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.
While the "rate" of union membership remained the same in 07 when compared to 06, union membership increased by 311,000 to 15.7 million
wage and salary workers in 2007.
"The number of representation petitions filed and elections held across all industries declined in 2007, according to data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Unions successfully continued to organize the nation's healthcare industry, however. IRI Consultants and the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) released the data and analysis in the 30th Labor Activity in Healthcare Report."
"Unions won 72 percent of representation (RC) elections held in healthcare in 2007 - versus a union win-rate of 62 percent in non-healthcare industries. The success rates for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) and various state nurses associations were even higher at 79, 80 and 83 percent, respectively. The SEIU accounted for 47 percent of all representation petitions filed in the healthcare industry in 2007."
The ASHHRA is part of the American Hospital Association- so this is not coming from a pro-union source. The article also mentions the activity in Texas.
NLRB Elections: A Model for Authoritarian Regimes Abroad
This report describes what has become standard employer practice in response to workers’ desire to represent themselves through a union. The pages that follow detail the myriad strategies — both legal and illegal — that typically comprise employers’ efforts to deny their workers’ the right to collective bargaining. Many of these entail practices that our government routinely denounces when practiced by foreign regimes. But they have become commonplace in the American workplace. Among the most disturbing of these practices are:
Denial of free speech
At the heart of American democracy is the principle that both voters and candidates must be guaranteed the right to free speech, including equal access to information from all sides of a political debate. But this most fundamental principle is ignored by the NLRB. While management is permitted to plaster the workplace with anti-union posters, leaflets, and banners, pro-union employees are prohibited from doing likewise. Union organizers are banned from ever entering the workplace — or even publicly-used but company-owned spaces such as parking lots — at any time, for any reason. Employees of the company are banned from talking about forming a union while they are on work time, and are banned from distributing pro-union information except when they are both on break time and in a break room. Management consultants typically advise employers on how to maximize the impact of these one-sided advantages, resulting in an election environment that more closely resembles the sham "elections" of one-party states than anything we would call American democracy.
Economic coercion and intimidation
When employers speak out, employees always listen carefully for even the subtlest hints as to what kind of behavior will be rewarded or punished. This is all the more true in an economy where so many Americans feel insecure about their economic future. For this reason, federal election law maintains a blanket prohibition on private companies telling their employees which candidate they should support. Even making more nuanced statements — such as suggestions that if one party or the other triumphs, business may suffer and workers may have to be laid off — is illegal under federal law.
However, under standard "union avoidance" strategy, supervisors are forced, on pain of termination, to engage each of the people under them in intimidating one-on-one anti-union conversations. Workers commonly report illegal threats being made in these meetings, since there are no witnesses present
Bottom line is that there should be equal time for both sides in an organizing campaign. I am glad that the Texas nurses were able to overcome the economic coercion. We need to support their efforts at achieving a fair and just contract.
I believe that the NNOC can and will survive in Texas, because nurses will collectively support an organization that promotes and defends the ideal, "first-do no harm." A strong union protects and defends RN whistleblowers from unjust retaliation by employers who try to marginalize and even fire those who actively try to change circumstances that are against the interests of patients. Every one of us has a vested interest in paying dues to support professional and patient advocacy! Silence on moral and ethical issues protects no one. A strong union, with a staff nurse controlled professional practice committee can collectively, and in unity confront management and collaborate on making real quality improvements in the environment of care.
New hospitals are all well and good, but when they have more computers, robots, valet parking, hospitality suites, flat screen TVs and concierge services than enough nurses to care for the medically fragile patients who require sophisticated nursing care, preventable complications and death rates will increase.
As 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."
Glistening new hospitals in more affluent neighborhoods are the tip of the iceberg of what's wrong with our whole healthcare system. A fresh coat of paint and fresh flowers in the foyer may give the appearance of cleanliness and efficiency and a great place to work environment.
However, the "Right to Abuse" workers remains-a "safe harbor" for employers to hide their dirty laundering of 'uppity' RNs who speak out against unfair and dangerous working conditions. Texas nurses are tired of being tossed in the chute. Cyfair nurses are demonstrating that there is a way out.
We're making the world a better place for workers, nurses, and patients...one hospital, one state, one law at a time. The process is slow and progress is the only option. That's why, collectively, we are pursuing national solutions, like Single-Payer Health Care, HR 676, and laws, like the Employee Free Choice Act. Dues are about supporting each other as nurses and workers-not everyone has the time or the ability to do the work, but we should collectively support those who do the work on our behalf.
While the "rate" of union membership remained the same in 07 when compared to 06, union membership increased by 311,000 to 15.7 million
wage and salary workers in 2007.
"The number of representation petitions filed and elections held across all industries declined in 2007, according to data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Unions successfully continued to organize the nation's healthcare industry, however. IRI Consultants and the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) released the data and analysis in the 30th Labor Activity in Healthcare Report."
"Unions won 72 percent of representation (RC) elections held in healthcare in 2007 - versus a union win-rate of 62 percent in non-healthcare industries. The success rates for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) and various state nurses associations were even higher at 79, 80 and 83 percent, respectively. The SEIU accounted for 47 percent of all representation petitions filed in the healthcare industry in 2007."
The ASHHRA is part of the American Hospital Association- so this is not coming from a pro-union source. The article also mentions the activity in Texas.
Thanks for this, and your point is well taken; the source is a press release from a union bu$ting firm. Speaking of union bu$ting, did you see that the former Bu$h appointee to the National Labor Relations Board, Robert Batti$ta asked that hi$ re-appointment to the "Bu$h Board" be rescinded. He's found greener gra$$ as a partner in the notoriou$ union bu$ting firm, Littler Mendel$on.
Ho$pital A$$ociation$ could be $pending money on hiring more nurses to safely care for patients. Obviously they'd rather keep nurses from advocating collectively for their patients and their profession. The ho$pital lobby is all about paternali$tic control and domination of the largely female nursing workforce. There's a dark side to their so-called partnership councils, great place to work, and shared-governance magnet facades. In the words of, Frederick Douglass, "Power concedes nothing without a demand."
There are those who wave the white flag of surrender in advance of the fight. Frankly, I don't believe that there would be many nurses who are like that in Texas; I have yet to meet any. (Maybe they're hiding under a rock somewhere, but not for long.) I predict that Cyfair nurses are the vanguard of a great wave of NNOC organizing victories.
The more NNOC victories we achieve, we show "the man" we're not afraid; we know what's right, and we're going to fight to achieve it! We will organize to fight and protest their oppression of us-- for the freedom to speak, the freedom to associate, and the freedom to choose!
Unions are on the slow fade, this is a demonstrated fact. Numbers are down, and down significantly. The Union Coercive Practices Act, even if passed, will not long contain that decline."
Don't wave the white flag and dress for the funeral just yet, Timothy. Herring's post on all the CNA/NNOC victories demonstrate that we have a pulse :redpinkhe good quality and strong. We're breathing new life into the labor movement. As it says in the book of proverbs, "without a vision, the people will perish."
"A Voice for Nurses and A Vision for Health Care". Hope overcomes fear and inertia, and we're mobilizing and organizing nurses because of it. We're organizing the labor unions and our communities to support a national health plan, HR 676.
Historically, nurses have always understood that their first duty is to act, to change circumstances as required, for the benefit of patients. Nursing advocacy, patient advocacy, social advocacy, political advocacy...collect the data, make an assessment, make a plan, implement the plan, evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions.
It's the nursing process. We have to "go back in the room", and change those circumstances that are barriers to our ability to restore our patients, our society, and our political system to optimum wellness. The CNA/NNOC is a professional and labor organization that is collectively helping us to promote, protect, and defend our right to do that, against a corporate culture dominated by the "money changers." It's time to throw them out of the temple of healing. Profit at the expense of the sick and injured is just plain evil.
Here is the other moral argument for a strong labor movement:
All work that makes a contribution to the community has dignity and is not degrading. But, unfortunately, many jobs are degraded.
A degraded job is one that pays too little — one-quarter of all jobs in the United States pay wages so low that a full-time worker earns too little to lift a family of four above poverty.
A degraded job is one that is potentially unsafe. Each year some 5,000 workers are killed on the job and about 5 million are injured or become sick due to their job.
A degraded job is one in which the worker is treated unfairly or illegally. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, essentially all poultry processing plants and 60 percent of nursing homes fail to properly pay workers for overtime hours worked, pay less than the legally-required minimum wage, and/or violate child labor laws.
A degraded job is one where the employer discriminates in hiring or promotions. These abuses occur in firms large and small, in local businesses and within Fortune 500 companies.
A degraded job is one in which a worker has too little autonomy or control over her work, resulting in high levels of stress and even physical illness.
Unfortunately, U.S. labor law provides few protections against many of these abuses. Existing laws are often poorly enforced and penalties typically are small and ineffective.
Workers need jobs, even bad jobs, if those are the only ones available. But how can they improve their workplaces and gain dignity on the job, especially the three-quarters of all workers who don't have a college degree and have little bargaining power with their employers?
One important way workers can address workplace injustice is by joining and participating in a labor union.
All of us are indebted to the union struggles of the past for many of the workplace benefits we take for granted. Yahweh gave us the Sabbath but unions brought us the weekend, the 8-hour day, paid vacations, holidays, health insurance, and pensions.
What struck me most about this article was the idea that without a strong labor movement there can be no middle class. Unless we as professionals speak up for the interests of the 30% of workers whose jobs put them at below 200% of the poverty line we put our own benefits and pensions at risk.
The labor movement speaks for ALL workers not just those fortunate enough to have the protections of a collective bargaining agreement.
What struck me most about this article was the idea that without a strong labor movement there can be no middle class. Unless we as professionals speak up for the interests of the 30% of workers whose jobs put them at below 200% of the poverty line we put our own benefits and pensions at risk.
The labor movement speaks for ALL workers not just those fortunate enough to have the protections of a collective bargaining agreement.
In Solidarity....
this is a very key point for all those who in one way or another think "I've got mine..." It's clear from history that when a few workers have a much better deal than everyone else, those few get pulled down to the level of the many. There was a time when many American unions had won really good wages and benefits but became complacent and contented themselves with trying to protect what they had rather than pulling other workers up. Now those workers are losing what they fought to win and no one is there to help them. Many nurses today have decent wages and benefits and see no need to make good healthcare available to everyone. In the long run, the only way to keep what we have won is to extend it to others also. California nurses have the best wages and benefits in the country, but we know that to keep them, we have to bring other nurses up to the same level. In the long run, the goal of labor must be a fairer society for all.
this is a very key point for all those who in one way or another think "I've got mine..." It's clear from history that when a few workers have a much better deal than everyone else, those few get pulled down to the level of the many. There was a time when many American unions had won really good wages and benefits but became complacent and contented themselves with trying to protect what they had rather than pulling other workers up. Now those workers are losing what they fought to win and no one is there to help them. Many nurses today have decent wages and benefits and see no need to make good healthcare available to everyone. In the long run, the only way to keep what we have won is to extend it to others also. California nurses have the best wages and benefits in the country, but we know that to keep them, we have to bring other nurses up to the same level. In the long run, the goal of labor must be a fairer society for all.
Yep- You're on your own vs. We're in this together.
And I prefer the latter.
Chico- interesting that your post makes an argument for the industrial model (as in all healthcare workers in the same union) while you seem to believe more in craft unionism (as in an RN only union). Just an observation that there are valid reasons behind both ways of organizing and representing workers as this debate which has shaped much history in the labor movement continues today.
Tenet has an sweetheart agreement with the union. there is no union bashing going on. do your research. CNA has done nothing and has decerts right in there own state. they want your dues. Nurse patient ratios are just that, nurses, NOT RN, read the legislation..........WAKE UP PEOPLE
herring_RN, ASN, BSN
3,651 Posts
I'm afraid that all too many corporations will put profit before patient care.
If that continues more nurses will realize that we need to work together.
It is good to work with a contract.
A professional association and union in one can improve
conditions for all patients and caregivers.
19,350 RNs IN 50 FACILITIES ORGANIZED
WITH CNA/NNOC from 2000 to 2006
California
Alvarado Hospital Medical Center
Antelope Valley Hospital, Lancaster
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
Brotman Medical Center
California Hospital Medical Center, LA
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Centinela Hospital Medical Center
Chapman Medical Center
Citrus Valley Medical Center, Covina
Coastal Communities Hospital
Community Hospital of Huntington Park
Community Hospital of San Bernardino
Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital
Glendale Memorial Hospital
Inland Valley Regional Medical Center
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
Los Alamitos Medical Center
Mercy Southwest Hospital, Bakersfield
Mercy Hospital of Bakersfield
Olympia Medical Center, Los Angeles
Mission Hospital of Huntington Park
Palomar Medical Center, Escondido
Pomerado Medical Center, Poway
San Bernardino County
San Gabriel Valley Medical Center
San Pedro Hospital
St. Bernardine Medical Center
St. Mary Medical Center, Apple Valley
St. Mary Medical Center, Long Beach
Suburban Medical Center
Tri-City Medical Center
Western Medical Center, Anaheim
Whittier Hospital
Doctors Modesto Medical Center
General Hospital, Eureka
Marian Medical Center, Santa Maria
Mercy Medical Center, Redding
Mercy Medical Center, Mt. Shasta
Mercy Medical Center, Merced
O’Connor Hospital, San Jose
San Ramon Regional Medical Center
St. Dominic’s Hospital of Manteca
St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka
Sutter Lakeside Hospital
Sutter Medical Center, Santa Rosa
Twin Cities Community Hospital
Illinois
Cook County Bureau of Health Services
tier Hospital Medical Center
Nevada 2007
St. Mary's in Reno
Texas 2008
Cypress Fairbanks in Houston
http://www.calnurse.org/assets/pdf/cna101.pdf
http://www.calnurse.org/assets/pdf/nnoc_101.pdf
I may have missed one or more hospitals.