St. Joe's labor action called illegal by NLRB

Published

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0514nurses14.html

St. Joe's labor action called illegal by NLRB

Max Jarman

The Arizona Republic

May. 14, 2004 12:00 AM

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center has been charged with illegally firing a veteran nurse for her efforts to unionize about 1,000 nurses at the Phoenix health care facility.

The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board concluded Tuesday that Bev Davis may have been fired in retaliation for her union activities and for initiating an unfair labor practices charge against the hospital.

An administrative law judge will make a final determination after a trial.

Gordon Jorgensen, the National Labor Relations Board's assistant regional director in Phoenix, said the hospital could settle the case by reinstating Davis with back pay.

Otherwise, St. Joseph's and its parent, Catholic Healthcare West, will have to go to trial and could be found guilty of violating the National Labor Relations Act.

"You can't discharge or take action against an employee for wanting a union," Jorgensen said.

St. Joseph's attorney, Mary Bruno, disputes the agency's charge. Bruno said the woman was fired for striking another employee and not for her union organizing.

But the labor board also is investigating a second claim that the hospital spied on and illegally interrogated nurses thought to be sympathetic to the California Nurses Association. The association represents 56,000 nurses in California and has been organizing at St. Joseph's since 2001.

Bruno said the hospital denies that allegation as well.

In 1998, St Joseph's reportedly agreed to pay $46,000 in back pay to three nurses who were believed to have been fired for helping the International Brotherhood of Teamsters organize. The Teamsters eventually dropped its bid to represent the hospital's nurses.

Alan Hanson, a California Nurses Association organizer in Phoenix, called the labor board determination a "vindication of nurses' rights to organize."

St. Joseph's nurses rejected a union bid by the association in a 2001 election.

But because the union lost by a small margin, it has continued to organize at the hospital. The union plans to eventually call for another election, but wants to be sure of its support before it sets a date.

Hanson said the California Nurses Association is hoping a successful vote at St. Joseph's could give it a toehold in Arizona.

He estimates that there are 30,000 to 40,000 nurses in the state who would be eligible for union membership.

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Well, I think this is very interesting. I have done a little research and Space Nurse is posting in several places........all where the CNA is active and mostly all posts are obviously pro CNA.....So much so that it could almost look like he or she works for the CNA. He/she resides in California, posts also in Arizona and now also in Hawaii. Is anyone paying attention here to this obvious trail of propaganda? Hmmmmmmmmmm................

Regarding the article he posted above, the following statement should be a big clue:"Hanson said the California Nurses Association is hoping a successful vote at St. Joseph's could give it a toehold in Arizona."

He estimates that there are 30,000 to 40,000 nurses in the state who would be eligible for union membership.

Now here we go for equal time............http://www.onevoice-ourvoice.com

See what other nurses think. There really are two sides to every story.

Think for yourself. :nurse:

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:nurse: as i read this post again, it seemed that i may have been a bit hard on space nurse and that is truly not my intent. he is obviously just as motivated in his feelings on nursing as i am on mine. so, with all due respect to him as a fellow nurse, i restate my point that there are two sides to every story. http://www.onevoice-ourvoice.com although i have seen many reasons on these sites for nurses to feel unions are the answer, we have another viewpoint and feel it is up to us to speak for ourselves and not give that responsibility to others who are not nurses.

the bottom line is that it is up to all of us together to lift the whole of nursing up to a higher level. there are many ways to do that. we just need to continue the discussion and be willing to listen to the options available or create better options ourselves.

so, with apologies to space nurse if i appeared to be atacking him personally, i restate my viewpoint before anyone calls me on that post. it is never my intent to put down another nurse, but merely to point out that we are smarter than we think and we can do it ourselves.........together. :kiss

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Hey I took it as a compliment! As an activist at my hospital I take at least one CNA class a year. I have learned how to work with my fellow nurses (who are less involved but GREAT nurses). Many whose first language does not use pronouns have called me 'he' but I am an old woman with adult children.

As a geek I read the web site almost daily. If I can't sleep I go to ALLNURSES.COM.

Wish I did go to Hawaii!

BUT you have the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Best of everything to you. My brother in law had a CVA and was a patient in an Arizona hospital. The nursing staff was wonderful!

Rehab staff was too!

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