CNA/NNU and Exploitation of the Ebola “Crisis”

December 18, 2014 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments

Full article here but here’s a nice quote from it.

“(The union’s) use of scare tactics and unjustified work disruptions are irresponsible and ignore the genuine preparation efforts that have been conducted and are continuing.”

True enough, but irresponsibility is nothing new for the NNU. Consider: While the union ostensibly wants every American hospital to spend millions to prepare for an Ebola case they will likely never see, it fought to prevent mandatory flu vaccinations for nurses. Once again, the union cried corporate greed, saying they opposed the vaccinations because pharmaceutical companies stood to make millions.

Never mind that flu kills more people every year than Ebola ever will. Never mind that flu vaccinations are the surest, safest and (yes) cheapest way to prevent its spread. None of that matters to the NNU, whose every move is designed to advance its stated goal to organize all registered nurses “into a single organization capable of exercising influence over the healthcare industry, governments, and employers.”

So for urging its members to abandon their patients at the height of cold and flu season (so much for putting patients first), and for recklessly stoking public fears of an exotic virus to advance their domestic political power, the NNU is the recipient of the Center for Worker Freedom’s Labor Loser of the Year, 2014.”

 

Eat, Drink and be Merry. Just don’t sign anything where CNA is concerned.

December 12, 2014 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments

CNA has distributed a poster for a “Huntington Holiday Party” for all staff RNs, support staff and others. Pretty shady to play it off as a hospital sponsored event.

I think I’ll show up and bring a few hungry teenage boys with me. They are always hungry. But we won’t be signing anything.

STAND UP or SHUT UP: Serious questions to the Huntington Nurses who support CNA.

December 10, 2014 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments

A guest post today. I must say I agree with what this RN has expressed here.

As a bedside nurse I keep wondering why on earth would anyone at our facility want a union? It is not for more money because we have already established that we would all lose money if we went union. It isn’t for fixing staffing issues, because if anyone asked around to union facilities you will see there is no difference in how they staff. It is not for anything that I can concretely understand, and believe me I have tried!

So then I am left with asking why? Why would you want an organization that has thus far lied, exaggerated, and concealed? Not only about Huntington nurses that do not agree with them, but also lied about what they can offer, lied to the city council about what Huntington’s effort were on Ebola preparedness, and much more. If you don’t believe me, then take the flyers they have made and compare them to unbiased resources, you will be amazed at how good CNA is at manipulating and breaking the truth. CNA is under no obligation to tell the truth, yet Huntington is.

Oh and in case you wonder about the people who say, “CNA will give us a voice,” I have hesitated to say this for a long time but I can no longer hold back. If you feel you do not have a voice it is your own fault. I speak up on a daily basis and go to bat for each and every one of my patients, it is the entire point of being a nurse; we are ADVOCATES for our patients and ourselves. I not only speak about issues, but I find possible solutions and find ways to present them in a constructive way. I partner with my co-workers or leadership to find not only a current fix to issues, but lasting ones.

Complaining and waiting for someone else to fix things for you is called being lazy. If your patient were vomiting blood all day would you just wait until the next shift comes in to deal with it? Of course not! You would DO SOMETHING about it. So with all this word vomit about our issues I ask that you get involved and become part of the solution, and if you are not willing to champion your cause, whether it is linen or something else then you need to frankly shut up. I do not mean to be harsh but if you think for one second CNA can fix your own laziness by doing what you will not do for yourself then you are in for a rude awakening. Once they are done with Huntington the free lunch stops and their payday comes at a rate of over 1.5 MILLION dollars a year.

It appears those for CNA are using unionization as a threat to get what they want without doing the work, when all they had to do was simply become a part of the solution. So I challenge every nurse or employee for that matter to stand up for what they believe in and become part of the solution, because no one is a better advocate than you yourself, and you don’t have to pay anyone for it. If you are unwilling to stand up and become a part of the solution then sit down and shut up because all you are doing spreading a cancer of laziness, greed, and entitlement, which by the way has nothing whatsoever to do with patient safety.

 

Pensions. The Truth.

December 7, 2014 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments

Latest CNA poster. Another one about pension plans.

The pension plan HH had was not that great. My mom worked for Huntington for a long time, contributing to the pension plan for as soon as she could, as long as she worked there. Her employer sponsored pension plan pays her about $200 a month. Two hundred dollars sounded like a decent amount back when she retired in 1994. And it sounded like a LOT of money when she started contributing in 1974. Forty years later, not so much.

When was the last time CNA was successful in negotiating a great pension plan where there was not existing before they started negotiations? Never.

I’ll take my 403b with employer matching. I’ll be better off. I can manage my investments so that I can assure a decent income in retirement.

Take a look at what pensions are going to do to local, state and federal governments. The is ZERO chance of CNA negotiating a pension plan for HH employees. You are still drinking CNA Kool Aid if you think that will be an outcome of negotiations. Pension Tsunami. There is ZERO chance that CNA can negotiate and employer paid pension plan. Those things are dinosaurs. Dead.

Letter from Memorial Medical Center of Modesto to the St. Joseph’s of Orange RNs (but it applies to Huntington too)

December 6, 2014 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments

Dear St Joseph of Orange Nurses,

We would like to share with you the experience that we have had with the California Nurses Association at our hospital, Memorial Medical Center of Modesto, a Sutter hospital in Northern California.

As seasoned nurses, we sympathize with our fellow RNs and the struggles we often face at work. We believe in standing together to voice common concerns to our employers and to our communities. We do not, however, feel that the CNA is the answer.

The CNA attempted to organize MMC for over two years. During this time, they posted flyers and left brochures all over the hospital with false and skewed information. We started to wonder about the claims the CNA made, and we began calling around to neighboring hospitals that were CNA members as well as those that were not. We found that the CNA’s numbers concerning salaries, benefits, retirement, and other finances were grossly exaggerated and in some cases, completely false.

They came onto our units on weekends and on night shifts, violating rules about staying out of patient care areas, to get their membership cards signed. Their presence in our hospital caused arguments, strained relationships, and a sense of dissatisfaction that we had never known before. Finally, in the summer of 2014, the union had just enough interest cards signed for the NLRB to approve an election. Their campaigning prior to the election was constant—they sent people who were not even healthcare workers to our facility to urge people to vote for the CNA.

More than 92% of our RNs turned out to vote—

Unfortunately, less than two weeks later, we got word that the CNA was disputing the results of our election, despite having such a majority of nurses vote them out. The results have been with the NLRB and we may be forced to go through another election, six months later.

The CNA claims to have your best interest at heart. Our thoughts have always been—if they care about our opinions, why would they not respect the democratic process that we underwent and the sacrifices that many of our nurses made to make sure they could make it to the election? They claim that they will be your “voice”—in our experience, they tune out yours so that only THEIRS can be heard.

We think it is important for you to know that the people who are working with the CNA to support them are getting a paycheck to do it. Your hospital may not be able to speak out against them, and the playing field is not level. Labor unions are protected by law to say whatever they wish—whether it is factual or not. It is no different than a candidate running for political office. Hospitals are required, by law, to tell you the truth. They will be under scrutiny by the NLRB and by the attorneys who work for the CNA, so know that information you get from your hospital is legitimate.

Above all else, we hope that you will make an effort to make an educated decision. Every vote counts, and that vote affects more than you and your hospital. Please look into the multi- millions that the CNA earns each year in membership dues alone—you are worth a lot to them!

They have not been able to reach a contract agreement with our sister hospital, Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, in over three years. Their tentative agreement language does not represent what the nurses thought it would, but now they are stuck. The CNA is a political money-making machine that is headed up by a woman who is not only not a nurse—but who has not worked in healthcare at all. The CNA does not represent nurses in a way that is effective or professional.

Our best wishes and support are with you!
The Green Team at Memorial Medical Center of Modesto

See our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnionFreeAtMMC

RNs: Liz Garrison, Judy Gibson, Bev Botelho, Lisa Brush, Karen Klein, Michele James (not pictured),

 

Source

http://stopunions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/MMC-St-Jo-Letter.pdf

 

CNA Supporters- Read Up!

December 3, 2014 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments

This post is for those who still support the CNA. Are you aware of what CNA is doing to our campus? Did you know we have had a ten-fold increase in vandalism since you invited them to speak for you? Wow. That’s an effective way to show you “care” about the hospital.. But what it shows is that CNA represents the ugly part of unions. Vandalism, threats, intimidation, lies. This is who you have chosen to associate yourselves with.

Have you figured out yet that your silly little rally and your appearance at the City Council meeting have made you the laughing stock of the hospital? Everyone’s laughing. AT you.

And your sad little story about how your manager showed up late at night to surprise you and made you leave a dying patient to get your eval done? Seriously? Do you think anyone but YOU believes that story? And to make up cr*p like that about a well liked manager. And by well liked, I mean well liked by your peers. Disgusting. You just made the front line staff with whom you work step a little further away from your show.  Was that the best story you could come up with? Because it was really lame.

I guess you might keep drinking that CNA kool aid in hopes of that big CNA payout (the one where they give you money in return for organizing for them). The rest of us have sobered up. Almost every post on this page is about setting the record straight about another example of twisting of the truth or outright lies by either the CNA or one of you.  Picking on respected colleagues. Not cool. CNA Kool Aid turns you into a big, fat liar. Might want to think about laying off the kool aid yourself, because LYING makes YOU lose credibility, in case you have not figured that out.

Did you know that even people who signed cards are starting to backpedal and say they are now on the fence about it? And some are even asking how to get those cards back?

PS- Next time you are at work, try doing a little work. Your colleagues are starting to complain.

#goawayCNA.

#iStandwithHuntington