CNAs, Phlebotomists, other ancillary staff - BEWARE!  We have been told that the SEIU organizers have promised some of our RNs that the union will deal with the nurse/patient ratio problem in Tennessee by working to get our state legislature to pass laws similar to those that were passed in California.  Many of your peers in California lost their jobs as a result of that legislation.  The nurse/patient ratio needs to be improved but not by taking away needed jobs!  You can have a voice in solving this and other problems AND protect your jobs.  Will the SEIU actually push for this legislation?  While they have made other promises they can't keep, this is one they can certainly try to keep.  Should you be supporting an organization that could cost you your job?

You can have a voice in finding solutions to our patient care problems that include your concerns, but that voice has to be your's, not someone else's.  If the union comes in, your voice will go to the union.  They will speak for you and your money in the form of union dues will support the union's agendas.  

Please think about it, and don't take our word for it.  If the union organizers have told you to look away when you see us and to ignore facts that question the union's words, please ignore them and educate yourself.  If you're going to support SEIU, do so because YOU looked at all the facts and MADE UP YOUR OWN MIND BASED ON THE WHOLE STORY.  Don't support the SEIU because some salesman with lots of promises and no solutions came knocking on your door. 

By the way, the organizers do get paid to sell you on the SEIU.  Do they get bonuses for signing you up?  We don't know.  Why don't you Ask the Organizer and let us know what they say.

California has a state law that mandates a specific nurse/patient ratio that must be maintained in all California hospitals.  That's probably old news to many of you.  You may also be aware that the law was passed for the most part due to the backing of the California Nurses Association and the SEIU.  What you may not know is the effect this law has had on California hospitals and their employees.  According to many healthcare professionals and resources, that effect has not been good.  In fact, it resulted in the loss of Certified Nursing Assistant and other ancillary support jobs.  Could that have been predicted?  Read on and decide for yourself.

The following are excerpts from an article that appeared in the journal Nursing Management, July issue, 2005.  Written by Daniel Doolan, RN, BSN, MSN, PhD and entitled "Keeping Watch: California's Staffing Ratios", the article talks about the impact of the law on hospitals and their patient care staff.  (If you would like to read the full text article, you can go to www.nursingmanagement.com, but you will need to either subscribe to the journal or purchase the article for a small pay-by-view fee.  Or, you can contact a member of ENUSF and we will be glad to let you read our copy.)

"California is the first state to legislate mandatory ratios for all hospital units. California nursing unions such as the California Nurses Association and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) were major advocates of the legislation."  "When the number of staff nurses can't be reduced, the number of certified nurse assistants working on medical/surgical units will likely need to be cut significantly for units to remain profitable."  "Nurses on evenings and nights may be disappointed with having a high percentage of travel and registry staff.  In addition, the loss of certified nurse assistants will result in nurses taking on a significant amount of work previously delegated to aides."  "At Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa, California...the facility has been planning for the ratio change for the past 3 years.  In the fall of 2002...[the hospital] chose to lay off some of the ancillary staff (such as nurse aides and computer clerical support staff) to have the funds to retain nursing staff in order to meet future nursing ratios.  However, because of the nursing shortage, the number of nurses available for hire is limited."

So the California law, even before it actually became a law, forced the loss of nursing assistant and other ancillary staff jobs.  Yet, apparently the SEIU continued to help press for its passage without any direction as to exactly how hospitals would meet the nurse/patient ratio mandated, and without any provision that would protect the jobs of a significant portion of their membership.  Why would they do that?  From our perspective, we can only see two possibilities.  One - The SEIU leadership was, in terms of its responsibility to its members, incompetent.  It simply did not research the law's impact well enough or dissect it with the interest of its members in mind.  Two - The SEIU, in its quest to organize nurses, chose to ignore the potential job loss and hardship in favor of supporting something that, on the surface at least, appeared to help nurses in their quest to improve patient care.  Is there a third possibility?  There may be but we can't think of one.  Ask the Organizer and let us know what he or she says.

Well, you can see how it affected ancillary jobs.  But what about the nurses left to care for the patients.  As a result of the law, nurses do care for fewer patients.  However, in many cases they do so with limited or no support from CNAs (they aren't there).  They are also working forced overtime to cover unpopular shifts, so that their hospitals can keep the nurse/patient ratios at the legal level.  (And, in unionized hospitals, who do you think is working all that overtime?  We can tell you - it's the nurses with the least seniority.

So, according to what has been reported to us, the SEIU organizers at Saint Francis are promising to "fix the nurse/patient ratio " problem.  Really?  And how are they going to do that?  There are a few hard facts in life and in the medical field that we all have to deal with.  One is a shortage of available nurses, despite what the union claims.  The second is that in any business there is only so much money to go around.  CNAs, are you willing to give up your jobs for the cause?  If you look at California, you have to assume that the SEIU and the California Nurses' Association feel that the loss of your jobs is an acceptable solution to the ratio problem.  And nurses, are you willing to work forced overtime while doing the CNAs' job and bedside care?

We think there is another solution and we believe that together we can find it at Saint Francis without the "help" of SEIU or any union.  Employee participation in problem solving at Saint Francis is a FACT, and whether we all realize it or not, our administration gives us a voice.  The union will say that you don't have a voice with management.  That management will only listen to them, not you.  Maybe that's true in some hospitals, but it is not true at Saint Francis. 

Let's leave the union out of our business.  We CAN come together and solve our problems within the limitations we have to work with, but in a way that protects our patients and our jobs.  Sign the ENUSF card, get back any SEIU cards you've signed, and send the SEIU organizers on their way.