Home > Nurses protest move to narrow union roles

Nurses protest move to narrow union roles

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 15 July 2006

Un/Employment Trade unions Demos-Actions Health USA

By Sandy Kleffman

More than 400 nurses rallied Tuesday in downtown Oakland, hoping to prevent a legal decision they said could sharply restrict union membership and limit the power of the influential California Nurses Association and other labor groups.

This is a fight we're going to win -- they're not going to bust our union,'' Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the nurse's union, told the crowd. The noon event mirrored a rally in downtown Los Angeles that also drew several hundred nurses and their supporters. Similar events are planned in Chicago and other cities this week. The groups fear that an imminent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board will go against organized labor. In three cases, the board has been asked to broaden the definition of supervisor to include more workers. Because supervisors are considered managers ineligible for union membership, that could reduce union ranks and limit who can be organized.Essentially, you’d be denying a large segment of working people everywhere the right to organize,’’ said Mike Griffing, director of collective bargaining for the union.

The cases involve nurses at Oakwood Healthcare in Taylor, Mich., and Golden Crest Healthcare Center in Hibbing, Minn. The third case centers around manufacturing, shipping and other employees at Croft Metals in McComb, Miss.

The employers argue that unions have falsely inflated their membership by including many workers who have oversight of other employees. It is only fair, they say, to switch these employees to management.

How many workers could be affected would depend on the scope of any changes approved by the federal labor board. It would be up to each employer to decide whether to continue with existing labor arrangements or seek to reclassify workers.

Union leaders fear the decision could affect several hundred thousand workers nationwide, including thousands of nurses. The controversy arises because many nurses handle scheduling, serve as resource people for less-experienced workers, or direct nurses aides and other lower-ranked employees.

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