INCREDIBLE CNA/NNOC victory in Houston.

[Chico David]

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.

[PICUPNP]

I love how unionized nurses deal with those who don't agree. Who are you to question my ability as a clinician? Just because I and many, many other Texas nurses don't agree with the union philosophy, doesn't mean we are any less the nurse, Np, etc. I don't now nor ever will agree with what the NNOc, CNA, NNU or any other union is trying to force on nurses. Thanks to the Great Spirit that your efforts in Texas have been less than successful and very slow going! Unions are perpetuating the greatest hoax ever seen. They are spending their time and efforts to convince nurses that they can't speak up for theirselves but instead need someone else to do it and to pay them for it. Hopefully more and more nurses will have their eyes opened to this and begin a national decertifying movement that will rid us of the unions forever.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

This is a LONG article.

I just included a small portion. I think it is well worth reading.

Nurses Unite

Fort Worth Weekly

May 6, 2009

...Snow, who has worked in the ER for almost five years, described angry patients complaining that their conditions were worsening after waiting as long as 15 or 16 hours to see a doctor.

He said he's seen as many as 80 patients parked there with only two overwhelmed nurses to attend to them. Then there are the patients who somehow slip through the cracks of initial triage evaluations and end up waiting in the green room when they should have gone straight to an ER bed.

He talked about conditions so overcrowded and stressful that more than a dozen nurses quit their jobs in the first two months after the new emergency room opened, for fear that they would lose their licenses if something happened to a patient due to the overcrowding and woefully inadequate staffing. ...

...Snow and other JPS emergency room nurses have been so frustrated and scared by ER conditions that they did something that nurses may have never done before in a Fort Worth hospital: They organized so that they could speak as a group. And then they took public action.

In recent weeks, the nurses drafted a petition asking for more staff to be assigned in the green room. And last month, they mailed the petition to management, signed by 28 of the hospital's 55 ER nurses.

They didn't do it without fear. In fact, one petition organizer said every ER nurse he spoke to supported the petition's aims; the ones who declined to sign did so out of fear for their careers.

Every nurse interviewed by Fort Worth Weekly for this story said that people in their profession live with the constant threat of retaliation if they raise concerns.

In Texas, they have a phrase for one such tactic. It's called being "Group One'd," referring to the name of an organization that does background checks on hospital employees and, so nurses believe, is responsible for blacklisting anyone who speaks up....

...Those interviewed for this story said they fear reporting agencies that they believe function like the healthcare profession's own mafia.

Organizations like Group One are often used by managers as a way to keep nurses in line and get them to work in conditions that might be unsafe, nurses said. In some cases, a black mark on a nurse's Group One report can be career-ending.

Even Group One officials acknowledge that managers use the company as a threat, though they said they discourage that.

And union-busting law firms employed by hospitals have made fortunes from tracking union activity and opposing it at every turn....

...The patient-to-nurse ratio in the green room has been as high as 80 to 1, several nurses said. The petition asks Earley to commit to a patient to nurse ratio of 4 to 1 in that area, which would mean a substantial increase in the ER nursing staff....

http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1148:nurses-unite&catid=30:cover-story&Itemid=375

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Cypress Fairbanks RNs Close In On First Private Hospital Contract in TEXAS

RN Power: Building The NATIONAL Nurses Movement with CNA/NNOC

TEXAS: University Hospital Nurses

TEXAS Nurses Protest Valley Baptist Practices

Nurses wrongfully targeted in Winkler TEXAS

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

RNs at Cypress Fairbanks Hospital in Houston,Texas rallied in support of their bargaining team as hearings began this week to arbitrate remaining contract issues. While the bargaining team has reached tenative agreement on many issues important to nurses, the Board of Inquiry hearing process will ensure CyFair nurses finally get a contract.

On the first day of hearings, nurses travel from far and near to show their support for a landmark first RN contract at a private hospital in Texas.

[lindarn]

I love how unionized nurses deal with those who don't agree. Who are you to question my ability as a clinician? Just because I and many, many other Texas nurses don't agree with the union philosophy, doesn't mean we are any less the nurse, Np, etc. I don't now nor ever will agree with what the NNOc, CNA, NNU or any other union is trying to force on nurses. Thanks to the Great Spirit that your efforts in Texas have been less than successful and very slow going! Unions are perpetuating the greatest hoax ever seen. They are spending their time and efforts to convince nurses that they can't speak up for theirselves but instead need someone else to do it and to pay them for it. Hopefully more and more nurses will have their eyes opened to this and begin a national decertifying movement that will rid us of the unions forever.

Stupid is as stupid does. I hope that in a few months, we will not hear complaints about nurses being, "Group One'd", and blackballed from any nursing job in the State of Texas. And lets not forget the nurses who are being prosecuted for reporting a doctor to the State Medical Board. Texas has the honor of being the only state to have that occur. Why am not surprised that brainwashed nurses would try to de certify a union that is the only hope they will ever have to improve working conditions, pay and benefits in Texas. There is a word for people lke that- gluttons for punishment. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[PICUPNP]

These nurses just pulled the proverbial wool from their eyes and saw the truth. The CNA that so brazenly won this huge fight to get into Texas is now in the process of being shown the door after almost a year. So this is what unions do for us? They did SO much in Houston that they're on the way out. And once again, the union nurses have to resort to name-calling and put downs when they are on the losing side of a battle. You are supposed to be a NNOC supporter....are your posts indicative of all unionized nurses attitudes towards those who don't see things the same way? Just curious....... Anyways, if the unions EVER make into Texas to stay, the majority of us will have all the supposed benefits without having to pay dues. It like having your cake and eating it too!!

[nicurn001]

PICUPNP I can't and will not challenge your professional credentials / abilities ( as with all of us we know nothing of each other ) , but its interesting that , that was the only thing to get a response from you to points made in opposition to your case for the superiority of being non unionized , in my post #115 , I asked about group 1 , blackballing and other actions taken against nurses , you have seen fit to simply ignore these problems , offering no suggestions how individual nurses would be able to overcome these problems . The only conclusion I can draw from that is maybe even you do not have an answer for non unionized nurses , other than stand up for yourself ( we have seen what good that does ), rather than seek the protection of a contract gained by nurses working together .

[RN4MERCY]

Anyways, if the unions EVER make into Texas to stay, the majority of us will have all the supposed benefits without having to pay dues. It like having your cake and eating it too!!

I don't believe you represent a majority opinion on this. Research shows that most workers would join a union if given the fair opportunity to do so. I suppose there have been and will always be a few selfish people who want something for nothing. (Try telling the public utilities company that you want the benefits of having their power grid, but you don't want to chip in to pay for the lights and your fair share of the cost for the supplies, and the staff that runs and maintains the equipment that produces the power!)

Yes, it's true, unionized nurses collectively and strategically pool their money to seek to improve patient care through educating, organizing and mobilizing nurses to shape the future of ALL staff nurses and the health care system for the better. We have done this in a number of ways by improving the economic and general welfare of nurses, providing a quality work environment, protecting nurse and patient safety and influencing nursing practice standards.

Union Nurse activists have established an aggressive list of legislative priorities for our work with the 111th Congress, including introduction of S 1031 (Boxer) The National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act! Sen. Barbara Boxer recently introduced this bill, S. 1031, which will guarantee safe staffing in hospitals across America, as well as give nurses whistle-blower and patient advocacy protections, that is sponsored by three major unions that have over 150,000 members.

Most of us pay taxes and enjoy the benefits of public schools, and libraries, and national parks, and police and fire protection; those things benefit all of us and not a single individual has the ability to support and maintain those resources. In the same way, sharing the collective benefit of belonging to a national nurses union is a source of professional pride and we should all be proud to pay a fair share. Without a union, you all but check your civil rights at the door, such as the right to due process in the grievance procedure, the rights to fair and impartial investigation of alleged misconduct, "just cause" discipline and the right to face your accusers and provide a defense, and protection from retaliation for professional and patient advocacy activities.

Nurses see frontline decisions made every day that have a negative impact on patients and want to be part of the solution. "Our collective strength and unity will have an enormous impact on improving the lives and workplace standards for all direct care RNs, and our ability to refocus our healthcare system on delivering quality care for our patients. It's an exciting moment and opportunity," according to CNA/NNOC Co-president Deborah Burger, RN.

Over the years we have seen staff RNs splinter and work in isolation--and we have seen employers, managers and anti-union forces take full advantage of that isolation. We have a historic opportunity to say, 'those days are over.' Together, there is no limit to what staff nurses can achieve to win better patient care and fix our healthcare system. We have an overt agenda to work assertively to improve conditions and standards for RNs and patients, including adoption of RN-to-patient staffing ratios, and providing a vehicle for solidarity with our sisters and brothers in nursing and allied organizations around the world.

Sure, we're expected to be advocates for our individual patients, but sometimes we must take our advocacy beyond the bedside, to our community and the legislature, to change circumstances that are against the interests or needs of our patients and our profession. We'll be stronger if you decide to join us, but help me understand why you would be against being part of and supporting a national nurses' movement for health care justice? :typing

[PICUPNP]

I guess it should amaze you that we have employees that have been here 10, 20, 30yrs without a union. How did they ever do it? This is a right to work state, and they didn't check their civil rights at the door. I, for one, would leave if i felt as though my civil rights were being violated.

I'm not opposed to a national nurse's movement, but I am opposed to unions that would ask me to strike against my hospital, make dispariging remarks about those who oppose the union, and cause devisions within the nurses in a facility. I am completely aware of how strong a group is as opposed to a single individual, but the way the unions go about some of this is absolutely against the nursing profession. Strikes and the threat of strikes are not what I want to be associated with as a nurse.

[RN4MERCY]

I guess it should amaze you that we have employees that have been here 10, 20, 30yrs without a union. How did they ever do it? This is a right to work state, and they didn't check their civil rights at the door. I, for one, would leave if i felt as though my civil rights were being violated.

I'm not opposed to a national nurse's movement, but I am opposed to unions that would ask me to strike against my hospital, make dispariging remarks about those who oppose the union, and cause devisions within the nurses in a facility. I am completely aware of how strong a group is as opposed to a single individual, but the way the unions go about some of this is absolutely against the nursing profession. Strikes and the threat of strikes are not what I want to be associated with as a nurse.

I still don't think you're clear on who's causing "divisions" among nurses in a facility. Who profits most by the lack of an organized workforce? Who stands to benefit most by creating chaos and confusion? Who stands to benefit most by exploiting workers with threats, intimidation, and promoting selfish individualism? Who profits most when professionals are not organized and don't have control over their profession and the delivery of health care? Now is the time that nurses with 10, 20, and even 30 years (or less) in nursing are rising up and remaining silent no more because they no longer wish to be accomplices in their own subordination.

An "army of one" never won a war, and honestly, anyone who's paying attention will recognize that our patients and our profession is under attack by market driven corporate interests. Several Texas ICU nurses have reported ratios of 3 or more critically ill patients to one nurse. I had a nurse tell me in May that she walked in and was told she had to take 7 patients and management told her "do the best you can." That's not providing care; it's tantamount to negligent manslaughter. Who do you think the management's going to blame when patients have preventable complications and death? Surely it's delusional to think they're going to point fingers at themselves and take responsibility for the broken system that sets the individual nurse up to fail!

Despite the IOM's recommendation to fix systems rather than blame individuals as a strategy to reduce errors and risk of harm to patients, the abuse of individual nurses continues together with the lack of accountability for broken systems among certain employers. I asked my colleague from Texas why she didn't organize against the injustice and fight for control and better working conditions at that hospital. In short, she's afraid, and who can blame her. She told me about several of her colleagues who tried but said they've been blackballed after they were fired for speaking up. It shouldn't be this way, but rather than moan and whine about how bad the problems have begun, she's been meeting regularly with other nurses from throughout Texas. So, the movement there is growing among legions of nurses. They've recognized that there's no such thing as a "Safe Harbor" for RNs in Texas as individuals who advocate for change and removal of the barriers to their ability to provide safe, therapeutic and effective care. Many have tried as individuals and failed or quit. They're done quitting and they're ready to fight for their patients and their practice!

Employers don't fear strikes, but they do fear organized nurses, and they fear exposure and losing their reputation because the public trusts the moral suasion of its registered nurses. If nurses expose the hospital's corporate agenda and unsafe working conditions that would be "bad for business". Florence Nightingale said: It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm." She recognized abuse and exploitation of students and nurses by hospitals and took action to end it by educating and organizing nurses and the public.

Lillian Wald, the founder of Public Health Nursing in this country said: "We commit ourselves to any wrong or degradation or injury when we do not protest against it." Striking is but one act of advocacy, a peaceful protest designed to compel the employer to bargain in good faith with their workforce. Many of the early founders of the profession and thousands since have walked picket lines, so don't give us the line that it's not professional. We have a duty to act, to escalate our activities to change circumstances that are against the interests of our patients and our profession!

When nurses are on the outside, then something is very wrong on the inside. Unrepresented nurses translates to unrepresented patients in my book, especially in a "right to exploit" workers state like Texas. One striker is not a significant threat. I feel I have to emphasize here that nurses choose to strike by democratic vote, but it is a collective tactice of last resort. Employers do assessments of their workers too and if they understand that employees are united, they bargain in good faith. Almost all NNOC/UAN contracts are settled without a strike.

Don't be fooled into thinking you have the ability as an individual to protect your rights to protect your license and your patients without belonging to a union. An all RN union understands that RNs have unique legal and professional accountabilities in health care. An all RN union is democratically run by RNs. You may not think you have a problem, but hopefully you understand the concept of solidarity with your fellow nurses who are working on solutions. Don't disparage their good works. Hopefully you'll join them one day at the Capital and lobby for the Texas Patient Protection Act for starters. Running away and turning away will not solve problems. Why leave the problems for someone else to solve? Why expose the vulnerable patients you leave behind to increased risk of preventable complications and death? :typing

[CRNA2007]

We'll call it unions for clunkers. After the most worthless employee is who benefits the most from a union.

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!

[forrester]

I guess it should amaze you that we have employees that have been here 10, 20, 30yrs without a union. How did they ever do it? This is a right to work state, and they didn't check their civil rights at the door. I, for one, would leave if i felt as though my civil rights were being violated.

I'm not opposed to a national nurse's movement, but I am opposed to unions that would ask me to strike against my hospital, make dispariging remarks about those who oppose the union, and cause devisions within the nurses in a facility. I am completely aware of how strong a group is as opposed to a single individual, but the way the unions go about some of this is absolutely against the nursing profession. Strikes and the threat of strikes are not what I want to be associated with as a nurse.

Again, no one is forcing you or your facility to join a union. That said, your previous postings that "there is no place for unions in nursing" seems to be in opposition to this one. Any "national nursing movement" will, by neccesity, have a union movement at its core.

No one questioned your clinical competence, only your clinical status since you obviously tout the line of nursing administrators.

The biggest division in your facility is already there, and has always been there- the division between the field slaves and the house slaves, administration and the bedside practitioners.

As to the threat of a strike, it is unfortunate that it comes to this to ensure safe patient care in some facilities.