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Nurses' union: Who belongs in bargaining unit is subject of dispute
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Who’s in, who’s out.
That’s the underlying issue in a potential union vote among registered nurses with the NCH Healthcare System, an initiative that began like gangbusters this past summer and now seems to be in the slow lane.
Officials with NCH and SEIU Florida Healthcare, which would represent the nurses, are waiting for a decision by the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Tampa regarding which registered nurses should comprise the voting pool eligible in a potential union election.
Both parties submitted 50-page legal briefs by an Oct. 25 deadline to the labor board, presenting arguments regarding who should be allowed to vote and who should be excluded.
Broadly speaking, the union wants the voting pool to be made up of registered nurses employed at NCH’s Downtown Naples Hospital or North Naples Hospital.
In contrast, NCH argues the pool should include non-managerial nurses at outlying clinics, such as at the Wound Healing Center in East Naples and the Marco Island Urgent Care Center, as well as nurses with the Nurse Registry, a group of full-time and per-diem nurses who float among various departments.
The legal briefs followed an unusually lengthy three-week hearing in Miami before labor board officials that wrapped up Oct. 3. In that context, it’s dificult to say when the labor board’s regional director will issue a decision, said Karen LaMartin, with the NLRB in Tampa.
“This is not a typical case,” she said, adding that parties usually have one week after a hearing to submit briefs. “They got three weeks because it’s a much more involved case.”
Once the regional director issues a decision, either or both parties can request a review by the entire board, she said.
If both parties waive their right to an appeal, then the minimal amount of time needed to schedule a vote is 17 days. If there is an appeal, then the least amount of time needed before a union vote can be scheduled is 25 days, she said.
“November is much more problematic than December,” she said.
Regarding which registered nurses should be allowed to vote, NCH officials say the hospital system operates under a centralized management system with its human resources office and a centralized approach for hiring, discipline, and firing.
Likewise, NCH argued that because of exorbitant health-care costs today, many hospitals deliver medical care outside of the acute-care setting in facilities nearby and doing so is part of the evolving nature of health care. For that reason and others, the voting pool should include all 960 registered nurses in non-management positions at NCH.
“We think nurses who are going to be affected by a union should be allowed a voice,” said Dr. Allen Weiss, president and chief executive officer of NCH. “We want everyone who is going to be involved to have a say.”
SEIU officials would like to exclude about 200 registered nurses from voting eligibility out of the 960 that NCH wants included in the voting bloc, he said.
“They think those people would vote against the union,” Weiss said.
Union attorneys argue that the labor board is not required to have the “most appropriate” bargaining unit; instead “an appropriate” bargaining is what is required, according to the SEIU brief.
At the same time, the labor board has regarded bargaining units of registered nurses in hospitals as appropriate but has not precluded exceptions that take into account “community-of-interest factors” in determining the bargaining unit. Those factors can consist of similarity of skills, duties and working conditions, employee organizational structure, frequency of contact with other employees and similarity in how wages are determined.
Given that criteria, the bargaining unit shouldn’t include advanced registered nurse practitioners in mental health, registered nurses involved in clinical care and pharmacy audits, and case managers, according to the union.
In addition, nurses who work in facilities “geographically removed” from the two hospitals should not be included and neither should nurses not employed by NCH but who work at the hospitals, according to SEIU.
In particular, the union said nurses who work for Children’s Medical Services should be excluded because they are employed by Collier Community Health Inc., a separate not-for-profit of NCH, and the same should apply to rehabilitation nurses who are employed under NCH’s management contract with HealthSouth. Nurses at Marco Urgent Care Center also shouldn’t be included in the bargaining unit, the union contends.
Carly Godwin, a union supporter who has worked for NCH for 12 years, said they are seeking to get a clearer idea of who all the nurses are that NCH wants included in the election vote.
“We were trying to get clarification, there are so many nurses and so many added on we just didn’t know about and we needed clarification,” she said. “The nurses that management wants to include don’t provide direct patient care.”
The union supporters remain strong and momentum in support of a union has not been lost, despite the hold-ups in getting the election scheduled, said Godwin, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at the Downtown Naples campus. NCH management has been disruptive to the nurses’ ability to have a free and fair discussion of the issues, by calling mandatory meetings and other tactics, she said.
“It’s disappointing and unprofessional,” Godwin said. “We want the election as soon as possible. We remain very focused and we have a strong majority. Sometimes it’s hard to sit back and wait.”
She doesn’t see a possible vote in December as a deterrent, despite that the busier winter season will be on hand then, coupled with some co-workers being distracted by the holidays.
“I don’t think it makes a difference,” she said. “We are committed and if it happens to be December, so be it.”
Weiss, NCH’s chief, said the union is running out of issues because many of the complaints voiced earlier this summer have been resolved, such as a 10-percent pay increase for registered nurses and improvements in nurse/patient ratios.
“We think the union is struggling right now as to what to grab onto,” he said.
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I surmise Dr. Weiss's intentions are to tow the company line and earn his bloated CEO salary. Giving the rank and file choice and good pay is probably the last thing someone living in his caviar world would truly believe.
#1 Posted by sunnycity on November 22, 2007 at 9:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Its funny how the pro-union nurses seems to be running out of issues or issues that are not part of the mandatory "collective bargaining process". According to NRLB,the collective bargaining process begins with the union and the employer presenting their proposals. Both parties are required by law to negotiate in "good faith," and are subject to penalties if they fail to do so. This does not mean that an employer must necessarily agree to any specific proposal brought forth by the union. Rather, the duty to bargain in good faith is simply a mutual obligation to participate actively in the deliberations, indicating a present intention to find a basis for agreement. Under collective bargaining process, the union and the employer are legally obligated to discuss employee's wages, hours, and other benefits of employment...hopefully, both parties can find basis of aggreement. Sorry, I hate to bust your bubbles nurses, but patient-ratios is not part of the mandatory topic. Please check the NRLB website before listening to "SEIU Stalin Organizers" promises. Remember that SEIU is more interested in collecting your "dues" rather than representing your issues.
Again NRLB states that topics to be discussed during collective bargaining process fall into one of three categories: mandatory, permissive, or illegal. Mandatory topics that must be discussed by both party are wages and benefits.(No mention of pt/ratios or firing of management)
Permissive topics are issues that either party, the union or employer, may ask to discuss, but which the other party is not required to discuss. Examples of permissive topics include whether job applicants will be required to undergo pre-employment drug testing, patient-ratio, firing of CEO/upper management or whether the company will use the union's label on its products. (Keyword: discuss and not required to discuss) Again, check with the NRLB website.
Illegal (also called "prohibited") topics of collective bargaining are those topics that neither party may raise, such as proposals to discriminate against people of a particular race or allow workers to refuse to handle goods produced by non-union companies.
The employer and union discuss the issues, present information to show the reasonableness of their demands, and try to achieve concessions. Neither party is required to agree to any provision, only to discuss it in good faith. If the parties cannot resolve one or more issues, they have reached what is called "impasse." At this point the union may call a strike, or the employer may "lock out" the union workers. In some circumstances, the employer may bring in replacement. That's when they call me in to replace you. Yes, sireee!!! "STRIKE" I love the word "STRIKE" and I love Unions. Union strikes makes me financial secured while I watch those pro-union nurses picket the line for issues that SEIU does not care or does not know.
#2 Posted by hogwarts on November 29, 2007 at 2:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"The problem is the hospital administration has, from the beginning of the campaign, broken the law on a daily basis by intimidation, threats and constant misinformation to the nurses, while at the same time making sure the organizing committee had no idea of names , addresses , etc. of hospital nurses"
I'm pretty sure that SEIU and pro-union nurses has violated some labor laws. Let's look at some of SEIU's handy dandy work.
SEIU version of Intimidation and Coercion
1- Egging cars and front lawn of of ER nurse.
2. Slashing the bicycle tire of our OR nurse.
3. Death threats by mail or phone to anti-SEIU nurses.
4. Letting air out of tires to one of our ER Nurse.
5. Stealing confidential telephone numbers and addresses of nurses in every department of NCH before the official excelsiour(sp) list.
As your websites states:
"We're proud of the care we provide at NCH. We know it's an excellent hospital. So why do we feel like we need a union? It's simple: we want to make our hospital even better."
Sweet Pickles!!! I like what you have to offer so far, I can't wait until SEIU comes...maybe a cement boots will be a common norm or maybe a firing squad is in order if you miss your "dues". Like I said before, SEIU promotes socialism and communism guise as unionism. See their Constitution and ByLaws and it will reflect the teaching of the "Communist Manifesto". Look at their LOGO and observed the "sickle and the star" which is a symbol of Communism.
Pro-Union Nurses...just drink the bloody Kool-Aide and be done with it. We are sick and tired of hearing your whinning and moaning. If you spend more time with patient care, perhaps we as nurses will get more respect from our community.
P.S. If you call "Striking" as good for the patient care...who will take care the sick and the dying patients while you go on strike? Have you ever heard of Nurses's Oath?
If you want to about learn nursing professionalism, perhaps you should visit www.nunso.org. Those nurses are taking a better approach than what SEIU is promising you.
#3 Posted by hogwarts on November 29, 2007 at 3:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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