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.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

In the case of striking for better, safer patient care, when you cross the picket line you make the statement that you are endorsing the hospital's unsafe staffing and unsafe patient conditions. Not a good place to be for a patient advocate.

As I was trying to say in my earlier post scabbing calls an individuals integrity and loyalty into question.

Pete Seeger tells a great story along these lines in this clip...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpqkbLT8QT8 [/YOUTUBE]

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

[vlynnieg]

IMHO, Unionizing healthcare is a bad idea. I can agree so far as belonging to an organization that is politically active in areas that you believe in, to bring about whatever change you feel is needed, but do so on your own time. I do not believe that it should impact whether you are there to deliver the care or not. If you think this or that particular facility had bogus practices, don't work there. If it's that bad, help push for laws that prohibit whatever bad practices, but don't drag it into my workplace, thank you very much.

[Ludlow]

IMHO, Unionizing healthcare is a bad idea. I can agree so far as belonging to an organization that is politically active in areas that you believe in, to bring about whatever change you feel is needed, but do so on your own time. I do not believe that it should impact whether you are there to deliver the care or not. If you think this or that particular facility had bogus practices, don't work there. If it's that bad, help push for laws that prohibit whatever bad practices, but don't drag it into my workplace, thank you very much.

Reality is that in order to push for laws that prohibit bad practices, you have to be organized and united; like a union. I know people who say, "I have my voice, one voice. I speak out and get what I need. I don't want and don't need a union like CNA/NNOC." But one voice didn't push the governor to sign the safe staffing ratios law in California or the legislature into enact it. One voice didn't get nurses who report illegal and unsafe activities of corporations who harm patients whistleblower legal protection. One voice didn't get pay that allowed nurses to be able to afford a home, send their kids to college, have decent insurance and retire with dignity because they have valuable pensions. One voice didn't get overtime pay or the 40 hour work week. Unions did.

[vlynnieg]

Reality is that in order to push for laws that prohibit bad practices, you have to be organized and united; like a union. I know people who say, "I have my voice, one voice. I speak out and get what I need. I don't want and don't need a union like CNA/NNOC." But one voice didn't push the governor to sign the safe staffing ratios law in California or the legislature into enact it. One voice didn't get nurses who report illegal and unsafe activities of corporations who harm patients whistleblower legal protection. One voice didn't get pay that allowed nurses to be able to afford a home, send their kids to college, have decent insurance and retire with dignity because they have valuable pensions. One voice didn't get overtime pay or the 40 hour work week. Unions did.

I'm sorry, Ludlow, but my grandmother was a nurse since the 1930's, and she has always said she has made a good living at it....long before your union. Things have changed over the decades, for everyone, not just nurses, and it would be incredulous to believe any union brought that about. The changes you mention were brought about in much the same way that people that were outraged by dolphins getting caught and killed in the fishing of tuna got together and boycotted the tuna companies that utilized the objectionable methods. Nowadays, it's hard to find a can of tuna that doesn't proudly sport the dolphin safe emblem. They did not, however, politicize their workplace to do so.

My opinion: organizing to bring about something you believe is good, commendable even. Wedging that organization into the structure of the workplace is not.

[Man In Black]

My opinion: organizing to bring about something you believe is good, commendable even. Wedging that organization into the structure of the workplace is not.

Except for things like safe staffing, safe work practices, sick leave, vacation leave, due process were all achieved through collective bargaining. They weren't made part of modern employee benefit packages out of the goodness of owners hearts. They were made part of our employment structure for professionals through the very long and hard work of those who were willing to work together to change the rules of the game to better everyone.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Only one form of organized action has ever worked to make things better for workers: unions. It may be theoretically possible to use other vehicles to accomplish that goal, but it's never happened in real life. People who say we don't need unions because we have laws to protect us betray a profound ignorance of how laws happen. Laws don't appear out of thin air, nor, for the most part, do legislators thnk them up on their own. They happen because organized groups in society see the need for a law and push to make it happen, work to elect legislators who support it, etc. Business interests and hospitals form their own version of unions - the Chamber of Commerce and the AHA. They spend big money to belong to those organizations because they know they are stronger acting in that way. Those organizations are in a constant effort to roll back the protections that wrokers have won over the years. For just one small example, legislation gets introduced every year in California that would remove or dilute a worker's right to a lunch or rest break. And every year, that legislation gets stopped solely through the power of unions. If unions went away, those legal protections would all be gone in short order.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I haven't seen any rebuttal to the suggestion that Cy Fair still doesn't have a contract, 2 years after unionizing. Is it true? False? If true, how many of the initial joiners of the union are still paying dues at that hospital?

Also, what's the truth regarding this lawsuit that was posted earlier?

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

It's true - for the moment, but I think not much longer - that there is not a contract there. The hospital stalled the negotiations along for long enough that they were able to call for a new vote, then charges were filed to delay the counting of that vote for months. The votes were counted a few weeks back, resulting in a stronger "yes" vote for the union than the first time around. Usually, after a re-affirmation of the nurses' support like that, a contract settles fairly quickly. Probably more to report on that soon.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Makes the argument for arbitration to assure good faith bargaining.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Makes the argument for arbitration to assure good faith bargaining.

I don't remember the statistics, but it's not uncommon at all that a union wins an election but is unable to apply enough pressure to get a contract. However that almost never happens with CNA/NNOC/NNU. There is a theoretical duty on management to engage in good faith bargaining, but like a lot of rights of American workers, that is more theoretical than real

[SherwoodRN]

The Nurses of Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen Texas voted to decertify the NNOC tonight in an election supervised by the National Labor relations Board.

Rio Grande Regional Hospital is union free once more.