Nurse Fired for Standing Up for Patient Care Fights for Her Job Back

January 11, 2008


Frustrated by inconsistent policies, haphazard staffing levels and no real voice in improving patient care, Deirdre Kirkwood and her fellow nurses at Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside decided to come together and form a union. Deirdre--a highly competent and well respected NICU nurse--is a key workplace leader encouraging her co-workers to support the union campaign.

When hospital administrators saw employees coming together, they began to harass and intimidate the nurses. Their first act: firing Deirdre with no notice. Late on the afternoon of Friday, January 4, the head of human resources called Deirdre into a meeting, told her administration was “cleaning house,” and fired the seven-year nurse for “poor morale.” A security guard brought Deirdre her purse and she was told to leave and not come back.

“I am going to fight for my job back,” Deirdre says. She is encouraging her co-workers not to give up on a voice. “Please choose courage over fear,” she implores them. “The most important thing you can do now is learn more about what it means to form a union, sign a union card and vote ‘yes’ once the election occurs.”

 Because Deirdre has never received anything but stellar performance reviews, she can only conclude she was fired for being a union activist. As the nurse who organized holiday gift giving to her department’s managers, Deirdre can hardly be accused of “poor morale.”

The hospital has not let up on its effort to try to silence the nurses. On the evening of Monday, January 7, Deirdre and her family and friends went to Parkview to hand out fliers telling her story to fellow employees. Three police cars showed up to expel them from outside the hospital. When the nurses held a private organizing meeting at a church, three administrators showed up and tried to muscle their way in (they were eventually persuaded to leave).

Deirdre’s co-workers are rallying around her, signing a petition in her support and re-doubling their efforts to collect union cards. And all UNAC/UHCP members are emailing to show our support as well. “I love Parkview, and all we want to do is make it better,” says Deirdre.

Learn More, Take Action:

Read Hillary Clinton's letter supporting the Parkview nurses.

Download Deirdre’s story

Email your message of support to Deirdre

Deirdre’s not alone: thousands of working people get fired every year for being active in union organizing campaigns.

Take action to strengthen federal laws to protect working people organizing for a voice on the job.

Download Fast Facts about Nurses and Unions

Timeline of the Parkview Nurses Campaign

Kicking Off the New Year With The Fight For Good Jobs and Health Care

January 2, 2008


As the New Year begins, UNAC/UHCP activists are getting ready to bargain new contracts. Members at

St. Francis Medical Center will negotiate a new pact, while members at Kaiser Permanente are scheduled to re-open certain sections of their contract.

These UNAC/UHCP members are standing with more than 350,000 working people in 30 different local unions throughout Los Angeles County who will fight for good jobs as they renegotiate contracts in 2008.

To launch these campaigns, the L.A. County Federation of Labor brought together more than 1,000 union activists—including a dozen UNAC/UHCP members—for a boisterous Delegates Congress in December at the Century Plaza Hotel.

UNAC/UHCP members at St. Francis are getting overwhelmed with emergency room admissions, including gunshot wounds, ever since the shutdown of nearby Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital last summer. During negotiations, the nurses will bargain for additional security measures. “We need your help to keep our patients safe,” St. Francis RN Scott Byington told the 1,000 cheering fellow union members at the Congress.

At the gathering, union members heard from elected officials including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Congresswomen Hilda Solis and Laura Richardson, as well as from construction workers, security officers, and port truck drivers who are struggling to form unions.

Joining with fellow union members to map out ways to connect bargaining, organizing and political action in 2008 left UNAC/UHCP member Myrna Madriaga feeling energized. “Having a union means having a voice,” said Madriaga, a registered nurse at Kaiser Panorama City. “And joining together with other unions gives us an even more powerful voice.”



Above, UNAC/UHCP activist Scott Byington, RN, flanked by fellow union members addresses the Delegates Congress

SPNN Members Launch Quality Liaison Initiative

As part of their hard-won contract this summer, members of the Sharp Professional Nurses Network negotiated a new quality initiative giving health care workers a bigger voice in patient care. The quality liaison program will involve nurses in identifying and resolving concerns about the quality of patient care. The quality liaisons will work with fellow union members and activists, as well as staff representatives, to tackle issues such as staffing ratios and meals and breaks.

SPNN activists are recruiting quality liaisons now. Are you a SPNN member who is passionate about quality patient care? Then click here to download a flier with more information about the quality liaison initiative and how to apply.


Nurses are the faces of quality care at Sharp

Health Care Reform Makes Huge Progress in California

December 19, 2007

UNAC/UHCP leaders and members are cheering our elected officials for taking a monumental step forward in reforming our broken health care system.

UNAC/UHCP State Secretary Barbara Blake, RN, joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez at a news conference to celebrate the passage of legislation that will extend health insurance to nearly four million Californians.

“This is the first step in a process toward really pursuing universal health care for all Californians,” Blake said at a news conference at the California Hospital and Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. At a San Diego news conference the following day, UNAC/UHCP members joined elected officials in celebrating at Kaiser San Diego.

Noting that AFSCME, our parent union, helped negotiate the breakthrough bill, Blake said, “We could not walk away from the table without coming to some resolution to make sure that we were able to expand coverage to those people who have no access to insurance.”

The bill will cover more than 75 percent of the uninsured, and provide more funding for hospitals and counties. It will also create a new public purchasing pool with millions expected to enroll and allow the state to establish public insurance options for individuals and employers as an alternative to profit-driven health plans. Finally, it will stop insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing health conditions.

The state Senate is expected to take up the bill in mid-January, and voters will have to approve a companion bill to finance this historic expansion in November.

“We will stay vigilant in this process to make sure all Californians maintain access to quality and affordable health care insurance,” Blake vowed.

 

UNAC/UHCP activists Tom Lewandowski, Judi Maxwell and Asela Espiritu join the Labor Day picnic in Banning Park

Cold Water, Hot Fun for Labor Day 2007

Sept. 4, 2007

Joining with hundreds of other union members from across Los Angeles, UNAC/UHCP activists marched in the annual Labor Day parade, spoke out for health care reform—and cooled off hot and sweaty picnickers by giving out free bottles of much-appreciated ice cold water.

Sporting signs that read “Put Patients First,” and “Nurses for Quality Care,” UNAC/UHCP marchers were greeting by cheers and applause at the morning parade in Wilmington . At the afternoon rally in Banning Park , UNAC/UHCP activist Asela Espiritu challenged her fellow union members to speak out for health care reform.

“Everyday, what I see and hear convinces me we need to reform health care,” Espiritu said. “How many of you know a friend, neighbor or family member who spent 6 or even 12 hours in the ER waiting to be treated?” she asked the crowd. “Have you waited for long hours wondering what happened to your loved ones after surgery because there is no bed available? Or people who have an operation but can’t afford follow up care or the medications to keep them well?” she asked. “This is a crisis,” said Espiritu. “It’s time for our elected officials in Sacramento and in Washington , D.C. , to reform our broken health care system.”

While continuing to work toward universal health care for all, UNAC/UHCP and other unions in California are calling for changes to a bill currently under consideration by state lawmakers that would improve access to health care. With only a few days to go in the legislative session, union members and health care advocates are urging lawmakers and the governor to include cost containment and affordability measures in the bill.

For more information and to take action today, visit the California Labor Federation website.

 

Asela Espiritu urges fellow union members to
support health care reform

Photos by Jeremy Lanni


Help for UNAC/UHCP Members Affected by the Fires

In the aftermath of the devastating fires throughout Southern California, union members are coming to each other's aid. If you need assistance, please take advantage of these resources.

1. AFSCME California Fire Hotline, 1-800-621-5016

The California locals and councils of AFSCME, working with our international union, are ready to help. Please call the hotline to inform us of your needs. Please also call if you have information about other AFSCME members who need help. The toll-free number is 1-800-621-5016.

2. Hotel Rooms in San Diego/Imperial Counties

The San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council is providing hotel rooms for any union member in San Diego and Imperial counties displaced by the fires. For more information, contact the council's Office of Labor Participation at 3737 Camino Del Rio South, Room 106, San Diego, 92108, and 619-641-0074.

3. Face Masks

Face masks are being offered at the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council's Office of Labor Participation at 3737 Camino Del Rio South, Room 106, San Diego, 92108, and 619-641-0074. Please call first to check on availability.

4. Assistance for Orange County Union Members

Orange County union members affected by the fires, and those who wish to contribute to those in need, can contact the United Labor Agency in Orange County at 714-740-0928.

5. Pre-paid Visa Cards, Phone and Computer Access

The San Diego labor council is providing union members affected by the fires pre-paid Visa cards, as well as access to phones and computers. Call 619-641-0074 for more information.

We will provide you with more information about additional resources as it becomes available.

Union Nurses Get Some RESPECT at State Capitol

UNAC/UHCP activists are speaking out for RESPECT in our state capitol. Registered Nurses Scott Byington and Corinne Hollings recently traveled to Sacramento and testified at a hearing in support of Assembly Joint Resolution 28, which would put California lawmakers on record backing the RESPECT Act pending in the U.S. Congress.

The Re-empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act would undo the damage inflicted by the National Labor Relations Board in its so-called Kentucky River decision last year. The board issued a ruling making it easier for employers to unfairly classify millions of working people—including nurses—as “supervisors” and stripping us of our union rights. Patients will suffer if nurses don’t have a voice on the job to be effective advocates.

“Supervisors are often not allowed to speak for patients, because if they say something negative, they risk getting fired,” Byington told the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, which passed the resolution. “I’ve seen supervisors step down from management and become union members and then become very vocal about patient care,” said Byington, who works at St. Francis Medical Center. The full Assembly passed the resolution as well.

The Sacramento trip built on our successful contract negotiations with Kaiser Permanente, Tenet and (most recently) Sharp HealthCare to preserve nurses' voices for patient care on the job in the face of the NLRB's unfair ruling. We also lobbied senators and U.S. representatives during AFSCME's National Nurse Congress in Washington, D.C.

Contract your members of Congress today and encourage them to co-sponsor the RESPECT Act.

SPNN Nurses Ratify New Contract with Sharp HealthCare

Photo of SPNN member casting her ballot

A SPNN member casts her ballot

July 19, 2007

In a big victory for quality patient care in San Diego , SPNN nurses ratified a new contract that includes a stronger voice for frontline caregivers in quality improvements.

“The 3,400 nurses at Sharp will now have a real say in quality of care issues,” says Corinne Hollings, RN, president of the Sharp Professional Nurses Network.

Highlights of the agreement include

1. A real voice for nurses in quality of care issues such as staffing through a binding dispute resolution process;

2. A new retiree health care initiative; 

3. Significant improvements in financial security in retirement, honoring long-term nurses’ lifetime commitment to patients;

4. Competitive wages; and 

5. A resolution of issues around nurses’ access to their union representatives.

The nurses pledge to issue an annual report to the community documenting the steps they are taking to improve the quality of patient care using the tools in the new contract.

In response to the National Labor Relations Board’s notorious “ Kentucky River ” decision, the contract also protects nurses from being classified as “supervisors” and stripped of their voice on the job.

SPNN members will receive more detailed information in the mail shortly.

Check out news coverage in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and on Fox 6 and KUSI-TV.

photo by Laureen Lazarovici



R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Not Just a Great Song, A Great Bill for Nurses

May 9, 2007


SPNN President Corinne Hollings brushes up for her lobbying meeting at the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein during the AFSCME-UNA Nurse Congress.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T is a great song by Aretha Franklin. It’s also the name of an important bill pending in the U.S. Congress. During National Nurses Week, UNAC/UHCP activists and union nurses from all over the country stormed Capitol Hill to demand RESPECT, which stands for the Re-empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers Act.

The bill would undo the damage inflicted by the National Labor Relations Board in its so-called Kentucky River decision last year. The board issued a ruling making it easier for employers to unfairly classify millions of working people—including nurses—as “supervisors” and stripping us of our union rights. Patients will suffer if nurses don’t have a voice on the job to be effective advocates .

“We are the voice for patients who can’t speak for themselves,” Scott Byington, RN, told staffers for Sen. Dianne Feinstein during an intense lobbying day on Capitol Hill May 8. The NLRB’s unfair ruling “takes the nurses’ voice away from the bedside” and must be changed, he said.

While some UNAC/UHCP members lobbied their members of Congress, others attended a Congressional committee hearing on the proposed legislation, listening to fellow nurse Lori Gay of Salt Lake City, Utah, whose union drive was thwarted when a large chunk of nurses in her unit were deemed to be "supervisors." Click here to read her full testimony and watch a webcast of the hearing. "We congratulated Lori for her courage and standing up for her rights, which are also our rights," said Mary Brownridge, RN, a UNAC/UHCP member at Kaiser Bellflower.

UNAC/UHCP members have been combating the ruling by negotiating with employers to preserve our union voice. Standing together, union members worked with Kaiser Permanente and Tenet to negotiate contract language ensuring nurses aren’t stripped of their rights. But we need laws, in addition to strong contract language, to uphold these rights, said Corinne Hollings, the president of the UNAC/UHCP affiliate at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, the Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN).

SPNN is negotiating a new contract with Sharp—and ensuring nurses’ union rights is on the bargaining table. “We know what life was like before the union and we don’t want to go back,” said Hollings. “Protecting our rights shouldn’t be an issue in 2007,” she says. “We need unions more than ever today, with exorbitant CEO salaries while the average worker is barely keeping up.”

As UNAC/UHCP activists were in Washington, D.C., lobbying for the RESPECT Act during AFSCME’s National Nurse Congress, members back home in Southern California are e-mailing their elected officials as well. Click here to learn more and send an e-mail today to your members of Congress.

Photo by Bill Burke


UNAC/UHCP Members Spread the Word about Freedom to Choose a Union

May 2, 2007

In the media and in the nation’s capital, UNAC/UHCP members are spreading the word about working people’s freedom to form unions.

Vernell Stepter, a union activist at Kaiser South Bay, appeared on KPFK-FM in a radio documentary about the Employee Free Choice Act, pending federal legislation that would enable working people to form unions when a majority signs union authorization cards. It would also strengthen penalties for companies that illegally interfere with working people who try to form unions and bargain, and it would establish mediation and binding arbitration when employers and employees can’t agree on a first contract.

And Kaiser Orange County activist Asela Espiritu traveled to Washington, D.C., to help the advocacy group American Rights at Work honor Kaiser Permanente for “creating a management-union partnership based on mutual trust and respect” and an environment where health care professionals have a real voice in improving the quality of patient care.


UNAC/UHCP Activist Asela Espiritu in Washington, D.C., speaking out for our rights.

As part of the Labor Management Partnership, the company is committed to remaining neutral during union organizing drives—a stark contrast to the aggressive anti-union campaigns the vast majority of employers launch when employees try to come together for a voice on the job. The Partnership agreement also allows employees to form a union by majority sign-up, which is exactly what nearly 800 nurses did in March to join UNAC/UHCP. The Orange County Register highlighted that victory recently, profiling new member Anne Hyatt, a case manager at Kaiser Orange County, who is quoted as saying, “Kaiser was impartial—they really were—and that’s one thing that really impressed me.”

“The Partnership at Kaiser is advanced,” Espiritu told 400 supporters at the awards gala, held at the ornate National Museum of Women and the Arts. “What we have at Kaiser should be implemented as the law,” said Espiritu, who helped TV star Bradley Whitford (“Josh” from The West Wing), an American Rights at Work board member, present Kaiser Senior Vice President Lon O’Neil with the award.

While in the nation’s capital, Espiritu also discussed her experience forming a union free from employer intimidation with about 100 civic and religious leaders at a meeting organized by the AFL-CIO to build support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Learn more:

Thank your senators for supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.

Check out Asela Espiritu standing up for union rights in AFSCME Works magazine and on the Labor Management Partnership website.

Read an AFL-CIO blog post about the difference between Asela’s experience forming a union and what others normally go through: threats, intimidation and getting fired.

Read about Anne Hyatt’s experience joining UNAC/UHCP in the Orange County Register.


Asela shares a laugh with TV star Bradley Whitford and Kaiser Permanente Senior Vice President Lon O'Neil before the award ceremony.

 

 

UNAC/UHCP Activist Testifies at State Capitol for Safe Lifting Bill

April 24, 2007

Calling a proposed lift team bill “a triple win” for hospitals, patients and nurses, UNAC/UHCP member Barbara Owens, RN, traveled to Sacramento to testify in favor of the legislation and make the voices of union health care professionals heard.

After listening to Owens, the state Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee passed S.B. 171, which would require hospitals to establish a zero lift policy. S.B. 171 would help prevent the back, neck and shoulder injuries caused by lifting patients without the proper help.  The Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the bill on April 23 and will take it up at the end of May. A parallel bill, A.B. 371, is making its way through Assembly committees as well.

“In an era of serious nursing shortages, this bill will ensure strong laws that will keep health care professionals healthy and working, caring for our patient population that is older, sicker and heavier,” Owens, a workplace safety leader at Kaiser Woodland Hills, told lawmakers.

 If the provisions of S.B. 171 sound familiar, they should. The state legislature has passed safe lifting bills three times—and three times has Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed them. UNAC/UHCP members aren’t giving up: we’re emailing our elected officials to urge their support of the bill.

Safe lifting is one of the four issues UNAC/UHCP members are discussing with their state senators and assembly members in a series of visits to the lawmakers’ district offices. We’re also making our voices heard on health care reform, nurse education and safe-staffing ratios. Are you interested in meeting lawmakers in their home district offices? Then call the UNAC/UHCP office at 800-762-5874, and let State Secretary Barbara Blake know.

UNAC activists at Kaiser Woodland Hills discuss priority issues with Assemblywoman Julia Brownley at her district office

Michele Wargo-Sugleris, Hali McCravy and Barbara Owens, UNAC/UCHP activists at Kaiser Woodland Hills, discuss
priority issues with Assemblywoman Julia Brownley
(in blue jacket) at her district office.

Photos by Jay Mallin

TV News Covers SPNN Members' Concerns about Quality of Patient Care

Union Files Charges When Nurses Are Kicked Out of Hospitals

April 9, 2007

KUSI TV news in San Diego is shining a spotlight on union nurses trying to improve the quality of care at Sharp HealthCare. The nurses surveyed there say preventable patient injuries are occurring because of poor staffing and lack of medical supplies. But when union nurses and representatives tried to respond to the troubling results of the survey and investigate the problem, Sharp managers silenced them.

On March 27, a union nurse with more than 20 years of nursing experience tried to go to Sharp Grossmont Hospital to discuss crucial patient care issues with union members. Unfortunately, Maryann Cone, the Chief Nursing Officer of Grossmont Hospital , personally ordered the nurse to leave. Our union filed charges to prevent Sharp from silencing us.

When nurses returned a few days later, a KUSI-TV news crew recorded their concerns. "Instead of working with nurses to improve the care we provide our patients, Sharp is turning away nurses. That’s bad for nurses and bad for patients,” says Pam Jackson, RN, a UNAC/UHCP member and post-partum nurse at Sharp’s Grossmont Hospital .

The contract between Sharp and UNAC/UHCP is set to expire in June and talks are scheduled to begin this month.

You can fax Sharp managers right now, express your outrage at their behavior and ask them to stop silencing nurses’ voices.

Click here to watch the TV news coverage of the nurses’ campaign.

UNAC/UHCP Members at Tenet Ratify New Contract

Pact Protects Nurses’ Union Voice

March 5, 2007

Strengthening our voice for quality patient care throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties, more than 1,400 UNAC/UHCP members at four Tenet facilities ratified a new master contract by an overwhelming majority.

In addition to other economic improvements, the three-year master contract includes a wage increase of 5.25 percent the first year, 5 percent in the second and 5 percent in the third.

“Hospitals are competing for the best nurses, and a good salary is a first step in attracting and retaining quality nurses so they can be the backbone of care for the patients,” says Joel Emerson, RN. “The next step is creating a desirable environment, and having a union helps with that because we have a way of solving workplace issues,” says Emerson, a nurse in the Definitive Observation Unit at Tenet’s Lakewood facility and member of the union’s negotiating team.

Significantly, the contract with Tenet prohibits the company from stripping the nurses of their voice on the job with a union. Last fall, the federal National Labor Relations Board, in its "Kentucky River" decision, gave employers wide latitude to re-classify some nurses as “supervisors,” and take away union rights.

This marks our union’s second success in working with an employer to preserve nurses’ rights to be effective advocates for quality patient care. Last summer, Kaiser Permanente also agreed not to strip nurses of their union voice on the job.

The Tenet master agreement covers UNAC/UHCP members at the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, and Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center.

Photo by Minerva Aller-dela Fuente, RN

Time to Tell Senate to Support Employee Free Choice Act

March 2, 2007

Bolstered by union members all over the country, the House of Representatives passed legislation that will help working people win the freedom to form unions free from employer harassment and improve their lives with union contracts.

With a vote of 241 to 185, the House passed the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed federal legislation that would enable working people to form unions when a majority signs union authorization cards. It would also strengthen penalties for companies that illegally interfere with working people who try to form unions and bargain, and it would establish mediation and binding arbitration when employers and employees can’t agree on a first contract.

Asela Espiritu, RN Mary Cavanaugh, OD

Dozens of UNAC/UHCP members sent emails to their representatives in the House urging them to support the bill, while UNAC/UHCP activists Asela Espiritu and Mary Cavanaugh are featured on the AFL-CIO website as spokeswomen for this exciting national campaign.  

Now that the House has passed this historic bill, it’s time to ask our U.S. Senators to support the Employee Free Choice Act also.

In theory, working people—including health care professionals—have the right to form unions. But in reality, the laws protecting working people are so weak and so badly enforced that this “right” hardly exists at all. Employers routinely coerce, intimidate, harass, threaten—and even fire—people who try to form unions and bargain good contracts.  

UNAC/UHCP members know what these kinds of campaigns are like. When professionals at the Lakewood Regional Medical Center wanted to join UNAC/UHCP for a voice in patient care, the company sent out anti-union mailers and held mandatory meetings to barrage nurses with anti-union propaganda. After nurses won the union election with 80 percent support, management dragged out negotiations. When union members held an informational picket outside the facility, administrators turned on the sprinklers.

That’s not all: At Irvine, union activists were fired based on trumped up charges; Sharp mailed out an anti-union video and dragged out negotiations; and St. Francis management fought the nurses’ desire to have a union for 10 years, all the way to the Supreme Court.

We know it doesn’t have to be that way. Some employers agree to a much fairer, more civilized process to see whether or not their employees want a union. They remain neutral during union organizing campaigns and, if a majority of working people sign cards indicating they want a union, then they recognize the union.

 In 1997, UNAC/UHCP negotiated just such an agreement with Kaiser Permanente. Since then, nurses at Kaiser Orange County , as well as optometrists and physician assistants, have joined UNAC/UHCP because the majority sign-up/neutrality agreement allowed them to express their desire for a union without fear of employer harassment.

We know it would be better if all health care professionals—and all working people in general—could make a free choice about whether or not to join a union using this fair and civilized process. And the majority of the House of Representatives agrees.

Now it’s our job to make our voices heard in the U.S. Senate as well.

More:

Read the comments of Asela Espiritu, Kaiser Orange County RN, on the AFL-CIO website.

Check out Kaiser optometrist Mary Cavanaugh speaking out for the true freedom to form unions.

Take action! Tell your U.S. Senator to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Read the majority sign-up/neutrality agreement with Kaiser Permanente. 

 


Hotel Workers Fighting for Their Rights Get Boost from UNAC/UHCP Activist

Dec. 12, 2006

When a group of hotel workers in Los Angeles struggling to form a union went on a four-day fast to draw attention to their effort, a UNAC/UHCP nurse was there—not only to check their vital signs but also to offer words of encouragement.

Thousands of housekeepers, bell men, banquet waiters and other workers at the hotels near Los Angeles International Airport want to form a union with UNITE HERE so they can have what all UNAC/UHCP members have: a voice to negotiate with their employers for fair wages, health insurance benefits and safer workplaces. However, hotel management is fighting the workers instead of honoring their desire to join the union.

Five days into their fast, the 16 hotel workers holding their vigil outside the Westin LAX asked that a nurse check their vital signs. UNAC/UHCP activist Rose Aldape checked the fasters’ temperature and blood pressure—and boosted their morale.

“I was very impressed by the ladies” who were fasting, Aldape said. “They are very courageous and very passionate.”

The hotel workers are scheduled to end their fast this evening with an interfaith procession led by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Learn More:

Get more information about the hotel workers’ campaign.


Photos by Jeremy Lanni

Building Strength Through Organizing:

Resurrection Nurses Reach Out at Convention

Nov. 8, 2006

Fighting for a voice in patient care, nurses from Resurrection Health Care in Chicago came to our convention to thank UNAC/UHCP leaders and activists for traveling to Illinois several times to aid them in their campaign to organize with AFSCME Council 31.

Resurrection nurse Diana Connal said health care professionals like her want a union to improve patient care. UNAC/UHCP’s role in passing safe staffing ratios in California is inspiring nurses to form unions, she said. “We have nurses with eight and eleven patients. It is appalling,” Connal said. “We are organizing not only for ourselves but for our patients.” When UNAC/UHCP nurses visit their Resurrection counterparts, “we can see what is possible” when nurses have a union, Connal said. “We see how you can solve problems with a contract.”

Union members are in a unique position to boost the morale of nurses who are struggling to organize on the job, giving them the confidence to overcome tough employer opposition, Resurrection nurses told convention delegates. Managers at the Resurrection Health Care chain have run a relentless campaign against the nurses’ organizing efforts. Just last month, the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Resurrection, saying it barred employees from handing out union materials—in violation of federal labor law. Nurses say managers also interfere with the right to organize by interrogating union activists and threatening an off-duty employee because she was wearing a union t-shirt.

“There is nothing stronger than having a union nurse talk to a non-union nurse, one on one, about patient care issues,” said Resurrection nurse Maggie Nielsen. “We want to thank you for your hard work.”

UNAC/UHCP activist Daria Smith, who is volunteering to help organize a group of fellow nurses at Kaiser, agrees that union nurses must reach out. “We need our members to let people know what the organized world is like—the large voice, the camaraderie, the solidarity.” As a volunteer member-organizer, “What you do is awesome,” Smith said. “You’re changing somebody’s life.”


Daria Smith, at right, with Kaiser Fontana colleagues

Photo by Chris Farina

Convention Delegates Chart UNAC/UHCP’s Future

Vote for Streamlined Leadership Structure, Bigger PAC

October 19, 2006

Delegates to the 2006 UNAC/UHCP convention—our largest ever—approved amendments that chart a new path for our union’s future and paid tribute to Executive Vice President Sonia Moseley, who is retiring at the end of the year after more than 30 years of service to the union.

Meeting in Las Vegas Oct. 15-18, the more than 500 delegates also re-elected Kathy J. Sackman as president and Barbara Blake as state secretary. They elected UNAC/UHCP Representation Coordinator Ken Deitz to fill Moseley’s unexpired term effective January 1, 2007 as executive vice president and chose four new members of the Board of Directors: Mary Cavanaugh, O.D., and registered nurses Tim Uliasz, Fred Tinamisan, and Scott Byington.

After a frank and spirited debate, nearly 79 percent of the delegates voted to amend the state constitution and transition to a new leadership structure that streamlines the number of state officers and frees up resources to build strength among our members at the grassroots.

Wendy Burrell, an activist at the Fountain Valley Professional Association, argued against the proposed constitutional amendment. “There are more check and balances with four officers,” instead of the two envisioned in the proposal, Burrell said.

But in the end, a strong majority of delegates agreed with Forrest Hooper of the Sharp Professional Nurses Network, who said, “For the best use of our resources, we need to pass this amendment.” The new structure will be phased in gradually over the next several years, allowing for a smooth transition. All members will be receiving the new constitutional language in the mail in the near future.

In another important move, the delegates voted to boost funding for our political action committee so we can have a stronger voice to affect the public policy issues of concern to health care professionals and our patients. Some delegates argued it would be too divisive for our union to get more politically active, but most agreed with Deb Saia of SPNN when she said, “We need to wake up. If we want to have a strong voice, we need the resources.” Bob Wilson, our union’s legislative advocate in the state capital, said the new funding for the PAC would make a huge difference. “This strengthens UNAC/UHCP in Sacramento in a very significant way,” said Wilson.

Delegates earned continuing education credits by learning about their role in furthering public policy and legislation; heart disease, cholesterol and obesity; and nurse recruiting and retention. This was the first time physician assistants have been able to earn continuing medical education credits at our union convention.

Check the website often for more in-depth reports from the convention—including information on political and organizing campaigns—and look for a special photo essay in the upcoming issue of The Voice.

Photo by Chris Farina

NLRB Attacks Quality Patient Care by Stripping Nurses of Rights on the Job

Federal Panel Gives Employers Recipe to Deny Nurses Union Voice

Oct. 3, 2006

UNAC/UHCP members are warning that today’s ruling by a key federal panel could put patients at risk and make the nursing shortage worse.

The National Labor Relations Board, in its Oakwood decision, gave employers broad power to strip some charge nurses of their rights to a voice on the job by reclassifying them as “supervisors.” Without union protections, nurses can be disciplined and even fired if they speak out on behalf of their patients.

“This is not just an attack on nursing, it’s an attack on health care,” says UNAC/UHCP activist Scott Byington, R.N., who works at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. “If nurses can’t speak up, there is no one to speak for patients.”

In addition to standing up for quality patient care at the bedside, nurse unions fight for patients in the public policy arena. We’ve won stronger nurse-patient ratios mandating safe staffing in hospitals—and fended off attacks to weaken the ratios.

Hundreds of UNAC/UHCP members sent emails to their members of Congress, asking them to urge the NLRB to hold oral arguments on the cases. The NLRB refused.

In its decision, the NLRB essentially gave employers an instruction manual on how to reclassify workers as “supervisors”—in name only.

“The NLRB ignored what common sense tells us: nurses use independent judgment and direct the flow of work during their shifts,” says Kathy Sackman, R.N., UNAC/UHCP president. “That makes nurses responsible caregivers and patient advocates, not supervisors.”

According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, as many as 843,000 nurses nationwide could be affected by the ruling. Union leaders say the decision will discourage young people from pursuing careers in nursing because they  want to know their managers will listen to them—not fire them—when they stand up for quality patient care.

“If we lose our voice, we can’t stand up for our patients,” says Ann Beilby, R.N., a UNAC/UHCP activist who works at Bear Valley Community Hospital in Big Bear Lake. “And it’s only through the union that we have a strong voice.”

Nurses and our unions nationally will be working in the legal, legislative and political arenas to fight back.

Learn more:

Read AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney’s statement on the decision.

Check out AFSCME President Gerald McEntee’s reaction to the NLRB. 

In August, Kaiser Permanente pledged to respect our union voices--no matter what the NLRB did. Read the contract language.

Read UNAC/UHCP activist Judy King’s comments in the San Diego Union Tribune.

UNAC/UHCP Members Shine a Spotlight on Health Care Issues During Labor Day Celebration

Veto of S.B. 840 Doesn’t Stop Campaign for Universal Health Care

Sept. 6, 2006

UNAC/UHCP members Rose Aldape and Susan Anderson marked Labor Day by spreading the word about two crucial health care issues: universal access to health care and preserving nurses’ voice on the job.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed S.B. 840, the landmark universal health care bill, the day after Labor Day, but UNAC/UHCP members are pledging to stay active in the campaign to ensure all Californians have access to quality health care.

“As a nurse, I know things would be better if we could maintain people’s health,” Aldape told hundreds of union members at the L.A. County Federation of Labor’s annual Labor Day rally and picnic in Wilmington. “I want to see a person before their diabetes gets out of whack, before they’ve had a heart attack,” said Aldape, an R.N. at Kaiser Permanente South Bay.

Our union is part of a statewide coalition building support for universal health care and is planning an event in San Diego County in early October. Keep an eye on your email and this website for more information.

Susan Anderson, R.N. at Kaiser Permanente South Bay, warned union activists about the dire consequences for patients if the federal National Labor Relations Board strips nurses of their voice on the job by reclassifying them as “supervisors.”

“Many nurses would be afraid to speak up,” Anderson said. “Some would think twice about speaking up when nurses are working long shifts. As a patient, what kind of care would you get under those circumstances?”

Both controversies show why it’s important for health care professionals and union members to be politically active and support candidates and elected officials who stand up for the issues that matter most to us, Aldape and Anderson told their fellow union members.

Take action to preserve nurses’ voices.
Sign up to get the UNAC/UHCP Action Team’s email alerts on key policy issues.


Kaiser Permanente Agrees to Preserve Nurses’ Voices

Aug. 17, 2006

Thanks to the strength of our union’s Labor Management Partnership with Kaiser Permanente, we’ve won important new contract language preserving nurses’ ability to be strong advocates for their patients.

The National Labor Relations Board is threatening to reclassify nurses as “supervisors,” which would give employers leeway to take away our right to be in unions. After negotiating with Kaiser Permanente, on August 14, our union reached a significant agreement: The company is adding clear and unambiguous language to our contract promising to honor our bargaining unit. KP will not take away the rights of any of nurses to be union members during the term of the contract.

No other union in California has this contractual protection. We won this victory because of the mutual trust and respect built by the Labor Management Partnership.

While Kaiser Permanente has done the right thing, this fight is still going on for all nurses. We’re asking our members of Congress to urge the NLRB to hold public hearings on these cases. Take action today to preserve nurses’ voices.

Read and download the contract language protecting nurses' union rights.

UNAC/UHCP Members in San Diego Stand Up for Quality Patient Care

Message to NLRB: ‘Don’t Silence Nurses’ Voices’

July 10, 2006

UNAC/UHCP nurses gathered in front of the San Diego office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a news conference Monday morning to publicly urge the federal panel to rule in favor of quality patient care.

The NLRB is considering a set of cases that could allow employers to reclassify some Registered Nurses known as “charge nurses” as “supervisors,” stripping them of certain union protections when advocating for quality patient care.

The nurses are calling on the labor board to hold hearings on the cases. So far, the NLRB has refused. A ruling is expected any time.

“If the NLRB rules against nurses, it will deal a serious blow to quality patient care,” says Judy King, RN, a recovery room nurse at Sharp Memorial Hospital and member of UNAC/UHCP. “The fact that I have a voice on the job means I can speak out at my workplace and advocate for my patients,” says King. “Many nurses without a union backing them are often reluctant to voice their concerns in the workplace for fear of jeopardizing their jobs.”

Unionized nurses have a rich history of advocating collectively for quality patient care. California’s landmark nurse-to-patient ratio laws mandating safe staffing in hospitals was a nursing union-sponsored bill and has led to more consistent patient care and patient safety. Nurses have also fought for rest periods and shift rules that allow them to deliver their best care to their patients every day.

“This decision will affect everyone in our community who will ever be a patient in a hospital,” says Stephanie Densmore, RN, an operating room nurse at Kaiser Permanente San Diego. “We are here today to protect our patients and our community,” says UNAC/UHCP member Densmore.

Unions not only protect nurses against unfair retaliation when they raise concerns about patient care in their workplaces, but also help foster an environment of mutual respect and open communication so nurses and hospital managers can work together on an ongoing basis to improve patient care.

The labor board could rule that nurses who periodically act as charge nurses or coordinate other nurses’ care in their units are “supervisors”—even though they don’t perform traditional supervisory duties such as evaluating and disciplining employees.

“The reality is that charge nurses are not ‘supervisors,’” says Sonia Moseley, a registered nurse practitioner and Executive Vice President of UNAC/UHCP. “They are patient advocates and deserve to have a voice on the job.”

Read the press release

Read the statements

Take action: Write to your members of Congress and ask them to urge the NLRB to hold oral arguments

Read and hear the coverage on KPBS radio

Check out the remarks of Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a former nurse, made on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives

A Hospital in Seattle wants to reclassify all its 600 nurses as supervisors and take away their union voice. Find out more.

Zero Lift Bill Progresses - Take Action Today for Workplace Safety

June 30, 2006

Great news! With our union’s support, an important workplace safety bill passed a key state Assembly committee. S.B. 1204, by Sen. Don Perata, would require hospitals to establish a zero lift policy. The bill would eliminate unassisted manual lifting for all shifts by using lift teams as well as lift devices and equipment. It would also ensure health care providers get the training they need to reduce lift-related injuries. This type of injury prevention plan for lifting and moving patients protects both health care workers and our patients.

On June 29, the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee gave its stamp of approval to the bill, which has already passed the full state Senate. More than one hundred UNAC/UHCP members have emailed their assembly members to express their support for safe workplaces. Have you? Click here to send a message to your state assembly member.

During Workers Memorial Day in April, UNAC/UHCP activist Barbara Owens, RN, spoke out about safe lifting and S.B. 1204. Click here to read more about Barbara’s presentation to the Southern California Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health.

Take action today to support a zero lift policy for all of California’s health care workers!

Federal Panel Threatens to Muzzle Nurses’ Voices - Take Action Today

June 28, 2006

As union nurses and health care professionals, we know how important our voices are to safeguarding patient safety. And we have a voice on the job thanks to our union and our strength in numbers. But at the time when our voices are so vital, a key federal labor board is getting ready to issue a decision that is likely to diminish our power to fight for the best care for our patients and communities.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that interprets the National Labor Relations Act, is set to rule on three cases that will clarify the definition of “supervisor.” The board could rule that nurses who periodically act as charge nurses or who direct less-skilled employees are “supervisors”—even though they don’t perform traditional supervisory duties such as evaluating and disciplining employees.

We are letting the NLRB know that charge nurses are not “supervisors”—they are patient advocates and deserve to have a voice on the job. The NLRB can hold hearings on these cases—but it has refused. We are asking our members of Congress to request NLRB Chairman Robert J. Battista reverse that decision and hold oral arguments on these important cases.

Click here to take action!

If the board rules against nurses’ rights, many nurses could be stripped of our eligibility to be part of unions and could lose our voices in the workplace. We know that nurses without a union backing them are often reluctant to speak out in the workplace for fear of jeopardizing their jobs. Nurses reclassified as “supervisors” could be disciplined or even fired for supporting the union!

Take action today to prevent the NLRB from silencing our voices and striking a blow against quality patient care.

Great News for SPNN Members!

Sharp Professional Nurses Network Wins Wage Increases

June 2, 2006

After rejecting Sharp management's proposal to extend their union contract, SPNN members won significant wage increases without extending the contract or compromising the principles they laid out. All bargaining unit RNs won a one-time wage increase. In addition, BSN, Masters, charge nurse and preceptor differentials will increase. Though unable to reach agreement on several important issues, the nurses will work hard next year to negotiate language to address their top priorities. The support and commitment of SPNN members were key to winning these improvements. SPNN members will receive more detailed information in the mail soon.

GOVERNOR SEES THE LIGHT ON NURSING RATIOS

NOVEMBER 28, 2005
Just two days after his Special Election defeat, Governor Schwarzenegger publicly backed down from his ill-advised quest to water down California’s safe staffing laws.

“UNAC/UHCP members should be proud of our success promoting nursing ratios,” said President Kathy Sackman, RN. “This is a huge victory for quality patient care in our state, and it didn’t just happen on its own.”

The Governor backed down for two reasons. First, the public sided with unions, professional associations, and patient care advocates in the Special Election, turning back his corporate special interest agenda. Our bodybuilding Governor just doesn’t have enough strength to continue losing campaigns such as the attack on nursing ratios.

Second, the corporate lie about nursing ratios has been exposed for all to see. In the months since California hospitals have been forced to comply with the new ratios despite protests from the Schwarzenegger administration, hospitals haven’t been closing down and we have seen patient care improve in our wards. We knew why the hospital CEOs were really dragging their feet when it came to safe staffing: it wasn’t about keeping hospitals open, it was about keeping shareholders wallets plump.

UNAC/UHCP was instrumental in the victory for safe staffing on both fronts. We were part of the broad coalition that exposed the Governor’s special interest agenda in the Special Election. We stood up front with teachers and firefighters, and let the public know who really stood for the interests of Californians.

And we worked with officials at Kaiser Permanente to institute industry-leading staffing ratios that proved to the world what we knew all along: that safe staffing is good business as well as the right thing to do!