NLRB decision could strip rights of RN to be in unions!

[GypsyOrchid]

http://www.nysna.org/news/web_exclusive/071206.htm

nlrb decisions could strip many rns of the right to unionize | online exclusive | departments and services | nysna

nlrb decisions could strip many rns of the right to unionize

contact your congress members today!

this week has been designated a week of action to demand the nlrb hear oral arguments from unions and workers on how the impending nlrb decisions could affect them. the board has not heard oral arguments from unions on any issue for the past five years, so pressure is required.

call your senator and u.s. representative and tell them to urge the nlrb to hear oral arguments before taking an action that could affect thousands of lives.

take action

please urge your members of congress to tell chairman battista to listen for a change and hear oral arguments in the kentucky river cases. use the folloiwing link to send your legislators a message today!

• e-activist online resource

read a speech on this issue by rep. carolyn mccarthy (d-nassau county)

three cases currently pending at the national labor relations board could have a significant impact on workers' rights to form and join unions in this country. the cases are often referred to as the "kentucky river" decisions because they will serve to clarify issues left open by the u.s. supreme court's kentucky river decision in 2001.

the three cases are: oakwood healthcare inc., golden crest healthcare center and croft metals, inc. they deal respectively with rns acting as charge nurses in a hospital; charge nurses (rns and lpns) in a long-term care facility; and "leadmen" and "load supervisors" in a manufacturing facility. the three decisions, which are expected to be announced this summer, will affect the way the term "supervisor" is interpreted by the board.

a broad interpretation of who is a "supervisor" could allow employers to strip an estimated 300,000 nurses nationwide of their their rights to union protection. supervisors do not have protected rights under the national labor relations act to form and join unions and employers often try to classify workers as supervisors in order to deny them the right to union representation.

workers who delegate tasks to lesser-skilled employees are particularly vulnerable to reclassification. for example, registered nurses who tell nurse's aides to perform certain tasks for particular patients are in real danger of being categorized as supervisors under a new interpretation of the law. the workers most likely to be affected are "team leaders," such as charge nurses, head nurses, and other rns who work under similar titles.

the american hospital association has filed a brief with the board urging it to adopt a broad interpretation that would allow employers to reclassify many employees as supervisors. this would shrink or wipe out existing bargaining units and strip the freedom to organize from hundreds of thousands of nonunion workers. the board has refused, however, to hear oral arguments from unions.

[pickledpepperRN]

Nurses protest expected labor ruling

NLRB considering changes that could affect union membership

...The NLRB, a federal agency, investigates suspected unfair labor practices by employees and unions. It also conducts elections to determine if workers want union representation.

The five-member board is appointed by the president to five-year terms. All the current members were appointed by President Bush...

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_4040364

Nurses To Protest From California To Maine This Week To Defend Their Rights To Unionize, Advocate For Patients

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46896

[ZZTopRN, BSN, RN]

Hey guys:

Get on this. If you want union representation, which I needed today, and it was very discreetly, and I rightly had my rights returned to me. I know everyone does not agree with joining a Union, and I have heard others have had some not so great with them. This union rep has a degree on labor law and is really great. I can't say enough about him. He knows his job. I coulld have been out the door for what was discipline for something I didn't do.

I was at the rally in LA and it was impressive. Hundreds of nurses. This is a very important issue if you want to be in the CNA. Battista tried to ignore all the signatures on paper and wanting to be heard. He would not come down and accept. However, the "mighty, mighty" nurses "persuaded a security guard to come down and pick it up.

Thank all of you that choose to participate and protect our patients and our rights.