REPORT: December 2006
by Mark Genovese
The right to organize with a labor union is protected under federal law. Yet, this right is being denied to registered nurses at Community Medical Center (CMC).
A majority of the nurses at the Toms River, NJ, facility have indicated they want NYSNA to be their collective-bargaining representative.
But CMC management has paid Yessin & Associates, a union-busting consultant, hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent this by conducting a hostile campaign of intimidation, confusion, and lies.
In August, the RNs petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election. Due to increasing concern over patient care issues and CMC’s neglect of its nursing staff, a majority of CMC nurses signed representation cards and requested a union election.
On Oct. 10, CMC agreed to the makeup of a potential bargaining unit — which would enable an election date to be set by the NLRB. But within hours, CMC management withdrew its consent to that agreement in order to challenge the eligibility status of charge nurses. Medical center management claimed the NLRB cancelled the election. The NLRB, however, said it was the hospital that requested the delay.
In an attempt to intimidate nurses and disrupt the campaign, the consultants engineered the termination on Oct. 27 of one nurse, Irene Merlin, who was one of the leaders of the organizing drive and the disciplining of a second RN, both on questionable charges.
“Picking out a few individuals to make an example of is a common tactic in a union-busting campaign,” said Barbara Conklin, NYSNA director of organizing, noting this was also done during a 2004 organizing effort at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville. “It’s intended to scare the nurses and deny them free choice.”
Yessin’s agents have accosted nurses to the point where patient care has been interrupted. Many nurses now consider their work environment to be hostile. In protest, RNs conducted an informational picket on Dec. 11 to alert the public of CMC’s attempt to postpone the election indefinitely and of the use of illegal tactics.
More than 20 CMC nurses took part in the protest, joined by representatives from other local unions, NYSNA staff, and New Jersey Delegate Assembly representative Jacqueline Callahan.
NYSNA received reports from RNs on the line that supervisors were preventing their colleagues from leaving their units – either prohibiting them from taking their breaks during picket hours or lying to them that they could be fired if they took part.
Nonetheless, marchers carried placards saying “Respect nurses’ right to vote!” and “Stop union busting at CMC!” They waved stuffed “grinch” dolls toward the executive offices and sang picketing chants to the tune of Christmas carols.
NYSNA has received other reports of intimidation tactics against RNs, including:
“Since when did ‘consulting’ come to mean ‘threatening your job and career?’” Conklin asked. NYSNA has filed more than a dozen unfair labor practice charges against the medical center, demanding that the intimidation stop.
As this edition of Report went to press, NYSNA received word that CMC’s parent corporation, Saint Barnabas, had just agreed not to challenge the supervisory status of charge nurses at its flagship facility in Livingston, NJ.