).
Now Now PICUPNP at first I thought Holy *rap , PICUPNP has gone over to the dark side, but fortunately your better nature came through , in the last sentence . My reality came back into focus , the foundations of Texas settled and your surefire conviction to anti unionism is maintained. Don't scare me like that ;)

Why don't you ask PICUPNP how it's going with prescriptive authority and independent practice in Texas?

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The great thing about our hospital is that we do have great pay and benefits. Our mangement is very open and hospitable to the staff. I have never had a single issue with mangement. As far as pay is concerned, I do better than most entry level physicians and have gotten a raise every year for the 10 yrs I have been here. So how is the union going to make it any better? As for the comment about independent practice and prescriptive authority, we already have that except for schedule II drugs. I know quite a few Nps who have independent practice. I really don't care if you like the sarcasm or not...... As far as paying my fair share??? Fair share of what?? I do pay my fair share....its called taxes.

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Specializes in Psych , Peds ,Nicu.

Although your working conditions may be acceptable to you , they are not for many of your other fellow Texan nurses . Just look at their input into many threads they report poor staffing , poor management , poor communications between management and nurses ( in this utopia where the evils of unionism soes not sully management / employee relationships ), the joke of safe haven ,group one blackballing of staff who don't knell unto management and if that doesn't work getting prosecuted for whistleblowing ( as in the case of the 2 nurses who reported a doctor to the medical board [ see TX Nurses facing criminal charges for reporting doctor to Board of Medicine thread] etc.....

For these reasons or combination of any other reasons , that is why some look to unions to redress the balance between themselves and management .

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Administration (briefly).

Philosophically, this is the "good king" argument. We have a good king who takes care of us, why do we need democracy?

Problem with kings is that they change, or die.

No one is saying every hospital has to be union, and perhaps yours in one of those lucky ones where everyone gets along. But nurses across America are being s--- on in huge numbers, and we need to deal with this as a field. The only way we can deal with it at all is if we unite politically.

Don't unionize if you don't need it, but support the efforts to improve the conditions of other nurses. When did we become a me, me, me country? Is $30 a year to much to ask to help empower a field?

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Specializes in ICU/CCU/TRAUMA/ECMO/BURN/PACU/.
Philosophically, this is the "good king" argument. We have a good king who takes care of us, why do we need democracy?

Problem with kings is that they change, or die.

No one is saying every hospital has to be union, and perhaps yours in one of those lucky ones where everyone gets along. But nurses across America are being s--- on in huge numbers, and we need to deal with this as a field. The only way we can deal with it at all is if we unite politically.

Don't unionize if you don't need it, but support the efforts to improve the conditions of other nurses. When did we become a me, me, me country? Is $30 a year to much to ask to help empower a field?

Good points and to that I would add, empowered implies power "given" or "shared". If it's given or shared, (by management) it can be taken away. Thirty bucks a year or eighty bucks a month is like paying the electric bill to me. It's not just so the light or the air conditioning is available, but in terms of building collective union power, we rely on the support of legal teams, contract negotiators, labor reps, administrative and communications staff to help us harness, assert and direct our power. It takes the whole infrastructure to support the collective and our work as union nurses benefits everyone ultimately. The most important thing we have is our vision for a more humane health care system in the US. NNU nurses have a blatant agenda to assert our authority and reclaim our ability to control the provision of healthcare services in the exclusive interests of patients. From cradle to grave, from bedside to legislature, is a life of advocacy we can hang our caps on at the end of the day!

Yeah, nurses are being s.... on and leaving the profession. This is bad for patients and unless we organize and fight for them, our practice will be carved up, fragmented, and given away to the lowest bidders and the least qualified. Do we really want the conciege service model of care with customer service agents trained in tasks and guest relations? Hospitals are not hotels. We're professionals; educated with sophisticated skills. So we have a solution: Ratios, Rights, and Representation for all RNs. We do need to unite nationally and we'll be an unstoppable force for good. I think it was Ghandi who said, There's enough for everyone's need, not enough for everyone's greed. The greed of insurers and their corporate handmaiden legislators are perpetuating a broken system of health care that will continue to fail and harm our patients unless we organize to stop them by advocating for a Single Payer health care system in this country.

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Unions are not needed or wanted in Texas. One can only hope that the hospital in houston will soon decertify their union. Nursing will never unite nationally. Hell, they can't even agree on entry level to practice!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Administration (briefly).
Unions are not needed or wanted in Texas. One can only hope that the hospital in houston will soon decertify their union. Nursing will never unite nationally. Hell, they can't even agree on entry level to practice!

I love the declarative statements without any support or evidence to back them up. YOU do not want unions. Nurses need to have whatever resource they need to deal with their institutions. Texas is no different than any other state.

Nurses have difficulty uniting because we have no way to talk to each other. We also have a fractured field, with our "leadership" in big time cahoots with the industry.

These chains are coming off though, and more and more nurses are begininning to find out how to break them.

Are you sure you are a clinician?

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