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.

[vlynnieg]

Hardly a scientific observation, but regardless, the above observation doesn't change the fact that a majority did in fact vote for the union.

So now you have a choice between becoming active in your union (similar to what TXdude is stating he'll do) and making your union work for you

OR

you can take a 2nd vote with your feet

OR

you can be a malcontent, marking off days on your calendar before the impending decert. vote

I'm hoping you and your fellow workers do as TXdude says he plans to do and become active; who knows, even though your facility doesn't need the union (that by pure accident happened to be voted for by a majority, because the hospital is already a great place to work with ratios close to the ones in CA, regular pay raises, solid benefits, ability to advocate for your patient, your fellow nurses, and yourself without fear of administrative backlash) maybe, just maybe you can find some way to make your hospital even a little better; or at least that is my hope for you and your colleagues

PsychRN, we get annual raises, and, every two years, there's also a market analysis done and everyone throughout the hospital (not just nurses) gets a raise based on this in addition to the annual raises. Nurses in specialty areas also get compensated for such. AND every few years there are generous bonuses. I believe many nurses were blinded by greed, pure and simple. The cost of living here is very amenable. Union organizers came in quoting CA pay rates, which by necessity are higher due to the higher cost of living there, but are implausible here. We probably will get a salary increase with a contract, but will likely lose all of the raises and bonuses, etc we had previously enjoyed as part of the trade-off. Because that's the nature of contract negotiation in general. I know what I have and it is good. I know I stand to lose all or part of it in exchange for what gets negotiated in the Union's contract. I don't want to lose what I have because someone else seems to think the grass is greener somewhere else.

As for the options as you outlined them. My hospital is my home, my collegues are family, I will only leave if it gets so intolerable under Union rule that I feel i have no other choice. I do not have any intentions of joining a Union I do not suport. All due respect to TXdude, I just can't do it. Will I lurk about as some malcontent and try to make trouble? NO, that is not good for my hospital/home. There's no reason we can't all peacefully coexhist. Will I vote against them if there's a decertification vote? That's between me and my ballot:)

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

txdude35, there is a particular organizer's face that pops into my mind as I'm reading your contribution. She reacted the same way when another nurse and I asked her similar questions when she interrupted our break. It's weird seeing a third party say 'we won' when they are referring to a facility--kinda like the Mongol horde invasion. It's my understanding that there still is not a contract for Cypress Fairbanks--unless it has happened in the last 1 week.

Several of my 3rd floor colleagues complained openly about Union representatives going TO THEIR HOME to solicit their votes. One of them...an Agency RN...asked why they'd done that, and she was told "because you're never at work!". They wouldn't tell her where they got her address information, but they drove from McAllen to Harlingen to see her.

[vlynnieg]

Several of my 3rd floor colleagues complained openly about Union representatives going TO THEIR HOME to solicit their votes. One of them...an Agency RN...asked why they'd done that, and she was told "because you're never at work!". They wouldn't tell her where they got her address information, but they drove from McAllen to Harlingen to see her.

I had heard that they even do that, but I didn't know anyone that they had visited. There's something really creepy about somebody showing up on your doorstep to try to influence your vote without it being a neighborhood canvas. Kinda that 'we know where you live' implication. I know our addresses are public record, but it still comes across as borderline sinister.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

They weren't happy about it, and with a couple of them, it changed them from a "yes" to a "no".

[txdude35]

vlynnieg- it was a Filipino guy named Erik. Smug and arrogant as hell, didn't get too far with him without getting pretty uptight.

Some of my colleagues reported the "home visit" as well. Too bad they didn't come knocking on my door.

[txdude35]

Got blasted last night from a couple people who supported the union from the beginning. Said I was jumping on the bandwagon and in their opinion couldn't hold any position of responsibility since I wasn't in it from the beginning. Tried to tell them that I was adapting to a new situation but they couldn't understand that.

Ignorance like that is hard to combat. Neither one of them had any idea that 2 positions will be decided, 1 for bargaining council and 1 for union rep. Neither one had any idea what the responsibilities of _either_ position entail. And they tell me they're "going to run for something because we deserve it."

This is going to be fun. :)

[vlynnieg]

txdude35, I understand your position of dealing with the situation the best you can and just wanting to make sure if your'e forced to deal with them, might as well have a say. I also can see your colleagues' position and how they might see this as a betrayal of sorts. There are no easy answers. Follow your conscience. If the Union is truly all about people getting treated properly, then in theory you should not have a problem if you choose not to join. I personally elect not to join, but I respect the thoughtful process that brought you to your decision to do otherwise. I hope for the best for you.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Got blasted last night from a couple people who supported the union from the beginning. Said I was jumping on the bandwagon and in their opinion couldn't hold any position of responsibility since I wasn't in it from the beginning. Tried to tell them that I was adapting to a new situation but they couldn't understand that.

Ignorance like that is hard to combat. Neither one of them had any idea that 2 positions will be decided, 1 for bargaining council and 1 for union rep. Neither one had any idea what the responsibilities of _either_ position entail. And they tell me they're "going to run for something because we deserve it."

This is going to be fun. :)

I like your passion for your patients and colleagues.

I hope you can express this and that your fellow nurses understand.

One of our finest nurse representatives was against the union. She was a witness for management. She is well respected and fair. Worked much extra time to educate her fellow nurses regarding staffing by acuity. She was instrumental in getting safe staffing for patients receiving chemotherapy, bot competency (certification) and fewer patients (2 patients only until the assigned RN determines the patient is stable enough for the RN to take a 3rd patient. Specialty units have a ratio of 1:4.

And she has prevented terminations based on misunderstandings by taking notes and asking questions to clarify what was said.

[txdude35]

We'll see what happens. Everyone votes on these positions and unfortunately for them neither has much respect on the unit.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Got blasted last night from a couple people who supported the union from the beginning. Said I was jumping on the bandwagon and in their opinion couldn't hold any position of responsibility since I wasn't in it from the beginning. Tried to tell them that I was adapting to a new situation but they couldn't understand that.

Ignorance like that is hard to combat. Neither one of them had any idea that 2 positions will be decided, 1 for bargaining council and 1 for union rep. Neither one had any idea what the responsibilities of _either_ position entail. And they tell me they're "going to run for something because we deserve it."

This is going to be fun. :)

I hope you didn't tell others you think they are ignorant. Not likely to earn respect or votes like that.

Education takes time. And maybe you all have lots to learn about collective bargaining. I know I did. I still do.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

ludlow, i do not operate alone, i have the support of my team and we work well together to accomplish a lot. when we need support from our administration, we ask and we work together for solutions. if anyone from my team elects to join the union, that is their prerogative, and they are still valued members of our team. however, i and almost everyone on my particular unit, don't feel a need for unionization. i'm certain i stated very clearly several posts back that unionization is a concept that has outlasted its purpose.

as i stated three days ago: if unions were merely a 'tool' i don't think they would be making such a gross profit in this equation. unionization is a concept that has outlived its usefulness. long-gone are the sweatshops and child labor--the abhorrent conditions-- of yesteryear. now it merely exists to perpetuate itself.

put not your faith in laws alone to protect your rights on the job. all the protections that exist in law - child labor laws, workplace safety laws, workers compensation, overtime pay, etc - were put into place through the hard work of union members. and if unions are weakened enough, those laws will be gone so fast you would not berlieve it. our union's reps in the state capitol fight back numerous attempts to weaken them every year. the only one not under active attack is child labor protections, and even that would not last in a world without unions. and the same big money interests that fund the ani-union organizations fund efforts to attack those laws. they don't brag about it publicly - that would create too much of the wrong kind of attention - but the world they dream of is a world where no worker has any rights, where all work is done by whoever is desperate enough to bid the lowest price.

oh - and nobody makes any "profit" in a union. they are by definition non-profit. the staff who do the work get paid fairly for their work, but even the top execs of the biggest unions are not paid on the same scale as the hedge fund managers that helped wreck our economy.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Both of my parents have been screwed over by Unions at one time or another. My mother, as a nurse, despite her vast body of experience as nurse, was the newest person on her unit and therefore was consistently the first person that got her hours cut. It didn't take long at that rate for her PTO hours to be depleted to the point of there being no hope of any actual vacation with the family.

My dad, on the other hand, suffered at the hands of the automotive Union. While he was serving his country in Viet Nam, there were others that were accrewing 'seniority'. When he came home and joined the civilian job force, every time there was a layoff at the plant he worked at, guess who got the slip?

shalom,

Lynnie

Here is the flip side of your story.

Without the contract it was quite probable that your mother would have had NO PTO to use or would have been forbidden by management to use it when they furloughed her. It is a bad deal when anyone is furloughed but the other side of a problem needs to be considered. Its a lot worse to take home a short pay envelope for workers. Far better to have the option as an individual to use your leave rather than lose the salary and the benefits entirely.

Seniority is meant to protect longer term workers from the vagaries of managers. Your dads situation would have varied depending on when he went to work for one of the Big 3. If he had started before his entry into military service his seniority under USERRA would have accrued during his military service. If he went to work for the auto industry after his military service that time would not have been counted because he would not have been under the protection of the contract. It wasn't the union sticking it to him. He just happened to fall into a different category based on when he started working for the company.

(Parenthetically as a federal employee I can purchase my seniority from my military service just as I did when I was a state employee.) That same contract that called for orderly layoff also gave him reemployment rights from a seniority roster. So while there were short term costs for him there were also longer term protections that did eventually lead to greater protections for him.