Right To Work States, hospitals are unionizing

Chico David, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2011

...........Sixth Florida Hospital RNs choose NNOC-Florida :yeah: http://nurses.bluestatedigital.com/pages/victories

That's a few weeks back, but still pretty exciting news.

For those who don't know: States have the option of passing so-called "right to work" laws, which ban a union shop contract. Under a union shop contract, all the workers covered by the contract at a particular place must join the union or pay a fee in lieu of joining. Most unions avoid organizing in right-to-work states, because it's so much harder to build power in that setting - which of course is the reason those laws exist. The big corporations that push for those laws don't give a rip about worker's rights, they just want weak unions. The real problem is that the law requires that those who choose not to join get all the benefits of the contract. They get all the benefits, wages etc that the union wins and if they have a disciplinary issue, the union must represent them the same as those who pay dues. It's pretty much human nature that if you tell people: "You can have all this for nothing, or you can pay for it if you want", some folks won't pay. There are unions that are successful in that environment, but not that many - you have to be in a continuous organizing mode and can never rest. If anyone can do it successfully it's NNOC, but it will be challenging.

FLmomof5 · Mar 8, 2011

Or there could be FL nurses who want nothing to do with a union and refuse to be forced to 'contribute' to something they do not agree with.

Nurse or not, their web address alone had me turning my back.... http://nurses.bluestatedigital.com/

BLUE state. Democrat.

I am true RED, Republican and proud of it.

allnurses Guide · Mar 9, 2011

Nurses at Doctors Hospital vote to join union

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 4:16 p.m. ( page 1 of 4 )

SARASOTA - Citing concerns over patient care, registered nurses at Doctors Hospital of Sarasota voted Monday night to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee-Florida, a union that has enrolled 5,000 members across the state in the last year.

After the 91-52 vote, the union will represent 200 nurses at Doctors. Of 13 Florida hospitals where nurses have unionized, 10 are-like Doctors-a part of Hospital Corp. of America, the biggest hospital system in the country....

... "When there's one nurse to eight patients, that's really heavy care," she explained. "You try to divide that into a eight-hour shift and you don't have much time with each patient."

Only registered nurses are licensed to administer medications, Hunt said. Staffing patient wards with fewer RNs and more health aides "decreases our ability to be at the bedside to assess that patient," she said. "You have these individuals who cannot do a care plan on a patient like we can."

Hunt said the nurses are also seeking better salaries and health insurance benefits.

"Don't get me wrong; I love Doctors Hospital," she said. "But we do see things that need to change."...

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110308/BREAKING/110309512/-1/sports?Title=Nurses-at-Doctors-Hospital-vote-to-join-union-

RN1980 · Apr 2, 2011

Or there could be FL nurses who want nothing to do with a union and refuse to be forced to 'contribute' to something they do not agree with.
Nurse or not, their web address alone had me turning my back.... http://nurses.bluestatedigital.com/
BLUE state. Democrat.
I am true RED, Republican and proud of it.

come-on...man im a born conservative from brightly colered red state, but bring on them blue colored unions!

jmqphd · Apr 9, 2011

I've always said that a hospital that gets a nursing union, probably deserved it.

On the other hand, I've noticed that often, instead of getting one pimp, nurses end up with two. In my experience (over many years, many unions, in multiple states and many different sorts of hospitals) once the union gets the contract, (and the dues... which amounts to a huge amount of money...) they pretty much ignore the nurses. ESPECIALLY if they get a closed shop. "Oh, baby... you know I'll love you in the morning!"

Our hospital was organized by SEIU and most of the nurses that were so active in organizing the vote now admit quietly they feel they were taken.

eglide87 · Apr 9, 2011

RTW states are diff to organize due to no closed shop. Its hard to stay in business when there isn't a captive audience to pay dues.

jmqphd · Apr 9, 2011

If unions were so fabulous for the workers, why are dues ALWAYS mandatory AND collected before the worker even sees their check? Clearly the answer is few would voluntarily pay their dues.

A pragmatist who does their research just can't look at history and still believe in the "blessings" of collectivism.

Chico David, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

If unions were so fabulous for the workers, why are dues ALWAYS mandatory AND collected before the worker even sees their check? Clearly the answer is few would voluntarily pay their dues.
A pragmatist who does their research just can't look at history and still believe in the "blessings" of collectivism.

Actually, anyone who does even a little bit of research can rapidly find that unionized workers consistently have better benefits and make more money that non-union. The difference is far more than the cost of dues.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030623ar01p1.htm

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/briefingpapers_bp143/

And that unions are responsible for virtually every right and protection that American workers enjoy. If the laws in "right to work" states said that only those who choose to join get the benefits of the union contract, then the story would be very different. But the anti-union forces who passed the Taft-Hartley act knew what they were doing. So under law, those who don't join get every benefit and wage increase the union wins and the union has to spend its member's money to represent them in disciplinary cases too. This gives people the choice: You can have all these benefits for free, or you can pay for them if you want to. It's no surprise that a fair number choose not to pay. You could call that pragmatic, or you could call it legalized theft.

eglide87 · Apr 10, 2011

In fairness to the unions, nurses in RTW states who opt to not pay dues should not be afforded union respresentation, period. Dues and union participation should not be mandatory, but those who don't pay should not receive the bennies either....

WIN007 · Apr 18, 2011

...........Sixth Florida Hospital RNs choose NNOC-Florida :yeah: http://nurses.bluestatedigital.com/pages/victories

Truly I think they're smart. And just hear me out on this.

Unionized hospitals get better ratings from patients, typically have better performance indicators and certainly have better nurse retention. The latter alone saves them a fortune. It's cheaper for the hospital to have skilled, long-term unionized nurses than to be forever spending 500 bucks because they tried to save 50.

That said if this is happening in Florida, I wouldn't put it past the current Governor (you know the guy who should be behind bars probably for his own misdoings as an executive with a prominent payor) to try to do allhe can to stop it.

And if you can get on here in the midwest, by all means, please do. Good luck with that though as Governor Walker is representative of what we've gotten in here last election.

Blackcat99 · Apr 18, 2011

I have worked at places in other states that had unions. They always had the best pay and benefits. When I got in trouble once, the union defended me. Where I work here in Florida,(private duty) LPN's make $15 an hour and RN's make $16 an hour. I think Unions are very much needed here in Florida.