February 27, 2015 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments
If you would like to be kept informed on our plans and activities, please email us your name, unit, email address and cell phone at huntingtonnurse@ gmail.com and we will be happy to add you.
Please note that if you are a CNA supporter pretending to be an iStand RN, you will not be added to our mailing and phone list, just like I’m sure you would not add me to yours. If we don’t know you, your membership will be vetted through other people in your unit.
Our iStand group is entirely self funded and the founders have generously ordered badges, badge reels, signs and other items. We’ve decided it’s time to ask for help because we need to ramp up our efforts over the next 4-6 weeks to defeat CNA when it’s time to vote.
We will use the money raised here to purchase Tshirts with our logo and other branded items. We will use it to fuel the fire to fight against unionization.
Check out our funding campaign at the link below.
http://www.gofundme.com/ncai5s
February 26, 2015 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments
Today, CNA tried to hold a press conference. There were 5 RNs who are organizing for CNA, ten or fifteen community members, a few different media sources and and about 10 CNA employees. And then the 65 iStand RNs and other professionals wearing teal colored clothing showed up. We were a little exuberant and perhaps a bit unruly, and also anxious to finally have our side of the story heard. We dominated the press conference from that point on. Cars drove by honking and waving our colors (teal, of course). We cheered. In response to claims made by employees speaking on behalf of the CNA that we are chronically understaffed and RNs can’t take full breaks and the hospital keeps making cuts that hurt patients, iStand RNs contested the claims they made and demanded truth telling.
What was particularly notable was how angry the CNA employees became when we disrupted the press conference. They yelled at us to “Shut Up.” The guy yelling “Shut Up”, a CNA employee, looked ready to have a stroke- bulging veins on his forehead and his hands balled into fists. Another CNA employee angrily said to me “You’re not a RN, you’re a CNS.” I had to tell him you can’t be a CNS without a valid RN license and the NLRB has included CNSs in the bargaining pool in every union election I’ve heard about recently. And two male CNA employees pushed iStand RNs out of the way. CNA showing it’s thug side, I guess.
A number of us have sent communications to Pasadena Councilman Victor Gordo, Representative Carol Liu, John Grula of the Pasadena Weekly, Rabbi Joshua Levine of Pasadena Jewish Temple and others with absolutely no response from any of them. We used this opportunity to begin to have our side of the story heard. Victor Gordo agreed to meet with us. We are grateful that Melissa Masatani of the Pasadena Star News wrote a very balanced and unbiased report of the press conference. We will be contacting her to tell our side of the story. Carol Liu’s representative asked that we provide proof of our claims yet he does not seem to hold the CNA to the same standard. We will also be contacting her office again to meet. Jennifer Waldron, Tony Melendez and others spoke with ABC news and we look forward to hearing those reports.
While part of our purpose at this press conference/rally was to speak up against the misrepresentations by employee nurses organizing for CNA, other hospital professionals showed up to support us. Dietitians, Respiratory Care Practitioners and others joined us. In reality, it’s about ALL of us. It is about all of us because if CNA is successful in organizing our nurses, SEIU or NUHW will come in and attempt to unionize the rest of our co-workers. This may happen even if CNA loses the election. And our co-workers don’t want a union either.
We will fight this to its conclusion. We need to make sure everyone votes- regardless of what they vote. We aren’t going to try to tell people not to vote, because that’s not what democracy is about. But we will defeat this attempt to organize us. Just Watch!
It’s been a long 6 months since we first became active. But here is our very first blog post:
This site has been created for Huntington employees who favor the use of their own voice to work out issues with administration. We do not deny there are real issues. Administration IS listening, and while it might seem as if they are trying to pacify the unrest, in reality many of these changes had been planned for months, if not years.
We believe:
- We do not need to pay a union to be an intermediary between us and Huntington Administration to solve problems.
- That unions make promises they cannot keep.
- That each individual must examine unbiased sites as well as information from the unions.
Want more info? Just want someone to talk to about it?
Look for the people wearing the iStandWithHuntington badges. If you are interested in being on a mailing list, please comment below. Comments won’t appear until I approve them, but I won’t approve these. Leave your name, unit, home email and cell number and we’ll keep you in the loop for all of our plans.
February 25, 2015 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments
CNA says: If you don’t want a union, just don’t vote.
What gets me about this lie is this: If they have enough supporters why do they need to mislead people? What it comes down to is Don’t believe anything CNA and it’s supporters say about voting.
Did you know there are more people who do not want a union then there are people who do? This is why they are doing this. If they can convince you that you don’t need to vote it’s like another vote for them.
Everyone needs to vote. This is critical- if you don’t want a union and you don’t vote, you lose your voice, and we might end up with the unhappy situation of having CNA in our hospital. Don’t be intimidated by them.
Please vote. Every vote is important and your vote may be the one that tips it to “Go Away CNA!”.
February 24, 2015 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments
The latest from the CNA Big Fat Liar’s Club:
Two CNA supporters have been ganging up on one RN at a time and telling them and tell them “You can’t vote in the eelction unless you sign a card.” And others have been telling people that “it’s okay if you are opposed to a union, or are not sure. Just sign a card so it can come to a vote, but there is no need for you to vote if you don’t want a union.” Seriously? How misleading and dishonest will you be to bring it to a vote?
Finally, have you heard the news from other CNA facilities? Verdugo Hills RNs are sick of CNA after less than a year, and are starting a petition to decertify CNA and make them go away. After almost a year they are sick of paying dues for no benefit.
And at Keck? Did you know that the hospital only pays for HMO insurance? If you want to have the PPO plan, you have to pay- for the full cost. Out of your pocket. Unlike at Huntington where I have a PPO plan for myself and my son for very little money out of my own pocket each month. Yet the CNA supporters don’t talk about this stuff.
In closing, Go Away CNA!
EVERYONE needs to VOTE! Vote NO for CNA representation. Don’t let them tell you you don’t need to vote if you are against the union. That’s their way of stacking the deck in their favor.
February 22, 2015 / Jennifer, CNS / 0 Comments
Friday, CNA supporting RNs announced they had turned the signature cards in to the NLRB and an election will be scheduled soon. In a way this is a relief. CNA has done nothing but disrupt and divide our staff- RNs openly recruiting and talking to CNA reps in nursing care areas while they are on shift, complaining about those of us who chose to oppose them, and so on. I can’t wait for a vote. It’s a chance to tell them that WE DON”T NEED A UNION TO EFFECT CHANGE!
This is Important:
EVERYONE NEEDS TO VOTE. And while my preference is VOTE NO, you need to vote for what you want. You can be sure that every single person who supports the union will vote. It therefore really important that every single person who does not want a union votes too. Those of us who do not want a union are the quiet majority. But if some of us choose not to vote, we will get a union. Everyone NEEDS TO VOTE.
Several RNs have shared that they signed a card even though they don’t really want a union. What?
It turns out CNA supporters said this: “Just sign the card so it can come to a vote, but if you aren’t sure, you don’t have to vote, even if you think you don’t want a union, you don’t have to vote.” We can be sure they are going to pull out this sort of tactic in the coming weeks as they try to garner support for a union at Huntington. EVERYONE NEEDS TO VOTE.
Most of the things they say they want are things already happening. We don’t need a union to get them. Please- don’t fall for their shifty, misleading tactics. No hospital is perfect. But if you mostly like where you work, then please- vote NO.
