Union Question

[GreenNurse]

Consider the scenario for a unionized hospital:

When managers have two applicants who are currently hired on the unit who apply for the same position, do the managers automatically give the position to the applicant who has seniority in hours or does the manager also consider skill level, etc and base his/ her decision on this?

Or, since it is a union hospital does the position automatically default to the person with more seniority?

[Fiona59]

Skill level and total years of nursing usuall win.

Seniority is usually only called upon as the deciding/deal breaker factor.

ie: two nurses with OB experience, one has five years outside the hospital in question but the same start date as the other. Nurse with total years of experience will usually get it. Takes nerve to grieve some choices.

edit: what I'm trying to say is seniority is only used when both applicants have equal skills and experiences. And often when it comes to that, it's best to leave the choice with management because ultimately do you really want to work in a place that doesn't want you?

[GreenNurse]

So hours worked on a unit is used only as the deciding factor if all else is equal in a union hospital?

i.e., Nurse A and Nurse B have relatively equivalent OB backgrounds and experiences but Nurse A is slightly better but Nurse B has logged in more hours on the unit ... will Nurse B get the job?

[mekrn]

Skill level and total years of nursing usuall win.

Seniority is usually only called upon as the deciding/deal breaker factor.

ie: two nurses with OB experience, one has five years outside the hospital in question but the same start date as the other. Nurse with total years of experience will usually get it. Takes nerve to grieve some choices.

edit: what I'm trying to say is seniority is only used when both applicants have equal skills and experiences. And often when it comes to that, it's best to leave the choice with management because ultimately do you really want to work in a place that doesn't want you?

You are absolutely right about this. Many times there is a misconception that seniority automatically wins. Not true.

[cmo421]

You are absolutely right about this. Many times there is a misconception that seniority automatically wins. Not true.

Senority within a unit for the same jobs rules most times. If both nurses are trained and work in the same unit,doing similar work and a job is posted,start date as a RN or hospital employee(depending on contract language) rules. I have worked in union hospitals most of my career,and senority is also a card that wins. Unless people with more senority and no training in that work apply. But even here, many union states we r all trainable so senority rules again. In my hospital unit senority goes before hospital wide when applying for a on the unit job.

[GreenNurse]

What if nurse A (who was hired 3 months after nurse B) has more education and better evaluations than nurse B? Do managers take education and performance into account or does seniority in terms of hours worked on a unit take precedence in a union hospital?

[cmo421]

What if nurse A (who was hired 3 months after nurse B) has more education and better evaluations than nurse B? Do managers take education and performance into account or does seniority in terms of hours worked on a unit take precedence in a union hospital?

I would imagine they would want to and should be able to, but in a strong union hospital,senority rules. Senority ,however the hospital/union defines it, is a major player in all job decision. Not always the best way but with a union there is very little room for grey.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

The easiest and most accurate way of answering ths question is to look at the collective agreement. There will be an article covering the filling of vacancies and it's usually relatively clearly stated. Some collective agreements do place all the mphasis on seniority, which is too bad, because it doesn't mean the best person for the job will be the one who gets it.

[caliotter3]

And in some instances, one would have to have access to all personnel files involved to see just exactly what the differences are. It is not always cut and dry and easy for all to see.

I worked in a union job where you had to go to the union hall every morning and wait for the dispatcher to go through the names of the out of work people to find someone to work the various openings each day. People yakked and talked over his voice. More than once, someone would go up to him and complain that he never heard his name called and he got passed over for work that day. Too bad.

Unless you are made aware of everything concerning a personnel action by someone in HR (something that is not going to happen), it is almost impossible to find out if you have been slighted in a personnel action. If you feel you have been unlawfully passed over, the place to go is to your union rep and an employment attorney. But, again, is it worth the trouble, aggravation, and expense of filing a grievance and/or lawsuit to maybe or maybe not get something you want. It has to really be worth it, because you could be making more enemies than you wish to in the long run.