California Nurses Association may be targeting University of Chicago after Cook County win
If there's a campaign map on the wall at the Oakland, Calif., headquarters of the California Nurses Association, the Chicago area must be ground zero.
Since winning away Cook County's 1,800 nurses from the Illinois Nurses Association, the independent union has linked with nurses at more than 20 Chicago-area hospitals with the goal of organizing a handful of them, union officials say.
One possible target is the University of Chicago Hospitals, where workers from the national organizing arm of the California Nurses have been talking with nurses.
They say they are only helping the 1,300 University of Chicago nurses, who belong to the Illinois Nurses Association. But they do not rule out an eventual organizing drive like the one they successfully staged at Cook County.
The situation is "reminiscent" of what happened with Cook County's nurses, confirmed Fernando Losada, head of Midwest operations for the National Nurses Organizing Committee, the national arm for the California Nurses Association.
Last year I attended a seminar here in California. Nurses from Cook County also attended.
They said that they had tried and tried to get action from their previous union.
They were stewards and elected leaders working hard for their members.
After many years they got together eating pizza and decided they needed a different union.
They contacted many unions including CNA (they saw the web site).
It's a long story but the nurses themselves wanted to be in a union that was acting on patient care issues. Previously OB nurses were forced to float to medical-surgical. There were many stories like that yet their union did not respond.
No one from CNA went to raid another union. If they hadn't chosen CNA they would have tried to change unions anyway
A nice lady who checks out my groceries many times told me that she used to work for a printing company for 25 years. Last year, this company closed down eight unionized plants, including the one she was working in.
That's ONE sure-fire way of busting a union, isn't it?
We have in our contract specific areas we can to float to. What I have found is the stronger the membership is in a union the stronger we are and there for can affect change. We as nurses need to be more united. We are the union. The staff working for the different unions are their to guide us. I recentlly was sent home 2 different days. 17 of us stood strong at my hospital and 20 or more at our sister hospital stood strong and were sent home. We just found out we won our arbitration hearing. The hospital has to pay us our back pay plus intrest. Without our union, we would have bough down to administration. Nurses need to unit. So many are afraid or do not want to get involved.
Thanks spacenurse for posting #121 and adding some clarity to the story. I am still not sure CNA doesn't raid. I am in SEIU in Wi and we are getting mailings from CNA 2-3 times per year offering membership at rock bottom prices.
Thanks spacenurse for posting #121 and adding some clarity to the story. I am still not sure CNA doesn't raid. I am in SEIU in Wi and we are getting mailings from CNA 2-3 times per year offering membership at rock bottom prices.
If you are referring to membership in NNOC for $30.00 that is not for the purpose of having a union. It is for working for whistleblower laws with fines in all states, a ban on mandatory overtime except for specific emergencies, safe staffing laws with ratios, and a single high standard of healthcare for all.
A subscription to RevolutioN magazine is included.
Those who don't want to join may subscribe without membership for $30.00.
As I read through the articles, It seems the number one problem is the uninsured population in this country. It seems that in a country as great as this we could come up with a fair and equitable solution to offset these loses. We must also keep in mind that profit and nonprofit hospitals need to make a profit. Private hospitals must keep their shareholders happy. The Hospital industry is a 570 billion a year profit industry.
There have been studies to show nurse ratio's do decrease pt mortality. It costs 60 to 70, 000 per rn recuritment and training. If nurses do not job hop to the next bigger bonus, the costs will be lower in regards to ratios. The unions are trying to improve working conditions and ultimately level the playing field for all.
Direct care nurses are not the reason hospitals are expensive. Nursing care is the reason for hospitals to exist.--------------------------------------------------
...Schwarzenegger's office and Attorney General Bill Lockyer's spokesman had no immediate comment. But a spokeswoman for the state Health Department, Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, said that in the 10 months that the 1-to-5 rule has been in place, hospitals have been able to adapt, "so we're going to move forward."...
Kevin, you seem to knock California quite a bit. You want to go, go. Don't let the collective door hit you on the way out. You may be back if your wife doesn't like the place you are taking her to. I dont suppose you will leave the nice profit you made on your California house, will you?
Kevin, you seem to knock California quite a bit. You want to go, go. Don't let the collective door hit you on the way out. You may be back if your wife doesn't like the place you are taking her to. I dont suppose you will leave the nice profit you made on your California house, will you?
Tsk tsk TOS...do not be personal or stray from the topic of the thread please..
I have been warned, so I assume that you will be too!
(If you read my posts, then you will know why I haven't left...and I do not take my wife anywhere, we go places together...)
pickledpepperRN
4,491 Posts
Last year I attended a seminar here in California. Nurses from Cook County also attended.
They said that they had tried and tried to get action from their previous union.
They were stewards and elected leaders working hard for their members.
After many years they got together eating pizza and decided they needed a different union.
They contacted many unions including CNA (they saw the web site).
It's a long story but the nurses themselves wanted to be in a union that was acting on patient care issues. Previously OB nurses were forced to float to medical-surgical. There were many stories like that yet their union did not respond.
No one from CNA went to raid another union. If they hadn't chosen CNA they would have tried to change unions anyway