PASNAP Union picking up steam in PA

Published Jun 5, 2009

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from the delaware county daily times

fair acres workers favor unionization

published: thursday, june 4, 2009

nurses and other health-care professionals at fair acres geriatric center voted 125-70 in favor of forming a union, according to a release from the pennsylvania association of staff nurses and allied professionals late wednesday.
the election was conducted by the pennsylvania labor relations board and held at the county-owned facility in middletown with 85 percent of eligible employees voting, according to the release

230 nurses win union with pasnap at fair acres geriatric center, 6/3/09, pasnap press release

latest pasnap contract victory at mercy fitzgerald hospital

recently, pasnap's local union at mercy fitzgerald hospital, darby, pa, won a new 4-year contract, raising standards for salaries and working conditions for the 250 nurses at the facility, who voted 210-17 (93%) to ratify the new agreement. significant improvements were achieved on all of the nurses' priority bargaining issues, increasing protections for nurses and patients and winning an average of 22% in wage increases over the life of the contract.

with a large number of foreign-educated nurses from korea and africa working at mercy fitz, winning recognition for non-us licensure for purposes of placement on the wage scale became a key issue in the negotiations. because of overwhelming solidarity from nearly every nurse in the union, the new contract provides near-full credit for years of non-us licensure, an achievement that is about much more than the additional money provided to these dedicated nurses.

the new agreement holds the line on health care cost increases and will require hospital management to hire enough nurses to meet newly negotiated staffing grids, which will be posted prominently on every unit. in addition, new language ensures that staffing decisions will take into account projected admissions, patient acuity and the need for rns to cover for one on one observation. finally, the nurses won an expansion of the float team by seven full time equivalent (fte) positions, a portion of which is dedicated to hospital-wide relief for transports and codes.

http://www.pennanurses.org/news/newsletter/2009/feb_09_update.pdf

organizing campaign at hahnemann

our affiliation with cna brought with it an opportunity

to talk to nurses at hahnemann about

the union. with the help of many tuhna nurses,

we are talking to hahnemann staff and look forward

to having a union election in the next couple

months. bringing hahnemann into pasnap

would be the most important victory for union

nurses in philadelphia since temple was organized

http://www.pennanurses.org/local/tap%20news/tuhsnews1-09.pdf

not all nurses thrilled: [color=#2200cc]rns against forced unionism - home

the nurses at hahnemann university hospital in philadelphia, pennsylvania have been the victims of a corporate neutrality or election procedure agreement. this agreement was born from a corporate collanboration between tenet and cna/pasnap/nnoc. what this means is that the union organizers have been given access to our facility under the restrictions of the agreement. here is the kicker....the agreement benefits the union. that's right the employees did not request the union come in our doors the corporation of tenet did? you may be asking yourself how can this be fair?

well it is not ... the main chain of command at our facility has been placed on a "gag order!" this means that our traditional source of leadership, education, information and guidance cannot assist us in this matter. those who do not dare to question or investigate may think ... well if they are here and the company invited them then they must be okay... wrong!!!

that is exactly what they want you to think... they want you to believe that everything is unsafe, underpaid, undervalued and low on benefits. they want you to believe that being a union facility is a desirable position.. that they will give you a voice! i have been a nurse for twenty years and have never had an issue getting my voice heard.

the truth is that they rob you of your voice, your voice now becomes the unions... what? union memberships have decreased, infact union facilities are acitively pursuing decertification elections. this is why the birth of neutrality agreements have occured. unions have invented these corporate alliances to place the empoyees of the facilities as pawns in a financial agreement... how is this fair? how is this just ? how is this being allowed?

jasmine, the nurses did not contact the union... this was a corporate agreement that allowed them into our workplace. nurses did not ask for this. the origination of the neutrality or election procedure agreement was in californina after a 214 day strike. not to mention slanderous comments toward tenet from cna. again, i have to ask what is in it for us. a union picked by our corporate leaders not the people that it would affect the most. the union should not be chosen for us!...

...why are the union folks allowed to sit in our break rooms. isnt that a hippa violation? and how come they take pictures with their phones....

..., your "peace accord" signed by tenet gives them access to your lounge. in my hospital in texas, they took our photos and made a "yearbook" and circulated it saying that we were nnoc supporters even though i told them they could not use my photo.

take my word, don't tell anyone how you would vote, anyone! let the union think they can win an election. tell their organizers that you are voting for the union. they will push for a quick election and you beat then so badly that it will embarrass them to the point that they will leave pa with their tails tucked just like they are leaving tx.

if you don't, they will hang around your hospital, using the media, filing charges for ever then withdraw at the last minute to avoid losing the election. they may do this 2-3 times before you get rid of them.

start rallying nurses now to lie to the union organizers. no truth, no union!!!...

vote dates are as follows: june 17th and 18th, 2009
http://www.thepronurse.com/1/post/2009/05/mission-statement.html#comments