NEW YORK NURSE: May 2008
by Mark Genovese
A decertification is an attempt by one union to steal members from another union. NYSNA has always placed a premium on serving its members and building nurse power through organizing.
Unfortunately, some other unions have a much different agenda.
The Service Employees International Union Local 1199 has begun a campaign to raid the NYSNA bargaining unit at Peninsula Hospital Center in Far Rockaway by filing a petition for a decertification election. 1199/SEIU organizers have also been active at several other NYSNA bargaining units, so more attacks may be in the works.
“These attacks are part of a nationwide SEIU campaign against nurses’ unions,” said Lorraine Seidel, director of the NYSNA Economic & General Welfare Program. “Nurses’ unions stand in the way of SEIU’s grandiose expansion plan.” SEIU has focused its raiding activities on states that disaffiliated from the United American Nurses or played a key role in blocking its attempt to take over several hospitals in Ohio via a sweetheart deal with management.
To decertify another union, a raider union files a “representation challenge” petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), along with authorization cards signed by at least 30% of the bargaining unit members. The NLRB determines the cards’ validity and authorizes a decertification election. NYSNA received word, as New York Nurse went to press, that the election had been set for May 14.
If a simple majority of the bargaining unit members vote in favor of the decertification, their current contract immediately becomes null and void. Negotiations for a new contract begin between the raiding union and the employer.
“A raiding union like 1199/SEIU will promise anything to get votes,” said Seidel. “For example, at Peninsula, they are making promises of better benefits without mentioning these benefits would have to be negotiated with their employer. Even worse, they’re not telling the nurses that they would automatically lose the excellent health benefits they have under their NYSNA contract, and would be starting from zero.”
For more than a century, NYSNA has led the way in representing registered nurses. Our contracts are models for other states and other unions – including 1199/SEIU. We were the first to negotiate contract provisions important to nurses, such as staffing ratios, nursing practice committees, needlestick prevention, and clinical ladders.
Unlike 1199/SEIU, NYSNA is a nurses’ union. Nurses are a small fraction of 1199/SEIU’s membership, and even that fraction is dissatisfied. 1199/SEIU nurses call NYSNA on a regular basis to get practice advice or information about legislation. Many of them say that their own union can’t help them with these issues.
Raiding unions like 1199/SEIU are destructive to both nursing and the labor movement. Past contract gains are put at risk. It is imperative that 1199/SEIU’s expansion plan doesn’t come at the expense of nurses throughout the state who are dedicated to further advancing the profession and building nurse power.
All NYSNA bargaining unit members should be vigilant for this type of activity in their facilities:
Tell your NYSNA representative or a member of your executive committee if you’ve been approached by an 1199/SEIU organizer. Don’t sign petitions or cards unless you know who is circulating it and how it’s being used. Give copies of 1199/SEIU letters, brochures, or fliers to your NYSNA representatives.