Scripps Encinitas first decertification campaign last summer was unsuccessful on the surface. Perseverance paid off as the nurses in favor of decertification continued their campaign. The CNA in their attempt to head off this growing wave of discontent for unionization only stumbled, angering and alienating what few supporters they had left.
Seeing that they might lose a decertification for the first time in many, many years the CNA decided to accept Scripps managements first offer, the offer that they proposed to the nurses before the initial vote to unionize. The CNA negotiated nothing for the Scripps nurses. All the hard feelings, all the lost friendships all that anger for nothing.
It must be noted that in the CNA managed election last week, the ballots had two choices:
1. Yes, accept the contract.
2. No, do not accept the contract and strike
So, the nurses decided by 75% not to strike. The CNA did not give them a choice not to accept the contract and NOT strike.
Why not that third choice?
In the end the the professional nurses of Scripps Encinitas won big and the CNA must count this as a dismal failure on their part. Scripps Encinitas is an open shop. No union security clause! The nurses do not have to become union members and they do not have to pay dues. There is a no strike clause for two years. The decertification drive continues.
Congratulations Scripps Encinitas!
This is deserving of it's own thread. For further review check out this thread
Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care, Trauma, Neuro..
I actually don't have a problem with open shops IF the people who don't pay union dues also don't benefit from pay raises, benefits and job protection negotiated by the union.
However, from what I understand with the Scripps situation, the non-paying RN's do benefit and that's just plain wrong. That's why I don't blame the union for wanting a closed shop where everybody who benefits also has to pay. It's only fair.
If you don't pay union dues, you shouldn't reap union benefits ... period.
:typing
I do not want to put words in your mouth Liz but reading into this leads me to believe that you think that you automatically believe the non-union non dues paying RN's should be paid less and be offered less benefits. Due we work less hard? Are we more or less dedicated to our patients then you? Would you be ok with it if the non-union, non dues paying RN's banded together and were able to get a better deal then the union RN's?
This is not an attack this is just a question. Why should I get paid less for doing the same work if my employers and my patients believe that what I have to offer is equal to what you have to offer?
You are, again, claiming I said things I didn't say ... I NEVER said that non-union workers should be paid less.
If you and other non-union RN's can get a better deal without the union that's fine by me. But I don't think you should automatically get union pay, benefits, job protection etc ... all of the things that come with a union contract ... if you don't pay union dues.
It's that simple.
You guys are always going on and on about how unfair it is to force people to belong to a union if it's a closed shop. Well ... it's just as unfair for non-union members to get the same benefits that the union negotiated when you're not paying union dues.
I do agree with Nancy on this. If you guys don't want to pay union dues then it should be separate and you guys should be able to negotiate these things on your own with your own contract. But you should not benefit from a union contract when you're not paying for that contract.
Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care, Trauma, Neuro..
You are, again, claiming I said things I didn't say ...
If you can get a better deal without the union that's fine by me. But I don't think you should get union pay, benefits, job protection etc ... all of the things that come with a union contract ... if you don't pay union dues.
It's that simple.
:typing
It is not "union pay". It is Nurses pay, Nurses wages and Nurses benefits. Unions do not protect my job. I protect my job by caring for my patients the way my patients deserve to be cared for. I have earned every penny I have ever made because I take the time to educate my patients and their families on their medications, on their procedures on their disease process. I hold their hands while they are dying and I comfort their families after they are gone.
I earn my every penny because I am a team player, because when a coworker needs my help I get off my butt and I turn a patient, I answer a call light even if it is not "my" patients call light. I help my coworkers when they are slammed.
I say thank you to the unit secretary, I say thank you to the housekeeper and I say thank you to the pbx operator when I ask her to page Dr. Soandso. Everybody knows me, everybody knows that I will help them if they ask me and I will do it with a smile.
The new grads or new hires I precept, they have my cellphone number and my pager. I let a nursing student start an IV on me while I talked her through the steps.
Physicians, coworkers and hospital volunteers have requested that I take care of their loved ones or themselve when they are hospitalized. I rearranged my schedule when a patients wife called asking if I would care for her husband when he had his CABG (I was his nurse when he had a PTCA). I have been Nurse of the year at my hospital. A local community volunteer crisis intervention program named me a "Heroe with Heart". I have the plaques to prove it.
One of my daughters (she is 17), she wants to be a nurse just like mom and dad. She is looking at colleges now. When I asked her why Nursing? She said that she wants to help people and she knows how much we like our jobs.
Does everyone like me? No. Does everyone agree with me? I wish! Does anyone hesitate to ask me for help? I hope not. Will I be there if you need me? Most likely, but my patients come first.
Have I threatened to strike if I did not get my way? No. If I do not agree with what my boss has to say does she know about it? Every single time! Do I get my way? Not everytime but I am working on it.
Am I blowing my damn horn? Yes I am. Can I collect my paycheck every week and know that I earned it? Absolutely.
It is not "union pay". It is Nurses pay, Nurses wages and Nurses benefits.
Fine ... then negotiate your own deal without the union. I have no problem with that.
But it's still totally unfair for people who don't pay union dues to benefit from a union contract, just because they work in the same unit.
Nancy is right. The law should be changed. Let the people who don't pay dues negotiate their own deal. But don't let those same people benefit from the union contract when they haven't paid for it.
I checked the weather report... apparently he!! has in fact frozen over:devil:
Non-union nurses will always benefit when union nurses negotiate a good contract because the non-union employers have to compete with that contract or their nurses will just go to the union workplace. A few of my friends work at HOAG in Newport beach and say it was basically a fear of the union that got them their really nice wages. Good for them.
It is not "union pay". It is Nurses pay, Nurses wages and Nurses benefits. Unions do not protect my job. I protect my job by caring for my patients the way my patients deserve to be cared for. I have earned every penny I have ever made because I take the time to educate my patients and their families on their medications, on their procedures on their disease process. I hold their hands while they are dying and I comfort their families after they are gone.
I earn my every penny because I am a team player, because when a coworker needs my help I get off my butt and I turn a patient, I answer a call light even if it is not "my" patients call light. I help my coworkers when they are slammed.
I say thank you to the unit secretary, I say thank you to the housekeeper and I say thank you to the pbx operator when I ask her to page Dr. Soandso. Everybody knows me, everybody knows that I will help them if they ask me and I will do it with a smile.
The new grads or new hires I precept, they have my cellphone number and my pager. I let a nursing student start an IV on me while I talked her through the steps.
Physicians, coworkers and hospital volunteers have requested that I take care of their loved ones or themselve when they are hospitalized. I rearranged my schedule when a patients wife called asking if I would care for her husband when he had his CABG (I was his nurse when he had a PTCA). I have been Nurse of the year at my hospital. A local community volunteer crisis intervention program named me a "Heroe with Heart". I have the plaques to prove it.
One of my daughters (she is 17), she wants to be a nurse just like mom and dad. She is looking at colleges now. When I asked her why Nursing? She said that she wants to help people and she knows how much we like our jobs.
Does everyone like me? No. Does everyone agree with me? I wish! Does anyone hesitate to ask me for help? I hope not. Will I be there if you need me? Most likely, but my patients come first.
Have I threatened to strike if I did not get my way? No. If I do not agree with what my boss has to say does she know about it? Every single time! Do I get my way? Not everytime but I am working on it.
Am I blowing my damn horn? Yes I am. Can I collect my paycheck every week and know that I earned it? Absolutely.
Sherwood,
Why are the union paying dues workers so afraid of non union paying workers? Could it be we are right.
Now I see that every time a contract is re-negotiated the union gets a raise too. So basically every time the union paying nurses get a new contract part if not all of that increase goes to increased dues.
What would those union nurses do if the non union nurses got better bennies. I bet they'd be up the butts of the union. LOL
I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that nurses who are too timid or whatever all of a sudden become vocal and demanding. Boy those unions are one he**uva a motivating force. Of course dangling the $$ carrot never hurts does it. I can't remember a time when people were given more money and less work that they worked harder.
Now let's think about this.
NURSING IT DIFFICULT WORK. NO TWO WAYS ABOUT IT.
SOME Patients and their families are always gonna be ungratful, pee on you, poop on you, demand coffee when they are NPO. Require more from you than you can give etc. A nurse is gonna have to work holidays, weekends, etc. There is no union that can change that.
And the union higher ups are getting beaucoup d'$$$$ just like the CEO and COO's So now instead of only one group of people wanting part of the pie ($$$) there are TWO.
Just will never make any sense to me. Just can't wrap my mind around being used.
Non-union nurses will always benefit when union nurses negotiate a good contract because the non-union employers have to compete with that contract or their nurses will just go to the union workplace. A few of my friends work at HOAG in Newport beach and say it was basically a fear of the union that got them their really nice wages. Good for them.
I think there's a difference between direct and indirect benefits. I know there will always be RN's who indirectly benefit from union initiatives. The ratio law is a classic example, and that's just a fact of life.
But for people to directly benefit from the contract that they didn't pay for ... because they're working in the same unit where other union members paying for the contract ... is still totally wrong. It's freeloading of the worst kind.
Fine ... then negotiate your own deal without the union. I have no problem with that.
But it's still totally unfair for people who don't pay union dues to benefit from a union contract, just because they work in the same unit.
Nancy is right. The law should be changed. Let the people who don't pay dues negotiate their own deal. But don't let those same people benefit from the union contract when they haven't paid for it.
It's only fair.
:typing
Wow you may have just given many nurses a way out of unions. LOL
There are many times people benefit from something without paying.
I don't pay here. I get all I need here from not paying.
I don't need all the extras. I don't think they are worth it.
And so far in all of these discussion here and there on this forum the union nurses have gotten money. And if was intimated at one point that nurses join the union for better patient care. ONLY at times.
And as far as the internet I don't pay much for that but I can go to every site I want or need to and don't have to pay $60 a month. Just in case union nurses have forgotten, post donning the rose-colored glasses, LIFE AIN'T FAIR.
"Without a doubt, however, nurses in unions make more money. These RNs average almost $60,000 per year, about $6,100 (11%) more than their non-union counterparts. The wage gap between union and non-unionized nurses has held steady for years."
Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care, Trauma, Neuro..
It is interesting but not surprising to note that on the California Nurses Association website it does not mention the lack of a union security clause and that Scripps Encinitas is an open shop. The CNA takes credit for the raises the nurses got even though it is exactly what the Scripps management has been offering all along. The delays and the salary disparity at Scripps Encinitas was the fault of the union and the union supporters.
I am sure that there are many nurses at Scripps who are fuming mad. That is why the CNA caved and rushed to get this contract to a vote. A decertification is on the way.
Why doesn't the California Nurses Association tell the whole story on their website instead of implying that they negotiated some hard fought deal for the Scripps nurses. There were two strikes protesting this very contract! They said it was a bad deal. I agree it is a great deal because no one is forced to pay union dues to keep their job.
I actually don't have a problem with open shops IF the people who don't pay union dues also don't benefit from pay raises, benefits and job protection negotiated by the union.
However, from what I understand with the Scripps situation, the non-paying RN's do benefit and that's just plain wrong. That's why I don't blame the union for wanting a closed shop where everybody who benefits also has to pay. It's only fair.
If you don't pay union dues, you shouldn't reap union benefits ... period.
Sherwood
223 Posts
I do not want to put words in your mouth Liz but reading into this leads me to believe that you think that you automatically believe the non-union non dues paying RN's should be paid less and be offered less benefits. Due we work less hard? Are we more or less dedicated to our patients then you? Would you be ok with it if the non-union, non dues paying RN's banded together and were able to get a better deal then the union RN's?
This is not an attack this is just a question. Why should I get paid less for doing the same work if my employers and my patients believe that what I have to offer is equal to what you have to offer?