Nurses sit in to protest feared labor rulings

By Francine Knowles
Chicago Sun-Times
August 9, 2006

Worry over pending federal labor board rulings that unions contend could strip millions of workers of their rights to organize prompted nurses and union representatives to stage a protest rally and sit-in in the Loop on Tuesday.

The unions are worried that the National Labor Relations Board might soon broaden the definition of a supervisor. Such action would strip affected workers of their existing contract protections and deny them their right to organize, the AFL-CIO and other labor groups stress.

Roughly 200 nurses marched and rallied in front of the American Hospital Association's office downtown in a demonstration organized by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, which represents Cook County nurses.

The union was protesting public comment filed by the association with the labor board supporting making "charge nurses," those responsible for scheduling and dividing duties of other nurses, supervisors. That would affect tens of thousands of RNs, who work as charge nurses, and jeopardize patient care, union representatives contend.

Chanting "AHA Shame on You" and "Patients Not Profits," workers marched from Daley Plaza to the building housing the hospital association on North Franklin, and temporarily blocked a portion of the street with the sit-in.

"Patients won't have advocates to stand up for them," because without contract protections, speaking out could place nurses' jobs in jeopardy, said Dianna Dosie, an RN at Stroger Hospital who participated in the protest.

"They are trying to force charge nurses to be part of management," she said. "But we don't have the power like management. We don't hire and fire. They could fire me on the spot."

Nurses need to be able to continue to speak out about patient care in a way that's unencumbered, said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.

The association said in its brief to the labor board: "In the health care field, labor and management generally share a common goal -- promoting patient welfare. In times of labor strife, however, health care workers, like any other employees, will represent their own interests."

When charge nurses are allowed to unionize, they're more likely to align with unionized nurses during labor disputes, and they're less likely to monitor and discipline the nurses in their bargaining unit, the association wrote in the brief filed nearly three years ago.

"...Hospitals recognize that health care workers strive everyday to provide the best care possible," the association said in a released statement Tuesday. "...All hospitals are committed to becoming employers of choice and working diligently to maintain safe, effective care for everyone."

The Chicago rally was one of a series of protests and demonstrations that have taken place across the country in recent weeks, with support from the AFL-CIO, to raise awareness on the pending rulings and criticize what unions have labeled a pro-employer labor board.

The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, has said workers in 35 occupations ranging from computer systems analysts, to private guards, police officers and RNs could be stripped of their contract protections and prohibited from organizing, depending on the ruling.

Labor groups believe rulings are imminent. 

Daniel Parker, a spokesman for the NLRB, said he could not say when the board will act, but he noted the board will be guided by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in making its rulings.