Unions. What do they do for us?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Mar 18, 2009

let me respond first to the recruitment and retention programs and why they haven't been implemented. this was posted on our union's secure message board several months ago:

"over the past several months, the north district regional bargaining council has attempted to address members' requests to implement the weekend worker, seasonal worker, and benefit eligible casual positions. this has been met with some confusion and resistance on the part of the employer. reasons cited include minimal support from the health region's executive leaders, limited numbers of human resources staff, and the lack of a clear process for pay and benefits and human resources staff to follow throughout the implementation process. understandably, members are frustrated and discouraged by our lack of progress."

weekend worker positions are 80% ftes that are paid for full time. when they suggested this as a solution to our chronic short-staffing on weekends, no one in management noticed until the time came to make it happen that for every 5 people who do the weekend worker, there will be one fte vacated. they see that as defeating the purpose, so of course it can't be done except on a very limited basis. (our unit has 2, one who works permenent days and one who works permanent nights, and they didn't start this rotation until feb 16/09!) the problem with flexible part-time has arisen over what guidelines will be followed and how it will be administratively handled. benefits-eligible casuals are required to agree in writing to work a minimum of 40% fte per standard rotation block in order to be eligible to be covered by our benefits plan. the issue here is that the employer wants to dictate when the "casual" works that 40% fte, which then renders the "casual" a part-time employee. as the quote above indicates, there was no thought put into the implications to hr and to the employer related to these programs, they just sounded like a good idea at the time.

at the unit level, there have been a series of professional responsibility complaints filed over the last couple of years that have all identified the same problems and offered the same solutions. after a period that saw three virtually identical prcs filed in the space of two weeks, a meeting was called between the union, unit management, program management, hr and the originators of the complaints. we (the latter) were basically told by management that our complaints were spurious, that our unit is the best staffed picu in north america and we should be happy that we work here. we were also told that our suggestions for improving working conditions were technicolour dreams... not only can we not close beds but we're going to open four more. (meanwhile we're adding all sorts of new surgical procedures and technological changes to the unit at the same time.) we suggested that we have more non-licensed personnel to help with turns and tasks, and were told that we didn't need more. there was an incident that was discussed... one summer long weekend we were severely short for 3 sequential 12 hour shifts and management had known about the shortfall for weeks. they said they had tried everything to beef up our numbers, but they definitely didn't pull people off the severely overstaffed monday day shift that attracted time and a half pay, which was an option as long as it was done more than 14 days in advance. anyway, management knew things were really tight. on saturday afternoon the on-call manager came in so that one of our long-stay (still critically ill and on maximum life support) could go off the unit to spend some time in the sun. she didn't come in so that people could get away for lunch or so that the night staff could go for a coffee run, she came in to pander to parents. she denied that happened, but there were enough people who witnessed it to refute her version.

to make a short story long, it was decided that we should develop a team-building process where management and front-lines staff would meet on neutral ground at regular intervals to discuss issues and create solutions. so how has it worked out? as the chair of the team, let me tell you that it's far from successful. we have met five times. (there was a sixth meeting scheduled but i wasn't able to get away from the unit to attend!) i'm usually outnumbered by managers 2:1. the best-attended meeting had two other front-lines nurses in the room besides me. every shift that i work, i have at least one person come to me with a problem; i invite them to the meeting and they say they'll come. the meeting day arrives and there i am, presenting their issues without their validation. i still bring up all the issues that have come to my attention and i publish the minutes, but guess what? about 50% of the nurses don't read them. many of them will come to me and ask me about the meetings but can't be bothered to attend. i really think that people believe the problems on our unit to be insurmountable, that we're essentially powerless and that there isn't anything they can do so why bother? i'm just about there myself!

momatwork · Jun 7, 2009

Unions are for profit, they collect nothing until that first contract begins.....then 1% of your gross salary, and additional dues with each paycheck. All I heard during a campaign they tried at my hospital is how nurses want respect, yet my peers gave the union reps our home and cell numbers without my permission. Reps called at all hours, and visited my home unannounced, and continued to after telling them not to. Our benefits were the same and many better than many of the union hospitals. It was ironic that employees who worked no where else seemed to be pro union, but those of us who worked in other facilities realized the benefits we already have. Our staffing ratios are fine, and better than other hospitals as well. The point of contention was that our pension plan (non-contributory) was decreased, but hello, look at the current economy...also the union hospitals had employee contributory programs, which were match by only 50% by the hospital, so the hospital actually contributed less. Unions use emotion to in an attempt to mobilize themselves, but fortunately at my hospital, we had a large showing and they lost.

allnurses Guide · Jun 7, 2009

Just a few examples of what RNs have accomplished at their facilities using the union contracted PPC:

http://www.calnurses.org/nursing-practice/ppc/?print=t

momatwork · Jun 7, 2009

Hi herring RN,

I appreciate your response..........but my hospital has those things without a union.........we have a nurse policy/practice council, and good staffing ratios. They are posted daily in my state, and ours are better than the union hospitals......Our salaries and benefits are excellant as well. Its not necessary to pay a for profit entity 1% of my gross salary plus 4.00 a pay to speak for me.

Chico David, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2009

Hi herring RN,
I appreciate your response..........but my hospital has those things without a union.........we have a nurse policy/practice council, and good staffing ratios. They are posted daily in my state, and ours are better than the union hospitals......Our salaries and benefits are excellant as well. Its not necessary to pay a for profit entity 1% of my gross salary plus 4.00 a pay to speak for me.

First, unions are emphatically not "for-profit". All the ones I know of are incorporated as non-profit entities under Sec 501c - the section of federal law that governs non-profit entities incorporated for mutual benefit of the members or the public good. Our executive director running the operations of the largest and most effective union in the country makes a salary about a third of that of the CEO of the small town hospital I work at, so rather under paid from my standpoint. When I meet nurses from other states, I am hearing horror stories of nurses being laid off, salaries and benefits cut and work loads increasing. Things we don't see in California because of the strength of our union here. I also hear of nurses being blacklisted, and even now in Texas, a largely non-union state, the employers have formed an organization for the specific purpose of blacklisting nurses. Again, things we don't have to worry about here.

And I've seen plenty of those shared governance type councils - run by management with no power and no effect other than giving nurses the illusion they are being listened to. I'll take our PPC any day.

allnurses Guide · Jun 7, 2009

Hi herring RN,
I appreciate your response..........but my hospital has those things without a union.........we have a nurse policy/practice council, and good staffing ratios. They are posted daily in my state, and ours are better than the union hospitals......Our salaries and benefits are excellant as well. Its not necessary to pay a for profit entity 1% of my gross salary plus 4.00 a pay to speak for me.

It seems as though you have an excellent situation.

Nurses don't call a union when they can provide the kind of care we were taught to in school. When we can say, "This patient needs a sitter." and get someone.

Or, "I'm not competent to float to NICU." and a competent NICU RN is found, or,

"We need another CNA because our patients are physiacally heavy." and get the requested help, or

are able to truly take 1/2 hour for lunch because a competent RN takes report and responsibility for our patients, or "The acuity is high. We need another nurse." and get another nurse, or to

broken suction cannisters, O2 flowmeters, or siderails and have them immediately repaired or replaced.

At my hospital patient care was suffering with new management so WE called several unions and chose our state nurses association.

Now all the above exists at our hospital.

The union didn't do it for us. WE did it with the help of OUR union. (Not a for profit corporation)

I'm not trying to convince anyone. Just to explain a little about how WE improve patient care and our working lives.

http://www.calnurses.org/assets/pdf/nnoc_101.pdf

smoke over fire · Jun 9, 2009

Anyone else see these hospitals' and employers' behaviors and the nurses' responses as being similar, as though we were discussing domestic abuse? Or victims of hostile/involuntary captivity (Stockholm) syndrome?...where nurses begin to identify with and support their boss's policies and their oppressive working conditions?

OMG! ALL THE TIME !!!!! !!:rotfl:

When we look over at history, during the civil rights movement when people were trying to establish their rights, there was also a nationalist movement within the segregated groups that felt that integration was selling out. They wanted to be segregated and "self-sufficient".

It's seems almost unreal to imagine if African -Americans, Chicanos, American -Indians and women never got the right to vote, to have a say in their government, to have access to the rights that all other classes enjoined.

Those rights were not gain easily and not by standing up for themselves alone. The greatest thing that happened was that people stuck together and won those rights TOGETHER!

Nurses need to be united. A great nurse I work with says it all the time " we are not at war with management... but we are in conflict" (G. Pickett) and it's true! Anyone who believes that hospitals are not businesses is delusional. Administration MUST watch the budget. Nurses MUST care for the patients. Unions help us as a means to come together and have a dialog in a formal and professional matter. It's a way for us to win rights. Rights for advocacy, rights for professional wages, and rights to push our profession forward.

I know this board will never change the minds of those who believe it is wrong to stand together. But I will never give up on our profession, we are gaining our rights united in unions!:hpygrp:

diane227, LPN, RN · Jun 9, 2009

My union in my hospital ( I live just outside of Settle) takes my raise. Every time I get a raise, my union dues go up.

lindarn · Jun 9, 2009

My union in my hospital ( I live just outside of Settle) takes my raise. Every time I get a raise, my union dues go up.

You must belong to WSNA. They are here in Spokane, and all over Washington State. Trust me, the nurses here have gotten NOTHING from them! We need to get the NNOC and the CNA here in Washington, to obtain more power to the nurses of Washington State. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

momatwork · Jun 12, 2009

Hello All,

When I said a for profit entity, by that I meant that it does profit from the dues of its members. The unions in my state belong to AFT, and the larger union AFL. All anyone needs to do is take at look at their profits, which are posted on the internet. Look at their contributions to lobbyists as well. They do not ask their members which organizations to support. The Presidents, VPs and other administrators of the union do profit by this organization as well. Their salaries are 6 figures, and that does not count the perks of hotels, lodging, and expense reports. In addition, they are salaried by the larger unions in various positions. The union is not there out of the kindness of their hearts, they like a hospital or any organization, are there to make money. When a hospital in my state was closed, the union sought to take dues out of severance pays...........without a contract, there are no dues, so a union does seek a contract ratified, and at times is self-serving in that goal. Perhaps your unions have a better track record. The best thing I can tell anyone is to become informed. If your hospital has not reached the point of a major communications breakdown between staff and management, then approach them as a group and speak for yourselves. Why pay someone a substancial amount of money to do this? As nurses, we are a highly educated group of professionals, use that education to communicate for yourselves.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jun 28, 2009

When Teresa Barnett, a nurse at Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo.,
began to organize a union at her hospital, she said, “We didn’t even want to use the
word ‘union’ because many of us thought it had a bad connotation.” But, Barnett,
continued, “we really believed we could make a difference by having a legal voice in
the workplace, and unionizing was the way to do that” (Heaster 2001).
With collective bargaining agreements with individual hospitals and chains of
health care facilities, nurses are improving patient care as well as their own economic
conditions. For instance, an agreement worked out in 2002 between CNA and Kaiser
Permanente, covering 10,200 registered nurses and nurse practitioners throughout
California – the largest single contract for nurses in the nation – includes a ban on
mandatory overtime, a guaranteed pension three times larger than the previous plan,
a retirement health plan, and a no-cancellation program covering regularly assigned
shifts, the first of its kind in the industry. The language on mandatory overtime was the
strongest in the country, and the union hopes it will set a national standard (Business
Wire 2002).

http://epi.3cdn.net/1f9884ef0ee804bfaa_70m6b39ft.pdf

RN4MERCY · Jun 29, 2009

Hello All,
When I said a for profit entity, by that I meant that it does profit from the dues of its members. The unions in my state belong to AFT, and the larger union AFL. All anyone needs to do is take at look at their profits, which are posted on the internet. Look at their contributions to lobbyists as well. They do not ask their members which organizations to support. The Presidents, VPs and other administrators of the union do profit by this organization as well. Their salaries are 6 figures, and that does not count the perks of hotels, lodging, and expense reports. In addition, they are salaried by the larger unions in various positions. The union is not there out of the kindness of their hearts, they like a hospital or any organization, are there to make money. When a hospital in my state was closed, the union sought to take dues out of severance pays...........without a contract, there are no dues, so a union does seek a contract ratified, and at times is self-serving in that goal. Perhaps your unions have a better track record. The best thing I can tell anyone is to become informed. If your hospital has not reached the point of a major communications breakdown between staff and management, then approach them as a group and speak for yourselves. Why pay someone a substancial amount of money to do this? As nurses, we are a highly educated group of professionals, use that education to communicate for yourselves.

Excuse me, but as professional employees who have a fiduciary duty to advocate in the exclusive interests of the patients we care for, we should organize into RN unions, like NNOC/CNA and approach management with one collective voice. I think it's an intelligent and reasonable course of action. Hospital executives work under contract and hospitals belong to industry trade unions, so why is it o.k. in your book, for them to be collectively organized and pay a "substantial amount of money" for business administration, contracts, and representation and not nurses?

Union members speak with us, not "for" us. We democratically elect our board of directors, reps, negotiatiors, and professional practice committees. Our dues are paid for our collective benefit in support of our mission, vision, and philosophy; not for the individual "profit" of any one member! We maintain a professional support staff of organizers, labor representatives, contract negotiators and administrative support staff, printed materials, and labor attorneys, accountants, and government/legislative advocacy staff. We have succeeded in sponsoring legislation to protect patients like safe RN to patient ratio laws and whistle-blower protection for nurses who speak out about the unsafe business practices of their employers.

So, fair is fair; a union contract is the great equalizer between employees and management. Registered Nurses have unique accountabilities and responsibility for the provision of patient care. No one has the right to interfere with that duty but let's be honest here, hospital administrators often try and succeed in imposing barriers to our ability to provide safe, effective, and competent care.

I guess my question would be why would AFT, a teachers' union, be trying to represent nurses? I believe it's important that nurses join and have representation by nurses in an all RN union. :specs: