Some Tri-City nurses petition to decertify union (North County Times)

Nurses Activism

Published

OCEANSIDE -- A movement is afoot among some of Tri-City Medical Center's 700 registered nurses to leave the nursing union they joined in 2005.

More... Some Tri-City nurses petition to decertify union (North County Times)

Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care, Trauma, Neuro..
OCEANSIDE -- A movement is afoot among some of Tri-City Medical Center's 700 registered nurses to leave the nursing union they joined in 2005.

More... Some Tri-City nurses petition to decertify union (North County Times)

I think it is important to note that the CNA made a deceptive announcement on their website regarding the contract obtained for the nurses at Tri-City Medical Center. Tri-City RNs Settle with Top-Notch First Contract - Big gains in patient care standards, pay

In this announcement the CNA seems to claim that they got the nurses a pension and a lift team. Tri-City Medical Center already had both of these things in place long before the arrival of the California Nurses Association.

Why does the union seem to be taking credit for these things? I have ponted this out to them and they offer no explaination, no appology and have not corrected the announcement on the website.

I also believe that the nurses will lose money with this terrible contract, raises of 18% to 20% over the next three years minus union dues of up to $1008.00 a year. Decertification will be the best way to go. They can join the Nurses of Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, Ca. just a few short miles away. They decertified the CNA just a short time ago. I hope this is a trend.

Tri-City Hospital is in Oceanside California, San Diego County near the Camp Pendelton Marine Corps Base.

Sherwood Cox, R.N., CCRN

In this announcement the CNA seems to claim that they got the nurses a pension and a lift team. Tri-City Medical Center already had both of these things in place long before the arrival of the California Nurses Association. Why does the union seem to be taking credit for these things?

I think decertification elections are good but, let's keep in mind that you've only won one of these elections out of what ... four or five decert elections in the last couple of years? Nevertheless, I think this is probably a good thing just to make sure the RN's still want the union to represent them.

18-20 percent raises over three years isn't bad. That's at least 6 percent per year, which sure beats the 3 percent raises RN's got at the last non-union hospital I worked at.

Even if it's true that the pension and lift teams were in place beforehand, I think it's really important to protect those benefits with a union contract. Otherwise, management can take it away at any time .... and they have.

Just about every hospital has phased out and/or cut pension benefits in my area. They wouldn't have been able to do that so easily if the pension benefits were protected by union contracts.

As I recall, Tri-City went union after the hospital spent a lot of money hiring foreign nurses instead of giving the staff RN's decent raises. Now, they're getting much better than average raises so ... I'm not sure what you're complaining about here.

:typing

Anyone read the comments left by folks at the end of the article?

I also believe that the nurses will lose money with this terrible contract, raises of 18% to 20% over the next three years minus union dues of up to $1008.00 a year.

Let's crunch the numbers because I don't think they're going to lose money. They may not be making a lot of money here but, it looks like they'll be a little better off, at least.

Anyone read the comments left by folks at the end of the article?

According to the comments at the end of the article, most staff RN's were only getting 2-3 percent raises per year. Only 33 out of the 700 RN's got the 4 percent merit raises.

I tend to believe this since, the lack of decent raises was one of the major reasons Tri-City went union in the first place. This has been publicized in the local press for a couple of years now ... and RN's usually don't vote union if management is generous with raises.

The average RN wage in San Diego is about $32 an hour ... give or take so ... I'll just use $32 for calculation purposes. With 2.5 percent being the average raise for the vast majority of Tri-City RN's ... they would make about $1,500 more a year base pay ... without the union.

With this new contract their base pay will go up by about 6.33 percent per year, or about $3,800 a year. Now they do have to pay union dues which, at $32 an hour runs about $850 a year (not $1K, which is the maximum ... and they don't have to pay any dues before the contract.)

So, even with the union dues, they'll still net about $1,450 a year or $4,350 with the three year contract that they otherwise wouldn't have without the union.

And, the above mentioned benefits are now protected by contract, which could be important since San Diego County has been trying to cut back on pension benefits. Pension benefits alone can cost an employee an extra $10K a year so, that's pretty significant.

It's not a phenomenal contract but, it's not bad for a first contract ... they are doing a little better here than they were before.

If the RN's don't think that's enough of a pay raise then, they probably should vote out the union but ... they haven't lost any money here that I can see.

:typing

Lizz,

Do you know anything about the bond some of the comments spoke of?

Lizz,

Do you know anything about the bond some of the comments spoke of?

Just this article ...

Hospital bond gets 2nd chance | The San Diego Union-Tribune

:typing

Thanks.

+ Add a Comment