Nurses' Unions

HM2VikingRN, RN · Apr 8, 2007

The other part of this is that over the last 25 years our government has been run on an antilabor agenda. (eg PATCO). When labor is strong then workers in the nonunion places tend to be paid better and have better benefit packages in the desire of management to "keep the union out."

Scale: 0-56% Rank

33 Florida 42%

33 Georgia 42%

14 Iowa 35%

6 Minnesota 29%

Definition: The share of children under age 18 who live in families with incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

http://www.kidscount.org/sld/compare_results.jsp?i=220&yr=&yra=&yrb=&va=&m=1&cr=11&cr=12&cr=17&cr=25&x=28&y=11

A strong labor movement leads to a broader base of prosperity and stronger social networks.

talaxandra · Apr 9, 2007

The topic of unionization has come up,lately, at work, and it got me wondering. So I'm hoping some of you nurses who are currently represented by unions could tell me what union you're with, and how your experience with it has been. I'm ambivalent about the whole idea, but that's a change from being pretty firmly opposed. Any feedback will be appreciated.

I've been a member (and job rep) of the Australian Nurses' Federation for my whole post-registration career, so I'm clearly biased toward unions.

Fom everything I've read on this board, the union movement in the US is very different from here - one union (with branches in each state) represents all nurses. All the office bearers are registered nurses, and are voted for by members. Wages and conditions are negotiated on a state-by-state level, with nurses employed in the public sector having statewide parity; in private hospitals conditions are negotiated on a hospital- or group-basis.

It is solely as a result of union activity that Victoria was the first place in the world to have nurse: patient ratios.

The ANF is seen not only as a union but also a professional body - it produces the Australian Nurses' Journal, a monthly magazine that includes clinical and professional information (eg best practice guidelines) as well as industrial information. In addition the ANF produces the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, a peer-reviewed academic monthly publication.

As a result of my union membership (which is tax deductable) I have indemnity insurance, WorkCover top-up in the event of serious illness, and legal representation. When there are condition with which I am unhappy (only the following week's roster available; a grievance I am unable to resolve independently) I have an organiser available and advice available at any time of the day.

I also get to support the organisation which has done the most to enhance, maintain and improve my professional career. Without the ANF I would not get paid study leave, or a qualification allowance for my Masters degrees, get leave loading when on annual leave or have six weeks of leave a year, or be a CNS.

I appreciate that the situation in the US is different, and seems very confusing to the uninitiated outsider. But I'm very happy with my Aussie union :)

Hope this helps.

Shamira Aizza · Apr 9, 2007

Summary...unions are rampantly corrupt, and this is just instances involving unions that represent nurses. This took about 15 minutes to compile.

"On November 23, 2005, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, an information was filed against Rosemary Zwetkof Ryan, former Treasurer for the Jersey Nurses Economic Security Organization, Local 717, charging her with making materially false entries in union financial records in order to conceal her embezzlement of union funds. The information follows an investigation by the OLMS Philadelphia District Office.

On March 3, 2005, in the Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County (Ohio), an indictment was filed against Aunalie Parsons, former employee of the Ohio Nurses Association, charging her with one count of theft of union funds in an amount more than $500, but less than $5,000. In addition, Parsons was charged with two counts of forgery.

On December 15, 2004, in United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Renee Hallman, former project specialist for the District of Columbia Nurses Association, was sentenced to four years probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $7,404.51. On October 1, 2004, Hallman pled guilty to embezzling $9,572.89 in union funds...

On June 21, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, Anna May Ervolino, former officer of the Buffalo and Western New York Hospital and Nursing Home Council and Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 4 and their associated funds, was sentenced to one year probation and 150 hours of community service and was fined $5,000. She had pled guilty on March 22, 2002 to one count of willful and unlawful failing to disclose for a benefit plan annual report a payment to a party in interest. She had previously made restitution of $144,470.79 to the unions and the funds.

On February 25, 2002, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, Judy Domning, former executive director of the Minnesota Licensed Practical Nurses Association and former executive director of the Technical Employees Association of Minnesota, was convicted of making a false statement by making false entries in union records. She was sentenced to two years probation and barred from employment by unions "for life." She had pled guilty on August 24, 2001, and had previously made restitution of $18,772. The sentence was a downward departure for her substantial assistance in the prosecution of Elliot Cohn who had pled guilty to mail fraud on March 8, 2001.

On February 1, 2002, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Sharon K. Schmenk, former treasurer of Lima Memorial Professional Nurses Association, was sentenced to three years probation, the first six months to be spent in home confinement with an ankle monitor at a cost of $4.95 a day paid by her, and she was ordered to make full restitution. She had pled guilty on October 5, 2001, to embezzling $19,170 in union funds following an investigation by the OLMS Cleveland District Office.

CFO of New York State Association Indicted for Embezzlement

John T. Daley says his judgment was impaired by Paxil. His ex-employer wishes he could have taken truth serum instead. Daley, former chief financial officer of the New York State Nurses Association, was charged by an Albany County, N.Y. court with embezzling more than $1.2 million from the union. Daley, 46, was fired from his job with the Albany-based organization, which represents about 34,000 nurses in New York and New Jersey, when an internal investigation discovered a typewriter ribbon used to make out checks held a history of his transactions. He had been arrested in June.

OFFICE AND PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES (OPEIU)

Pennsylvania Bookkeeper Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

On October 23, Sally Ann Hollis, former bookkeeper for Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 112, pled guilty in federal court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania to one count of embezzling over $20,000 in union funds. She had been indicted in September. The Harrisburg, Pa.-based union represents nurses and other employees at various Pennsylvania hospitals.

NURSES (CRONA)

Court Overturns $2,500 Union Fine against Northern California Nurse

Ending a year-long union legal assault and harassment campaign against a nurse who refused to abandon her critically ill patients during a strike at Stanford Hosp., the Superior Court of Cal., County of San Mateo, has dismissed a union-levied $2,500 fine. The Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) union levied the retaliatory $2,500 fine on nurse Barbara Williams when she would not walk off the job in a June 2000 strike. With the help of Nat'l Right to Work Legal Def. Fdn. attorneys, Williams beat the fine by arguing that it was arbitrarily assessed, and the union's own bylaws did not allow it.

http://www.nrtw.org/b/nr_594.php

Toledo, OH (February 6, 2007) - The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a formal complaint and agreed to prosecute the United Auto Workers (UAW) union for a campaign of harassment and intimidation aimed at nurses seeking an election to vote the union out at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center."

SueBee RN-BSN · Apr 10, 2007

In the US, nursing unions serve two purposes; as a palliative measure to give the appearance of improving a festering underlying occupational disfunction within a facility, and in some places as a place for meek employees to "sign up" for the team-based approach of extorting benefits from an employer when the employee is too afraid or uninformed to negotiate their own.
I refuse to work at a union shop because it indicates systemic problems that have not been repaired, but have rather been "spackled over" by a union, and because a union will deny me the right and privilege to negotiate my own compensation based on my own merits and ambition.

Nothing could be farther from the truth-

Shamira Aizza · Apr 10, 2007

Nothing could be farther from the truth-

XXX (comment removed per moderator)

It's just as accurate as saying the bitter pill is reserved only for the diseased condition.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Apr 10, 2007

Individual misbehavior does not equate to everyone associated with the union as being corrupt.

Unions are democratic organizations subject to the control and oversight of the membership. In general a strong labor movement leads to broadly shared prosperity and economic security through stable employment conditions.

pickledpepperRN · Apr 10, 2007

We can't close every hospital where an employee diverted narcotics, falsified documentation, or where management knowingly violated health and safety regulations.

SO we need to work for the most excellent patient care possible.

Gromit · Apr 10, 2007

Now THAT I can agree with. Unions are no different than any other entity. If you have corrupt people that control it, it will be corrupt -and it IS fixable.

Simplepleasures · Apr 10, 2007

Hmmm... I wonder how many CEO's have been charged with corporate crimes in that time period?

Shamira Aizza · Apr 11, 2007

Individual misbehavior does not equate to everyone associated with the union as being corrupt.
Unions are democratic organizations subject to the control and oversight of the membership. In general a strong labor movement leads to broadly shared prosperity and economic security through stable employment conditions.

Sure, but that's irrelevant. What is relevant is that this is just unions involving nursing for a very short time frame, and involves administration of the unions in every case. This is actually a miniscule representation of the rampant widespread corruption in every union. I had to edit a huge list for the corresponding time frame to eliminate the hundreds of corruption incidents involving unions that didn't show a direct link to nursing...and I'm sure I left a few out.

XXXX (comment removed per moderator)

And spacenurse...I can only imagine the uproar if Unions were subject to the same scrutiny that hospitals are exposed to, and if Unions were expected to operate with razor thin profit margins under the same level of scrutiny. As it stands, unions have a far greater profit margin (considering they really offer very little), compared to the hospitals they exploit.

SueBee RN-BSN · Apr 11, 2007

How corrupt are the hospitals who view patients as money makers, and nurses as slaves?

pickledpepperRN · Apr 12, 2007

Union Disunity

The secret deal worked out between SEIU bosses and nursing home owners denies union members the right to speak out, strike, or protect patients...

http://www.sfweekly.com/2007-04-11/news/union-disunity/print