April 4, 2008
National Nurses Organizing Committee Flyer
National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) of
the California Nurses Association (CNA) has sent
yet another mailing to nurses across Ohio and in
other states too, we understand. Some CNOs were
sent this brochure to their hospital address. In
case you've not yet seen it, the brochure sent
within the last two weeks can be viewed at . An
Ohio nurse is quoted in the brochure and the
brochure gives you a glimpse of the animosity
between CNA and SEIU at the state and national
level.
More details will be forthcoming regarding CNA's
attempts to introduce staffing and reform
language in Ohio. As more details evolve, OHA
will send Labor Law subscribers further details.
March 26, 2008
Nurses Rally For Community Support
Hundreds of
nurses from Altoona Regional came
together for a community vigil in Altoona
Wednesday night. They said they were uniting
their voices
because...
March 25, 2008
Union Workers Increase Nationwide, Fall in Ohio
The Toledo
Blade reports that the number of
union workers increased nationwide last year,
but fell in Ohio because of a loss of
manufacturing jobs.
March 26, 2008
New Federal Bill Focused on
Workforce Development
U.S. Sen. George Voinovich
(R-OH) introduced
legislation aimed at
creating new jobs by
increasing the flexibility
regions have in spending
federal dollars to implement
regional workforce and
economic development
programs. The Workforce
Innovation in Regional
Economic Development Act of
2008 (WIRED Act) will
establish a framework to
help regions 1) identify
assets, opportunities and
risks; 2) establish regional
economic goals; and 3)
develop workforce and
economic development
strategies that will help
achieve the goals.
The WIRED Act amends the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
of 1998, which was passed by
Congress to authorize
service and training for
youths, adults and laid-off
or dislocated workers to
give states and regional
greater flexibility in their
use of federal workforce
development dollars. The
act:
► Authorizes states and
regions to work with a
governor to submit WIRED
plans for approval by the
Secretary of Labor, allowing
states to combine various
federal workforce and
economic development funds.
► Authorizes the Secretary
of Labor to award
supplementary grants to
assist in implementing a
WIRED plan or other
workforce development
activities.
►Authorizes the use of
formula funds available to
states and areas under WIA
for workforce development
activities without requiring
the full WIRED approval
process (to help ensure
funding unused due to the
inflexibility of the WIA
program will be accessible).
View a
news release for more
information on WIRED or
visit
http://www.ohanet.org/workforce/
to learn more about Ohio’s
hospital workforce. (Jean
Scholz)
March 11, 2008
Nurses
To Strike Some Sutter Affiliates
Union-represented registered nurses will strike
Northern California hospitals affiliated with
Sutter Health for 10 days beginning March 21.
February 6, 2008
California Nurses Association/National Nurses
Organizing Committee
Mailing
February 4, 2008
Nurses
warn community hospital may be closed
Grace Spiller and Yolanda Pineza, San Leandro
Hospital medical-surgery nurses, went
door-to-door Saturday
local businesses, warning
of pending changes at the hospital.
January 4, 2008
Jones
Day Helps Win Significant
Victory for Employers Before
National Labor Relations Board
Jones Day helped win a
significant victory in a case
before the National Labor
Relations Board regarding
employers' authority to control
company email systems.
The case involved the publisher
of the Oregon newspaper The
Register-Guard. Like many
employers, the Register-Guard
provided employees with a
company email system. Under
company policy, this email
system was "owned and provided
by the Company to assist in
conducting the business of The
Register-Guard," and was "not to
be used to solicit or
proselytize for commercial
ventures, religious or political
causes, outside organizations,
or other non-job-related
solicitations." Pursuant to this
policy, the company issued
written warnings to an employee
who sent union-related email
solicitations to
Register-Guard employees at
their company email accounts.
Asserting claims under the
National Labor Relations Act,
the union challenged the
company’s authority to penalize
such use of company email.
In a 3-2 decision, the National
Labor Relations Board announced
two significant holdings for
employers. First, the Board held
that because employer-provided
email systems are employer
property, employers have a
"basic property right" to
regulate the use of email by
employees. Thus, employers may
adopt evenhanded email-use
restrictions like the
Register-Guard’s
communications policy.
Second, although federal law
prohibits employers from
discriminating against certain
union-related solicitations,
employers may allow some
personal use of employer email
systems without opening the door
to union-related email. The
Register-Guard had tolerated
some personal use of company
email, but the Board found "no
evidence that the [employer]
permitted employees to use email
to solicit other employees to
support any group or
organization." Absent such
evidence of "the unequal
treatment of equal[]" forms of
communication, the Board
concluded that the
Register-Guard’s imposition
of discipline for union-related
email solicitations did not
amount to discrimination in
violation of federal labor law.
The Board overruled several of
its prior precedents to the
extent they were inconsistent
with its analysis of
discrimination in this case.
The Board issued its ruling in
The Guard Publishing Company
d/b/a The Register Guard and
Eugene Newspaper Guild, CWA
Local 37194 on December 16,
2007. Jones Day filed an amicus
brief in the case on behalf of
the HR Policy Association, an
organization of chief human
resource officers of major
private-sector employers. The
Jones Day lawyers who worked on
the case were Andrew Kramer (who
argued before the Board), Shay
Dvoretzky, and Zachary Price,
all of the Washington office.
January 11, 2008
Pa. Nurses Union to Add to Clout
Through Merger With California
Organization
A
Pennsylvania nurses union with
5,100 members, mostly in the
Philadelphia area, said
yesterday that it was merging
with a powerful and
deep-pocketed national
counterpart. The move puts the
financially struggling Temple
University Health System and
other unionized hospitals on
notice that the nurses union
will have more resources to
fight staffing cutbacks and
organize nurses. The
Pennsylvania Association of
Staff Nurses & Allied
Professionals, founded in 2000,
said joining forces with the
California Nurses
Association/National Nurses
Organizing Committee enhanced
its ability to fight for changes
that would improve health care,
such as a law on minimum
staffing levels in hospitals.
December 15, 2007
Hospital's employees vote down unionizing
LORAIN -- One bargaining unit of non-supervisory
staff at Community Regional Medical Center voted
Thursday to join the Service Employees
International Union, while three other units did
not. The results of the fifth unit's balloting
are being challenged by the National Labor
Relations Board, which supervised the voting.
December
15, 2007
Many Striking California Nurses
Will Be Out Until Tuesday
Registered nurses continued
their strike Friday at 13 Bay
Area hospitals operated by
Sutter
Health,
including Alta Bates Summit
Medical Center in Oakland and
Berkeley and St. Luke's Hospital
in San Francisco. Friday was the
second day of a 48-hour walkout,
but nurses are expected to be
off their jobs several days
longer because hospital managers
said they needed to hire
replacement workers for longer
than just two days. Many of the
striking nurses won't be allowed
to return to work until Tuesday.
Both
sides remain at odds over
contract negotiations that have
been going on since the spring.
The
California Nurses Association,
which represents the nurses,
said the sticking points include
staffing levels,
health
and retirement benefits, and
other work rules. But hospital
management said the real
conflict centers on the union's
efforts to increase membership
and obtain a master contract,
rather than agreements with each
hospital.
December 6, 2007
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
and AARP Foundation today launched a
Center to Champion Nursing in
America, which will work to
avert a projected national shortage
of more than one million nurses by
2020. The center will use a $10
million grant from RWJF and funding
from AARP to advocate for increased
state and federal funding for nurse
education and faculty, and places
for nurse leaders on the governing
boards of hospitals and other health
care organizations. It also will
work to educate the public and
policy makers about nurse workforce
issues and their link to health care
quality. Pamela Thompson, CEO of
AHA’s American Organization of Nurse
Executives subsidiary, called the
center “an important initiative for
all who are concerned about the
pending crisis in America’s ability
to provide adequate nursing care for
the public. It is critical that the
work to address this shortage
involve a larger community of
concerned citizens. We welcome the
assistance of these two champions.”
November 18, 2007
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services Issues Revised Form I-9
Earlier this month, the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services
("USCIS") issued a new
employment verification I-9 form.
Employers are required to complete
a Form I-9 for all new employees
hired in the United States.
Although the new form will become
effective as soon as it is published
in the Federal Register, the USCIS
encourages all employers to start
using the revised Form I-9
immediately.
The
revision removes five documents for
proof of both identity and
employment eligibility. They
include: Certificate of U.S.
Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-570);
Certificate of Naturalization (Form
N-550 or N-570); Alien Registration
Receipt Card (Form I-151); the
unexpired Reentry Permit (Form
I-327); and the unexpired Refugee
Travel Document (Form
I-571). According to USCIS, the
forms were removed because they lack
features to help deter
counterfeiting, tampering and fraud.
The
USCIS also added the most recent
version of the Employment
Authorization Document (Form I-766)
to List A of the List of Acceptable
Documents on the revised form. The
revised list now includes: a U.S.
passport (unexpired or expired); a
Permanent Resident Card (Form
I-551); an unexpired foreign
passport with a temporary I-551
stamp; an unexpired Employment
Authorization Document that contains
a photograph (Form I-766, I-688,
I-688A, or I-688B) and an unexpired
foreign passport with an unexpired
Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94)
for nonimmigrant aliens authorized
to work for a specific employer.
The
revised Form I-9 and the "Handbook
for Employers, Instructions for
Completing the I-9" are available
online at
www.uscis.gov or can be
ordered from USCIS by calling
1-800-870-3676
November 9, 2007
House Health Hears From
Hospitals on Nurse Staffing Bill
Nurse staffing legislation
received its second hearing this
week in the
House Health Committee,
hearing support from the
hospital community. Linda
Stoverock, chief nursing officer
and senior vice president for
patient services at Nationwide
Children’s Hospital in Columbus,
testified in support of
House Bill 346 on behalf of
the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA)
and the Ohio Organization for
Nurse Executives (OONE).
Stoverock gave the committee
background on the unprecedented
collaboration between OHA, OONE
and the Ohio Nurses Association
(ONA) which lead to the
development of this legislation.
She stated that this legislation
will go far to ensure that all
Ohio hospitals solicit input
from direct care nurses when
making staffing decisions while
at the same time ensuring that
hospitals have flexibility and
can consider evidence-based,
quality standards when
establishing staffing plans,
which meets the goals of both
ONA and common goals of OHA and
OONE. Because of the number of
variables considered in
developing an appropriate
staffing plan specific to each
institution, it is critical that
nursing leaders have flexibility
and are able to consider all
factors when developing a plan
that best meets the needs of
patients. HB 346 provides that
flexibility, while ensuring that
hospitals consider standards
that are proven to deliver
quality care with positive
patient outcomes, Stoverock told
the committee.
OHA is continuing to work with
OONE members to host regional
meetings with legislators on the
House Health Committee in the
coming weeks. Nurse executives
this week met with House Health
chair
Rep. John White
(R-Kettering) at Southview
Hospital in Dayton. Meetings
have also been scheduled in
northwest Ohio and Akron.
In a related matter, the
National Nurses Organizing
Committee, an arm of the
California Nurses Association,
is up at arms about the
legislation. In an e-mail to its
Ohio members, NNOC noted its
anger that OHA is touting HB 346
as a common-sense staffing bill
because it does not mandate
staffing ratios. NNOC is
conducting grassroots opposition
to the bill, urging members to
contact their legislators and
spread the word about the
union’s yet-to-be-introduced
legislation to require
nurse-to-patient staffing
ratios.
For additional information on HB
346, sponsored by
Rep. Jim Hughes
(R-Columbus), including a white
paper on safe nurse staffing,
which was adopted by the OHA
Board and incorporated into the
legislation, visit
www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/nursestaffing.htm.(Jeff
Klingler,
jeffk@ohanet.org)
November 8, 2007
Union Aims To Enlist Home Healthcare
Workers Before Tackling Teaching
Hospitals
The results of an organizing vote by
home healthcare aides, to be made
public today, could give the
powerful Service Employees
International Union added momentum
as it seeks to organize workers in
Boston's teaching hospitals. Adding
home healthcare workers could help
SEIU's larger hospital organizing
efforts in a number of ways, said
Jeff Toner, principal with Dietz
Associates, a firm that helps unions
and management communicate during
organizing campaigns. It would
demonstrate its ability to win
raises and improved benefits for
workers at the lower end of the wage
scale. In addition, some home
healthcare aides would be able to
get more training and qualify for
hospital jobs, potentially giving
SEIU an advantage in its organizing
efforts. SEIU negotiated agreements
with management to conduct
organizing campaigns at Boston
Medical Center, UMass Memorial
Medical Center in Worcester, and
Whidden Memorial Hospital in
Everett. With the teaching
hospitals, the union is spending
little time discussing traditional
issues such as wages, benefits, and
working conditions. Instead, it is
focusing on larger issues, such as
its purported ability to improve
healthcare at hospitals by
organizing workers. It is also
targeting high-profile individuals,
such as hospital trustees.
October 29, 2007
NLRB Holds Secret Ballot Election
Possible Despite Employer Agreement
to Card-Check
In a
3-2 decision, the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) recently held
that the recognition bar and the
contract bar no longer apply for the
first 45 days after an employer
voluntarily recognizes a union based
on a card check (without a secret
ballot vote). Under this decision,
affected employees may now seek a
secret ballot election by filing a
decertification petition supported
by 30 percent or more of the unit
employees within 45 days of
receiving notice of the union
recognition. The Board’s decision
in Dana Corp., 351 NLRB No.
28 (Sept. 29, 2007) represents a
significant departure from
established labor law. The NLRB
justified the change by explaining,
“we find that the immediate
post-recognition imposition of an
election bar does not give
sufficient weight to the protection
of the statutory rights of affected
employees to exercise their choice
on collective-bargaining
representation through the preferred
method of a Board-conducted
election.”
October 24, 2007
Senate passes
Labor-HHS spending bill
The Senate
last night voted 75-19 to approve a
Labor-Health and Human Services
appropriations bill that includes an
AHA-backed amendment to ease the U.S.
shortage of nurses and physical
therapists. The amendment by Sens.
Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Kay Bailey
Hutchison (R-TX) would make available to
registered nurses and physical
therapists 61,000 unused
employment-based visas from past years.
It also would use fees from the visas to
fund programs to prepare more nursing
faculty, which would allow more students
to enter nursing. Another amendment to
the bill by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) would
provide $5 million for activities to
reduce methicillin-resistant staph
infections. The appropriations bill
funds federal Labor, Health and Human
Services and Education programs for
fiscal year 2008. The measure next goes
to conference to work out differences
between the House and Senate versions of
the bill.
October 24, 2007
SEIU
Fund-Raising
In the first six months of 2007, the
Service Employees International Union
raised $23.9 million to influence the
2008 election. By way of contrast, the
Teamsters DRIVE Committee raised
$588,236 during the same time period.
SEIU’s Stephanie Muenler says the Union
is committed “to do everything we can”
to elect “a pro-worker President.” SEIU
intends to run extensive issue
advertising, organize get-out-the-vote
drives and make donations to candidates.
According to its Web site, the SEIU is
“the nation’s largest union of health
care workers representing over 900,000
caregivers and hospital employees,
including 110,000 nurses and 40,000
doctors in public, private, and
non-profit medical institutions.”
October 15, 2007
Study: Depression exacts 'high
price' from workers, employers
An estimated 15.5 million U.S. adults, 8.6% of
the population, reported experiencing a major depressive
episode in the previous 12 months in a
survey conducted
from 2004-2006 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration.
October 15, 2007
State Minimum Wage to Increase
In keeping
with a constitutional amendment passed last year, the
state's minimum wage will increase 15 cents to $7.00 an
hour effective on January 1, 2008, due to a requirement
that the rate increase each year in accordance with the
Consumer Price Index (CPI). In addition the minimum
wage will apply to more businesses as the minimum
exemption level will rise from employers grossing
$250,000 a year to those making $255,000 annually. The
CPI rose 2% between Oct. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2007.
October 5, 2007
SEIU targets 2008 contracts with hospitals,
nursing homes
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West is
gearing up for a slew of bargaining talks in
California and other western states,
culminating in what union leaders describe
as the nation's single largest coordinated
campaign in health care.
October 18, 2007
Local hospitals fully operational, CEO says
Despite a nurses’ strike that has more than
150 Beckley-ARH and Summers County-ARH
employees off the job, the two hospitals are
operating without interruption of services,
according to Rocco Massey, community CEO for
ARH.
October 10, 2007
Nurses Strike at 15 Hospitals as Contract Talks Stall
Nearly 5,000 registered nurses
are expected to begin a 48-hour strike at 15 Northern
California hospitals beginning at 7 a.m. today in a labor
dispute they say is about improving patient care standards
and the hospitals say is about aggressive union organizing
efforts.
October 10, 2007
Common-Sense Staffing Bill Introduced:
OHA Offers Support
Legislation was introduced yesterday
requiring hospitals to create a nurse
staffing plan, consistent with
evidence-based standards established by
accrediting organizations. It would
require hospitals to take into account a
number of considerations when
establishing the staffing plans,
including:
•
the necessary staff of competent nurses
with the specialized skills needed to
meet patient needs;
•
patient
acuity and the number of patients for
whom care is being provided;
•
the need for
ongoing assessments of a unit's patients
and its nursing staff levels; and
•
the
hospital's policy for identifying
additional nurses who can provide care
when patients' unexpected needs
•
exceed the
planned workload for direct care staff.
House Bill 346, sponsored by Rep. Jim
Hughes (R-Columbus), also requires that
hospitals convene a nursing care
committee, to be comprised of the
hospital’s chief nursing officer, direct
care nurses and others, to offer
recommendations for the staffing plan.
The OHA Board of Trustees last month
voted to support the legislation,
approving a recommended position of
support from the Ohio Organization of
Nurse Executives (OONE), an OHA-affiliated
society of nursing leaders from around
the state. OHA and OONE have been
working the past few months with the
Ohio Nurses Association (ONA) in
drafting legislation that could be
supported by all three organizations.
The bill meets the goals of ONA for
greater nurse input in staffing
decisions as well as the goals of the
OHA and OONE to ensure that hospitals
have flexibility in meeting their
patient needs when determining staffing
plans. For additional information on HB
346, including a white paper on safe
nurse staffing, which was adopted by the
OHA Board and incorporated into the
legislation, visit
www.ohanet.org/advocacy/state/issues/nursestaffing.htm.
Separately, OHA continues to monitor
activities, primarily in northeast Ohio,
aimed at garnering support for
legislation that would impose mandated
nurse-to-patient ratios on hospitals.
The National Nurses Organizing
Committee, an arm of the California
Nurses Association, is conducting a
series of meetings to collect nurses’
signatures on a petition to our Ohio
elected officials in support of a ratio
bill. OHA anticipates introduction
of nurse ratio legislation soon. (Jeff
Klingler,
jeffk@ohanet.org;
Jean Scholz,
jeans@ohanet.org).
October 3, 2007
Nurses at Hutzel, Harper want to form union
Nurses at
Detroit's Harper University and Hutzel Women's
Hospital filed a petition Monday with the
National Labor Relations Board to organize as a
union. They have scheduled a noon rally Thursday
to discuss their grievances. It will be held in
front of the hospitals at Canfield and Harper in
Midtown Detroit.
October 2, 2007
Appalachian Nurses on Strike
HAZARD, Ky. (AP) — Hundreds of
nurses in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky and West Virginia
went on strike Monday, demanding better benefits and safer
staffing from the impoverished area's largest health care
provider.
October 01, 2007
Vote No on H.R. 1644
A major workplace issue keeping us busy on Capitol Hill is
legislation that would make it harder for hospitals to classify
charge nurses as supervisors. Recently approved by the House
Education and Labor Committee, H.R. 1644, the “Re-empowerment of
Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction and
Tradeworkers Act,” passed on a party line 26 to 20 vote and soon
is expected to be considered by the House.
September 21, 2007
FICA Taxes
On September 21, 2007 OHA, along with the
hospital associations from Michigan,
Tennessee and Kentucky, filed an amicus
(friend of the court) brief with the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals in a case
concerning whether FICA taxes are owed on
stipends paid to medical residents. In
United States of America v. Detroit Medical
Center, the district court held that, as
a matter of law, medical residents are
categorically ineligible from relying on the
“student exception” to FICA tax. The
Detroit Medical Center (DMC) appealed this
decision to the Sixth Circuit arguing that
the residents in the Wayne State
University/Detroit Medical Center Graduate
Medical Education programs qualify for the
“student exception” to FICA tax. OHA, along
with the other hospital associations, argued
that the question whether medical residents’
stipends qualify as scholarship or
fellowship grants exempt from FICA raises
genuine issues of material fact and cannot
be decided as a matter of law.
This DMC case is part
of an increasing number of cases in which
hospitals have challenged the way the IRS
classifies stipends paid to medical
residents. In 2004, the IRS amended its
regulations with regard to student status.
As a result, under the amended regulations,
a medical resident who works 40 hours or
more per week does not qualify for the
student exclusion from FICA taxation. These
new regulations, however, have also been
challenged. In fact, just last month in
Mayo Found. for Med. Educ. and Research v.
United States, a federal district court
in Minnesota found the amended regulations
to be invalid. Hospitals should consult
their tax advisors before changing the way
they classify resident stipends.
August 29, 2007
New Regulations Released for No-Match Letters
Each year, thousands of employers receive from the Social
Security Administration (SSA) “no-match” letters indicating that
employees’ names and corresponding Social Security numbers
provided on their W-2 Forms do not match SSA’s records.
August 29,
2007
Union to advocate for SCHIP, health coverage
The AFL-CIO today launched a grassroots
campaign to influence politicians and voters
to expand health care coverage and
reauthorize the State Children’s Health
Insurance Program. The organization said it
hopes to mobilize a million union members to
knock on doors, circulate petitions and
educate coworkers about the need for health
coverage. “Health care costs are pushing
people to the edge, and now 47 million
people have no health insurance,” said
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, referencing
the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Our campaign is based on the simple premise
that no one in America should go without
health care, and we’re going to make sure
candidates and elected leaders understand
that we’ll accept nothing less.”
August 29,
2007
Sixth Circuit Clarifies Eligibility Under
the FMLA
Recently, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
held that employers that pay employees for
more hours than they actually work are
not required to count the non-worked
hours in determining an employee’s
eligibility for leave under the Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Mutchler v.
Dunlap Memorial Hospital, 485 F.3d 854
(6th Cir. 2007) involved a
registered nurse who was paid for hours
which she did not actually work as a reward
for working long weekend shifts under an
incentive plan. The Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals held that, in calculating whether
the nurse had worked the required 1,250
hours to qualify for leave under the FMLA,
the Hospital was not required to count the
non-work hours for which the nurse was paid,
but which she did not actually work.
August 24, 2007
AONE
and AHA Oppose Re-empowerment of Skilled and Professional
Employees and Construction and Tradeworkers Act
AONE, in conjunction with the American Hospital Association, has
joined forces to
oppose H.R.1644, The Re-empowerment of Skilled and
Professional Employees and Construction and Tradeworkers Act.
August 13, 2007
St. John's nurses vote out union
In a joint statement, DeNarvaez and Chris Crain, vice president
and chief nurse executive, said: "We appreciate the support of
our registered nurses,
...
August 7, 2007
Mercy nurses approve contract
Nurses at Mercy Medical Center voted Monday to ratify their
first union contract with the Roseburg hospital. Between 160 and
170 nurses cast ballots...
August 7, 2007
Union Heads Up
The
National Nurses Organizing Committee,
founded by the California Nurses
Association in 2004, is meeting Sept. 19
at 6 p.m. at the Grace Lutheran Church
in Cleveland Heights. On the proposed
agenda is “Our campaign for Safe
Hospital Care, The Road to Ratios in
Ohio, Guaranteed Health Care for All and
more!” OHA will keep members apprised of
any developments impacting hospitals.
July 25, 2007
Forum reaches tentative pact with nurses
Forum Health and the union representing 600
registered nurses at North side Medical Center
and Beeghly Medical Park have reached a
tentative agreement on a one-year contract.
Two trade associations in the
long-term-care field and the Service Employees
International Union sent letters to congressional
leaders last week that tout the ability of
skilled-nursing facilities to deliver high-quality care
for certain types of rehabilitation patients at a
fraction of the cost billed by inpatient rehabilitation
centers.
July 24, 2007
Federal
Minimum Wage Increases from $5.15 per hour
to $5.85 per hour
Effective July 24, 2007, as a result of the
Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, the federal
minimum wage will increase from $5.15 per
hour to $5.85 per hour. The next increase
in the federal minimum wage will be to $6.55
on July 24, 2008 and finally to $7.25 on
July 24, 2009. For the most part, Ohio
workers in the short term will not be
impacted by this change because Ohio’s
current minimum wage of $6.85 preempts the
lower federal minimum wage. In the event
that the federal minimum wage exceeds Ohio’s
minimum wage, the higher rate will control.
All employers are required to post the
updated federal and state minimum wage rates
in a conspicuous place.
July 20, 2007
Senators Kennedy and Kerry Work to Protect
Nurses Against Mandatory Overtime
WASHINGTON D.C.-Today, Senator
Kennedy and Senator Kerry introduced
legislation aimed at protecting nurses from
forced overtime at the demand of their
employers.
July 17, 2007
Governor Signs Executive Order to Establish
Collective Bargaining for Home Health Care
Workers
Columbus,
Ohio – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today
signed an executive order that takes the
next step toward ensuring a balanced
long-term care system in Ohio by
establishing collective bargaining rights
for independent home health care workers. More
details to follow from OHA.
J une
29, 2007
SEIU to seek public support for
health reform
The Service Employees International
Union plans to focus its health care reform
efforts on getting a majority of the public
to favor change rather than on specific
proposals, Mary Kay Henry, SEIU executive
vice president, said in a briefing with
reporters today. “We need to create the
conditions to win,” she said. The union,
which has about one million health care
members, is part of two coalitions calling
for health care reform: Divided We Fail, a
campaign with AARP and Business Roundtable,
and Better Health Care Together, which
includes business, civic and policy
advocates.
J une 28, 2007
U.S. Senate Rejects Employee Free Choice Act
After passing the U.S. House of Representatives
in March, the Employee Free Choice Act failed to
pass in the U.S. Senate this week when it did
not receive the necessary 60 votes. OHA had
concerns with the bill, which would have
eliminated employees’ right to vote in a secret
ballot election when union organizers collected
cards supporting the union signed by a majority
of employees. Also, the bill would have
subjected employers and unions to mandatory
arbitration of collective bargaining agreement
terms. Finally, the bill would have increased
penalties against employers for violations of
the National Labor Relations Act. The White
House had announced intentions to veto the bill
if it passed through Congress. Though this
legislation was unsuccessful, a similar bill may
be introduced after next year’s presidential
election.
June 22, 2007
Nurse-to-Patient Ratios to Decrease in 2008
On Jan.
1, 2008, the ratios for licensed nurse to patients will change in
three distinct areas for all California hospitals — step-down units,
telemetry units and specialty-care units. A step-down unit is
defined as a unit organized, operated and maintained to provide
monitoring and care of patients with moderate or potentially severe
physiologic instability, requiring technical support but not
necessarily artificial life support. The ratio for step-down units
will change from 1-to-4 to 1-to-3. A telemetry unit is defined as a
unit organized, operated and maintained to provide care and
continuous cardiac monitoring for patients in a stable condition,
having or suspected of having a cardiac condition or a disease
requiring the electronic monitoring, recording, retrieval and
display of cardiac electrical signals. The ratio for telemetry units
will change from 1-to-5 to 1-to-4. A specialty-care unit is defined
as a unit organized, operated and maintained to provide care for
patients with a specific medical condition (e.g., oncology,
rehabilitation and dialysis patients) or a specific patient
population. The ratio for specialty-care units will change from
1-to-5 to 1-to-4. Enacted in 1999, AB 394 (Chapter 945) requires
hospitals to meet specific nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. The
proposed ratios went into effect Jan. 1, 2004. CHA is notifying
member hospitals of the pending changes as a reminder that
additional staff may be needed in 2008.
June 21, 2007
SEIU Officially Starts Health Care Union
The Service
Employees International Union, hoping to better coordinate its
resources, organizing strategies and direction nationally, has
created a new health care union.
June 19, 2007
Senators urged to vote ‘no’ on
card-check motion
The
bill (H.R. 800/S. 1041) would end employees'
long-standing right to a secret ballot election
to determine whether a particular union will
represent them, requiring employers to recognize
a labor union solely through the card-check
process. It also would deny workers the ability
to vote on their contract by mandating
government-imposed contract terms on private
employers through binding arbitration. “The
hardworking men and women in our nation’s
hospitals are entitled to choice and this bill
would strip employees of their working rights,”
AHA
wrote the senators. “Without the protections
assured under the current federal law, workers
would be vulnerable to unwanted interference or
influences.”
June
13, 2007
'Card
Check' Bill May Go to Senate Floor Next Week
Urge your
Senators to Oppose S.1041/H.R. 800
June 1, 2007
Tennessee Court Declines to Dismiss Nurses’ Wage
Lawsuit Against Hospitals
A federal district court in Tennessee has
rejected a request by Baptist Memorial
Healthcare Corp. and Methodist Healthcare to
dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the hospitals
conspired to keep nurses’ wages artificially
low. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of all RNs who
have worked in the Memphis metropolitan
statistical area since July 2002, alleges that
the hospitals violated the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act by conspiring to depress wages and
exchanging proprietary data about nurses’
compensation in order to keep wages low for RNs
employed at hospitals in the Memphis area. The
court
ruled that the hospital RN market alleged in
the complaint was not implausible on its face
and that the allegations in the complaint were
sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss.
Mitchell Zamoff, a partner with the Washington,
DC law firm of Hogan & Hartson LLP, which
represents Methodist Healthcare, said, “The
opinion states that the alleged market in this
case may be untenable, and we look forward to
revisiting that issue, if the case gets that
far, after discovery. However, the threshold
issue here is whether this is even a viable
class action. We think it is not, and that is
the issue we will next take up with the court.”
(AHA News Now, 6/1/07)
May 17, 2007
Forum, nurses willing to talk
YOUNGSTOWN Forum Health's chief negotiator David
Swift said the hospital is willing to meet with
representatives of the Youngstown General Duty
Nurses Association before the previously
announced meetings in June.
http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/business/articles.asp?articleID=18162
May 9, 2007
House panel considers bill to
revise definition of nurse supervisor
The
House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health,
Employment, Labor and Pensions yesterday heard
opposing
views from business and labor on legislation
(H.R. 1644) that would remove “assigning” and
“directing” other staff as two necessary functions
that would qualify a charge nurse to be a supervisor
under the National Labor Relations Act. Labor
attorney Roger King testified against the bill on
behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, HR Policy
Association and Society for Human Resource
Management. He noted that despite predictions that
millions of employees would suddenly be reclassified
to supervisory status as a result of National Labor
Relations Board rulings, evidence from discussions
with various types of employers throughout the
country and a review of NLRB case filings shows that
virtually no employer initiated actions to
reclassify employees from non-supervisory to
supervisory status under the NLRA. The AHA and its
American Organization of Nurse Executives subsidiary
submitted to members of the House Education and
Labor Committee a
letter for the record in opposition to the bill.
“The NLRB ruling on nurse supervisors captures the
unique role charge nurses play in our hospitals’
commitment to quality and safety,” said AHA
Executive Vice President Rick Pollack. “We oppose
any effort to overturn the ruling and undermine that
important commitment.”
May 7, 2007
Chao restates president's
opposition to 'card check' bill
In remarks
before the AHA annual meeting, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
today restated the administration’s strong opposition to the
Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1041), which would end
employees’ long-standing right to a secret ballot election
to determine whether a particular union will represent them.
The AHA-opposed legislation would allow union organizers to
represent a work unit if a majority of its workers sign
authorization cards in a so-called “card check” process.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the measure in
late March, and the House passed a version of the bill (H.R.
800) March 1. “The right to a private ballot election is an
intrinsic right of our democracy and it will not be
legislated away at the behest of special interest groups,”
Chao told hospital leaders. “The bill will be vetoed if it
is sent to the president.”
April 25,
2007
Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Unemployment Benefits for
“Intermittent Employees”
Earlier this month, a split Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a
registered nurse who worked as an intermittent employee was
entitled to unemployment compensation benefits upon the
completion of her fixed-term contract
April 12, 2007
St. Vincent’s nurses reject quitting
UAW
Nurses at
St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center rejected an attempt to end
their union affiliation with the United Auto Workers by a
two-to-one margin, a National Labor Relations Board official
said yesterday.
April
2, 2007
Legislation Introduced to Protect Nurses From KY River Ruling
On March 22, members of the U.S. House and Senate introduced
legislation to protect nurses and other workers impacted by the
National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) decisions last fall in
cases collectively known as Kentucky River. For more information
see ANA's Capitol Update.
http://www.capitolupdate.org/Newsletter/index.asp?nlid=191&nlaid=848
March 27,
2007
House Health Care Access and Affordability Committee
The new
House Health Care Access and Affordability Committee began
taking informational testimony last week. The Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) offered routine testimony Thursday
and OHA is working to coordinate hospital testimony for a May 3
hearing.
See SEIU testimony
March 30, 2007
AHA urges senators to
oppose ‘card check’ bill
The AHA today urged senators to oppose legislation that would end
employees’ long-standing right to determine whether they wish to be
represented by a particular union through a secret ballot election.
The Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1041/H.R. 800) would allow union
organizers to represent a work unit if a majority of its workers
sign authorization cards. “Without the protection assured under the
current federal law, workers would be vulnerable to unwanted
interference or influences,” AHA Executive Vice President Rick
Pollack said in a
letter to senators.
“The AHA has long supported the compassionate work of the caregivers
who work in our hospitals and are committed to providing them every
protection afforded to them, including confidentiality in their
decision to unionize.” A majority of union households oppose the
bill, according to a poll released this week by the Coalition for a
Democratic Workplace, whose members include AHA. President Bush has
threatened to veto the legislation, which was introduced in the
Senate yesterday by Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and passed the House March
1.
March 23, 2007
Bill would amend NLRA definition of
‘supervisor’
Legislation introduced in the Senate today would amend the
National Labor Relations Act to modify the definition of
supervisor. Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
said the Re-empowerment of Skilled and Professional
Employees and Construction Tradeworkers Act, which he introduced
with Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), would
correct “unfair policy” created by NLRB decisions last October
that ruled many charge nurses are supervisors. He said Reps. Rob
Andrews (D-NJ) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced a
companion bill in the House.
March 22, 2007
Union Web
site invites public to submit health system complaints
Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, yesterday launched
a Web site that invites readers to share their stories of
frustration with the nation’s health care system. The “In the
Heart of the Health Care Hustle” site asks, “Have you
experienced the ‘hustle’ of hospitals, insurance, companies,
major drug companies or anyone else out to make a buck? Share
your story with other Working America members today.” The site
is part of the labor movement’s ongoing efforts to advocate for
health care coverage for all Americans. The “Health Care Hustle”
is at
www.workingamerica.org/healthcarehustle.
March 15, 2007
Senate hearing on union organizing slated
The Senate Health, Education,
Labor & Pensions Committee will hold a hearing March 27 at 10 a.m.
to discuss "Union Organizing," a topic which implies the Employee
Free Choice Act could be discussed. The bill (H.R. 800) would
replace private ballots in union elections with a "card check"
process that recognizes a union if a majority of workers signs a
card in the presence of union organizers. Approved by the House
March 1, the bill currently has no Senate companion. The
administration has indicated it will veto the measure if it reaches
the president's desk. The
Coalition for a
Democratic Workplace,
which includes AHA and other
national associations as well as rank-and-file workers, opposes the
legislation, which would leave workers vulnerable to threats and
intimidation
March 9, 2007
CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION JOINS AFL-CIO
The California Nurses Association and its national organizing
committee have affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the association
announced. The nurses union said it shares many common legislative
goals with the AFL-CIO, including passage of the Employee Free
Choice Act. The bill, which recently passed in the House, would
replace private ballots in union elections with a "card check"
process that recognizes a union if a majority of workers signs a
card in the presence of union organizers. The Coalition for a
Democratic Workplace, which includes AHA and opposes the bill, says
the legislation would leave workers vulnerable to threats and
intimidation.
March 1, 2007
House passes 'card check' bill
The House voted 241-185 today
to approve the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800), which would
replace private ballots in union elections with a "card check"
process that recognizes a union if a majority of workers signs a
card in the presence of union organizers. The Coalition for a
Democratic Workplace, which includes AHA and other national
associations as well as rank-and-file workers, opposes the
legislation, which would leave workers vulnerable to threats and
intimidation. The administration has indicated it will veto
the bill, which currently has no Senate companion, if it reaches the
president's desk.
February 23, 2007
Complaint is filed on Forum
Forum Health's
largest union Thursday filed a National Labor Relations Board
complaint claiming the healthcare system has engaged in practices
that interfered with the administration of the labor organization.
http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=14957
February 14, 2007
Health care HR leaders oppose Employee Free Choice Act
The American Society for Healthcare Human
Resources Administration today urged the House Education and Labor
Committee to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow
unions to organize solely by the "card check" system. In a letter to
the committee, the AHA personal membership group said the bill would
"take away a worker's right to a free, fair and confidential
election by secret ballot when faced with a union organizing
campaign in his or her organization…Specifically, H.R. 800 replaces
confidential elections by secret ballot with a system that makes
workers' votes public and leave them vulnerable to intimidation and
coercion." The AHA voiced similar opposition to the bill in a Feb.
12
letter . The
committee is expected to vote on the bill later today. "This is
anything but free choice for employees," said Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
during debate on the bill.
February 8, 2007
House panel considers Employee Free
Choice Act
Workers, business leaders and academics testified today before a
House subcommittee on the Employee Free Choice Act, which would
eliminate the long-standing National Labor Relations Board
requirement for secret ballots in union elections. The law would
allow a union to become the bargaining representative for a
labor unit if a majority of the employees sign authorizations
designating it so. Democrats on the House Education and Labor
Committee’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel
expressed support for the bill, while others on the panel argued
that the change was largely motivated by a steady decline in
union membership among the private sector workforce. AHA
President Rich Umbdenstock commented, “America’s hospitals
believe in the right of individuals to unionize, but this
legislation undermines a bedrock principle of that right -- free
and fair elections where ballots are cast in private and not in
the shadow of outside influences and pressure.”
From AHA News Now
February 6, 2007
Bill would eliminate secret ballots in union elections
Legislation introduced today by Reps. George Miller, D-CA, Robert
Andrews, D-NJ, and Peter King, R-NY, would eliminate the
long-standing National Labor Relations Board requirement for secret
ballots in union elections. The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800),
which has 232 co-sponsors, would require the NLRB to certify a union
if presented with signed authorization cards from a majority of the
employees the union is seeking to organize. Miller chairs the House
Education and Labor Committee, while Andrews chairs the committee’s
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, which will
hold a hearing on the bill Thursday. AHA President Rich Umbdenstock
said that the AHA “supports the currently established election
system that is based on the bedrock principle of democracy -- free
elections where ballots are cast in private without outside
influences. The choice of union representation at a community
hospital is a decision best made through a fair process that allows
individuals to consider all factors and make what is fundamentally a
very personal choice.”
January 30, 2007
SEIU announces new health care union
SEIU will unite nearly 1 million members who work in health
care into a new national union called SEIU Healthcare, the
organization announced today. Dennis Rivera, president of
1199 SEIU in New York, will leave that post to chair the new
union in a move SEIU expects to become final this spring.
January 22, 2007
AARP, SEIU
partnership advocates for health security
The AARP, Business
Roundtable, and Service Employees International Union today launched
Divided We Fail, a partnership that will
work to engage elected officials, the business community and public in
finding broad-based, bi-partisan solutions to the health care and
long-term financial security issues facing Americans.
January 17, 2007
In
small doses, nurses continue to debate NNOC
The board
of nursing continues to receive a few letters regarding NNOC and their
attempts to get the board involved in labor activities. View two letters
sent to the board of nursing:
Letter 1
Letter 2
OHA Bulletin:
Enabling Legislation Clarifies Employer Obligations Under New
Minimum Wage Amendment
Jan. 10, 2007
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