Nurses at St. V's trying to unionize

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/04/09/news/local/26-union.txt

180 nurses sign petition seeking to join Montana group

By DIANE COCHRAN
Of The Gazette Staff

Registered nurses at St. Vincent Healthcare who are trying to join a collective bargaining unit are in for a knockdown, drag-out fight with their employer, a union official said.

Citing concerns about patient safety and working conditions, 180 St. Vincent nurses have signed a petition seeking to join the Montana Nurses Association, said Robert Allen, the union's executive director.

About 350 of the hospital's 500 RNs are eligible to unionize, according to Allen.

But hospital administrators refused to accept or acknowledge the petition, which began circulating about a year ago, he said.

"People would literally put their hands behind their back, hook their fingers together and walk away," Allen said. "It's sad, because these people are approaching their employer."

In a statement released this week, hospital officials said the nurses' overtures were ignored because they were made outside standards set forth by the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that governs relations between unions and private employers.

FULL story at link.