Oct. 12, 2005
Trinity Medical Center East, Steubenville
The Herald Star reports that Trinity Medical Center East in Steubenville have ratified a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSMCE) and the Office and Professional Employee Union International (OPEUI).  Approved last week, the contract covers a 175-employee unit and is effective from Sept. 19, 2005 to May 31, 2008.  A pay increases are effective Sept. 19, 2005 and June 1, 2006. Other contract changes include pay differentials for LPNs and pay differentials for on-call employees.

Aug. 26, 2005
Springfield News-Sun
Petition Pushes for Creation of Hospital Committee
A union-supported group seeking to create a hospital oversight committee has turned in petitions carrying more than 12,000 signatures in an effort to put an issue on the November ballot.
Read story

July 12, 2005
Landmark Pact for 4,700 CHW Hospital RNs Huge Gains for Registered Nurses and Patients
The California Nurses Association has reached a landmark contract agreement with Catholic Healthcare West, the largest Catholic health system in the Western United States, which provides major improvements in patient care protections and dramatic gains for registered nurses, CNA announced today. See More

July 9, 2005
Service Employees Union Raises Profile, voice in Toledo Area.
Toledo Blade
Read Story

June 10, 2005
California Judge Issues Final Ruling on Nursing Ratios
AONE E-News Update
Sacramento County (CA) Superior Court Judge Judy Hersher has issued a permanent injunction overturning two emergency regulations by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to suspend parts of the state's nursing ratio law. The Schwarzenegger administration had issued emergency regulations last fall to suspend the ratios in the emergency room and delay implementation of the ratios in medical-surgical units for three years because of the state's ongoing nursing shortage. The California Nurses Association filed a lawsuit against Schwarzenegger, saying that he had abused his discretion in suspending the regulations to protect public health and safety. The judge found that the emergency regulations exceeded the administration's scope of authority and were made without sufficient evidence. The administration, said Judge Hersher, "abused its discretion and failed to follow the procedures established by law in determining the regulations were necessary for the immediate preservation of public health and safety."

May 27, 2005
Effort by OSU health workers to unionize fails
Columbus Dispatch
A nearly yearlong effort to unionize 600 workers at Ohio State University Medical Center ended this week with the Teamsters being shown the door.
www.dispatch.com/business-story.php<q>story=dispatch/2005/05/27/20050527-H1-04.html&msg=1&regtype=1

May 26, 2005
Staff asks hospital system not to hinder union effort
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Union officials plan to organize some 1,300 licensed practical nurses and other employees at Community Health Partners. But first they want to set some ground rules.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lorain/1117099833303600.xml&coll=2

May 26, 2005
Springfield residents show support for union
Dayton Business Journal
The Springfield community showed its support Wednesday for the Community Mercy Health Partners hospital's employees to have the freedom to decide whether or not to join a union.
http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2005/05/23/daily16.html

May 9, 2005

Union activity heats up in health care
Dayton Business Journal
Local hospital leaders are on high alert as a national push to unionize health care workers wends its way into the Dayton region.

April 29, 2005
Health-care workers seeking to unionize
Cincinnati Enquirer
About Catholic Healthcare Partners
Headquarters: Cincinnati.
Facilities: 29 hospitals, 14 nursing homes, 12 hospice agencies, 10 home health agencies, and 17 low-income housing complexes.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050429/NEWS01/504290419/1056

April 12, 2005
AHA, ASHHRA endorse Secret Ballot Protection Act
AHA News Now
The AHA and its American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration today expressed their support for H.R. 874, which would amend the National Labor Relations Act to require that union recognition be based on a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. “America’s hospitals believe in the right of individuals to collectively organize for purposes of union representation, but we believe that those elections must be fair and impartial,” the organizations said in a letter to Rep. Charles Norwood, R-GA, the bill’s sponsor. “The Secret Ballot Protection Act will ensure that workers in an appropriate collective bargaining unit are able to cast their votes on unionization in private, free from undue pressure or influence.” Current law permits employers and unions to bypass elections and agree to union recognition by use of “card check” procedures, which force employees to declare their preference on a unionization vote in front of union organizers. AHA and ASHHRA are part of a broad coalition that supports the bill, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and Associated Builders & Contractors.

April 8, 2005
California court denies stay in nurse ratio case
AHA News Now
The California Third District Court of Appeal yesterday denied a request by the California Hospital Association to stay a lower court ruling regarding the state’s nurse-to-patient staffing regulations. On March 4, a Sacramento Superior Court Judge ruled that the state Department of Health Services overstepped its authority in issuing emergency regulations suspending implementation of a 1:5 staffing ratio for hospital medical-surgical units in the state. A stay would have allowed hospitals to return to an earlier 1:6 ratio until the appeals court hears CHA’s appeal of the decision. Already facing a dire shortage of nurses, many hospitals have been unable to find the 4,000 additional nurses needed to meet the 1:5 ratio and must in many cases reduce services as a result, said CHA President Duane Dauner. He said the association is “confident that the courts will eventually find that DHS has the authority to modify the nurse-to-patient ratios as proposed.”

March 28, 2005
St. Rita's nurses meet with union
Lima News
Monday March 28, 2005
LIMA - A group of nurses at St. Rita's Medical Center held a preliminary meeting to discuss the possibility of unionizing.
http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=12746

March 10, 2005
Local ONA Unit Sues State ONA Organization
On March 4, 2005, the Local Professional Practice Unit of the Ohio Nurses Association filed a lawsuit against the state-level Ohio Nurses Association claiming the state ONA failed to follow its own bylaws in the ratification and execution of the union's collective bargaining agreement with St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland. The hospital believes the contract, negotiated and ratified last summer, is valid and binding and will continue to uphold its terms while the ONA local unit and statewide organization do battle in court.

February 24, 2005
Hospital workers pursue union
Springfield News Sun
A group of employees from Community and Mercy hospitals is seeking to unionize.
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/

January 31, 2005
Nurses union starts attack ad campaign
Detroit Free Press
The California Nurses Association said Monday it will start a television advertising blitz criticizing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for calling the union a "special interest" and for his proposed changes to staffing rules.
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2005/01/31/daily9.html?jst=b_ln_hl

January 24, 2005
UAW, Nurses Group Team to Help Workers
Detroit Free Press
The Michigan Nurses Association and UAW are combining forces in an effort to organize more health care workers and advocate for quality health care. The two organizations were expected to announce their partnership -- called the MNA-UAW HealthCare Workplace Alliance -- at a news conference Monday. The intent of the alliance is to avoid vying for the same workers and, hopefully, increase membership for the MNA and UAW. Now, a patchwork of unions, including the MNA, the UAW, the Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees
International Union, represent various Michigan health care workers, including nurses, technicians, custodians and clerks.
http://www.freep.com/money/business/nurses24e_20050124.htm

January 24, 2005
Nurses end strike at St. Louis-area hospital
AHANews
Nurses on strike since mid-December at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, MO, voted 528-127 Friday to end the strike and accept the hospital’s contract offer. “The Medical Center is pleased that the nurses voted to accept the contract and will be returning to work,” said Christine Crain, RN, chief nurse executive. “St. John’s Mercy strongly believes our nurses deserve the right to choose for themselves whether to belong to the union, and this contract provides all of our nurses with that choice.” Other provisions of the contract, which covers 1,750 registered nurses represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, include a 9% percent wage increase over three years. The hospital expects to transition nurses who participated in the strike back to work over the next couple of weeks.

January 18, 2005
Mary Rutan, ONA Reach Agreement
Mary Rutan Hospital, Bellefontaine, and the Ohio Nurses Association reached an agreement last week on a renewal collective bargaining agreement for the RN unit at the hospital. The highlights of the new agreement include the following:

• A four-year term

• Wage increases of 3.25 percent in the first year, 3 percent in the second and third years and 3.25 percent in the fourth year

• A new wage step at year 12, an increase in the weekend differential from $1.00 to $1.25, and minor increases in the on-call, certification and BSN pay requirements.

No changes were made in the health insurance provisions or the pension provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. For more information, please call Tim Froebe at Mary Rutan Hospital at 937.599.7023 or Roger King, labor counsel, at 614.281.3874.

Previous years:
2004
2003