labor:

MountainView resists nurses’ organizing bid

Backers of Calfornia-based union say hospital needs minimum staffing requirements

Chris Morris

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Archive of Sun health stories

Taking flight (5-22-2009)
Nurses at Henderson's St. Rose hospitals leave SEIU (4-2-2009)
Rival unions' efforts reconcile will be visible to valley nurses (3-20-2009)
Nobody wins: Second vote leaves nurses divided, unions' fight unresolved (12-5-2008)

After striking a truce with a rival union, the California Nurses Association is expanding its reach in the Las Vegas Valley by trying to organize nurses at MountainView Hospital.

Early signs are that the union is in for a fight.

In March, after a yearlong battle, the California-based union took over from the Service Employees International Union representation of 1,100 nurses at the three St. Rose Dominican hospitals. In return, the nurses association ceased its efforts to replace the SEIU at other Las Vegas hospitals.

MountainView Hospital is fair game for the CNA, however, because its nurses are not organized. Union leaders say they have won the loyalty of many of the 425 nurses at the hospital, which is owned by the Tennessee-based chain Hospital Corporation of America.

Last week about 30 nurses and union officials tried to meet with MountainView CEO Will Wagnon. He agreed to meet with two of them but called on hospital security personnel to escort the others out of his office, according to a nurse who participated. Wagnon refused the union’s request to remain neutral while they try to organize.

In a flier to the staff, Wagnon wrote that it’s in the nurses’ best interest to communicate directly with administrators, not through a union.

“The CNA wants its voice to be heard on this important issue, a voice that makes grandiose promises and so-called guarantees to induce nurses at our hospital to sign union cards,” Wagnon wrote.

The voice of the administration “will not be silenced,” he wrote.

Two days later the CNA filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to allow nurses to vote on union representation by secret-ballot election.

Lisa Morowitz, a national coordinator with the CNA, said the efforts at the hospital started loosely about 18 months ago, when the union focused on organizing within the HCA hospital chain. Efforts grew more serious at MountainView in recent months, she said.

In October, MountainView was almost decertified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services because of infection control problems, according to reports by state health officials. Inspectors found blood on the floor of a lab, a physician assistant contaminating equipment with a bloody glove and no system in place to track whether patients had picked up an infection after undergoing outpatient endoscopy or cardiac catheterization procedures. MountainView issued a corrective action plan and saved its Medicare certification.

“Nurses have become increasingly concerned about patient care standards,” Morowitz said.

One of the primary problems, she said, has been the staffing levels, which have “eroded to the point where they feel their patients are in jeopardy and their licenses are in jeopardy.”

One of the hospital’s registered nurses, Orsburn Stone, said he’s been leading the efforts to unionize because staffing levels have created unsafe conditions. For example, he said nurses in the intensive care unit have been expected to handle three patients at a time, one more than they can care for safely. Staffing levels in other units have also been unsafe, he said.

Stone also said hospital administrators don’t allow nurses to have representation when they face discipline. A nurse was denied her request to be represented by her lawyer daughter at a disciplinary hearing, he said.

“They’re trouncing on people’s legal and constitutional rights,” Stone said. “They have gotten away with it for years.”

Hospital officials declined to be interviewed Monday, but issued a statement: “The decision about whether or not to be represented by a labor union is an important choice and we are committed to providing the facts to our nurses. We believe that once our nurses know the truth about the California Nurses Union, and its organizing failures inside and outside of California, they will choose to remain union free.”

The CNA started in 1993 with about 17,000 members and claims credit for achieving mandatory nurse staffing ratios in California. It now represents about 86,000 nurses, and through an alliance with two other unions nationally, represents about 150,000 nurses. MountainView would be its first organizing victory in Las Vegas, but the union does represent about 500 nurses at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno.

The National Labor Relations Board is working with both parties to set an election date. A hearing is set for Friday in case there are issues to address, Labor Relations officials said.

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By neiman1

6/16/09 at 11:04 a.m.

Suggest removal

Nurses in California represented by CNA have repeatedly held strikes across the SF Bay area. This has cost the hospitals millions in temporary nurse pay and has resulted in repeated 10 day lock outs as hospitals have to schedule 10 days for the nurses they fly in to work during the strikes.

One hospital in norther California has been going through contract negotiations for over 2 years. Every employee in the hospital has received raises except those represented by CNA as the law prohibits giving raises during negotiations. The only issue holding up the union contract is over a closed shop or open shop. The union has always put dues ahead of wages or patient care.
By specialangel2000

6/28/09 at 11:08 p.m.

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See www.onevoice-ourvoice.com to see how the nurses of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California said NO to the CNA

There are over 300,000 Registered Nurses in the State of CA and only about 65,000 belong to the CNA. They do NOT speak for the majority of nurses in California. Don't be fooled by the union rhetoric.
By SherwoodRN

7/16/09 at 4:03 p.m.

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Nurses all over California are making efforts to decertify the California Nurses Association. Nurses across the country ask me how to beat back unionizing efforts by the CNA. The agressive tactics and outright lies used by the California Nurses Association shame the nursing profession and confuse the public.

The CNA claims to be the "voice for nurses" yet when nurses use their voice and speak their mind against unionizing and against the union then the union uses the money taken from other nurses to muzzle them.

Mountain View Nurses, do not let the California Nurses Association take away your voice. Demand to be heard and question the motivation and ethics of those who would try to silence you.
By JMcDermedRN

7/16/09 at 4:56 p.m.

Suggest removal

What the CNA or any other labor organization fails to tell it's nurses (and the media) is that having a union certified alone cannot mandate staffing ratios- as a matter of fact, the only body that can govern and mandate such ratios is state legislature.

Unions prey upon nurses, force membership and take their hard earned paychecks for political lobbying that has little to do with the improvement of nursing as a profession and more to do with personal interests of the CEOs of those companies.

People often forget that just like anything else in this country, unions are a business too and they need money to run just like any other business. While they claim their best interests are that of the employee they seek to 'represent', their actions speak louder than words. Not only will unions insult the very employees that they seek to represent by insulting their patient care and stating that they're spread too thin to provide that care, but they'll also insult the company in which those RNs work- attacking the physicians, the corporation as a whole and the hospital. It's intimidation tactics, it's mudslinging- it's American politics at it's finest.

Labor organizations have already driven the American car companies into the ground. Do we want them to do the same to healthcare and nursing?

An additional comment regarding the employee who wanted to bring in her daughter who was supposedly an attorney- what had she done that necessitated an attorney in the first place? Furthermore, was the employee's daughter specialty in law healthcare/malpractice? Beyond that, why didn't the employee pursue an attorney that *wasn't* a family member? While I can appreciate one's need to feel 'protected', I certainly would not ask my daughter of all people to come sit in a disciplinary meeting with me- whether or not she was an attorney, CIA or President of the United States. Let's be professional here. It sounds like an injustice until you analyze the situation.

Much like the propaganda that the CNA and any other labor organization will spread to attack the profession of nursing.

Stay Strong Mountain View Nurses! Vote No! Change comes from within, not from your wallet.

-J. McDermed RN
Centerpoint Medical Center
Independence, MO
By ischleg

7/16/09 at 9:33 p.m.

Suggest removal

Here we go again! C.N.A. on the march...now in Las Vegas! And guess what they are doing??? Gambling your money away! That is all they are after, don't even think it is anything like advancing the nursing profession! They are on a mission to destroy it! You have to fight them with all you've got! They poison the environment with their lies and with their outrageous promises! Stand up for your rights! We had to fight them, and they are still infiltrating our environment. they are worse than a bad infection! Check out some info on our efforts at http://www.stopunions.com/st_agnes_fresn...
Be strong and vote NO!