I'm a Nurse from the south where union busting is very successful

Now, I'm a Nurse who lives in Washington state and has proudly joined her union. Yesterday, I volunteered to be my Nursing Unit's rep. I will likely get the position as people aren't clamoring for it and I really want it. We sit down at the negotiating table in April. So, I've only been in a union for two years and never done a role that I'm stepping up for. I was hoping that some you might be able to give me some advice, tips, what to expect and any good tutorial websites on how to be a good union rep. I would be most grateful.

When I said the south, I meant Texas. I arrived at one of the hospitals there just after a successful union busting.

Our State Board should do more than they do to protect us.

the Nursing State Board's mandate is to protect the public, not you. While they are not your enemy, neither are they your ally.

Nurses in Texas (as in most places) are pretty abused. If they took care of THAT problem, their other job might be easier too.

What amazes me about so many of the nurses up here is that they don't see the big deal about having a union. They aren't being especially abused, so why have a union? What they don't get is they are getting that lower abuse quotient because of the union!! Aargh. I was just explaining to one of the nurses the other day, that when the census would drop in the hospital I worked at in Texas, they would just fire nurses and hire new ones when the census got better and if the census went way up, they wouldn't hire more help, just institute mandatory overtime until the nurses burnt out or got injured and then maybe hire a new nurse or two, or even better (for them, not the patients), a cheaper unlicensed person. Here, when we have low census times, there are established protocols and yes, sometimes there is mandatory low census but it is fairly practiced and more important, they can't fire us for low census and they cannot mandate overtime for high census situations. They push the safe staffing limits as far as they can, but they don't have as much leeway with the union in the way.

Thank you muchly. I have so much research to do. Thank goodness I'm good at it and I know I'm going to get plenty of leads from folks like you.

while they're strong in terms of numbers the deals they've been stitching up are appalling and are a total betrayal of organised Labor.

Their "compact" with for profit nursing home in Cali is obscene.

http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-06-30/news/partners-in-slime/

If American unions follow Stern's corporate plan they'll be dead in less than 25 years

Well, I'll read the others first and then that one. American unions are shrinking so fast that there could well be a DLC like component in the union realm.

WAY TO GO! Here is the Wellstone Action website. http://www.wellstone.org/ They have great training programs for unions. Everyone will learn something no matter how long they've been doing it. Your union should have training for you also! Good luck keep posting updates!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=367

MKJ

I was looking for a "union" group and couldn't find one! LOL Labor group, of course! I was wanting to avoid putting this in GD because it seemed like there should be a more topical place. I'm getting some good stuff here, as well though, but yes, I will do that! Thanks.

(oh, my, goodness, I am laughing at myself. What a union newbie I am! Labor! of course!!!)

best approach to bringing collective bargaining to your workplace.

MKJ

And thank you!

Good luck to you and congrats! :hi:

contract very well, you should survey your membership early and keep communicating with them. During negotiations as a novice negotiator you should observe and make personal notes. Negotiating is not an end sum game. Remember, you have to negotiate with your management in a few years, so don't win at all costs. You'll regret it in future years. Hope that you and management find some ways to move forward together. You don't have to agree with their positions, but if you can build a mutual trust, it will pay off in the future.

Congratulations, its a lot of work, but it can be very rewarding.

Your first sentence is gold and the second one, double plus gold. I am so gung ho, and as my husband says, such a shrinking violet (I'm an outgoing Leo) that I might have forgotten my novice status and might have screwed up badly. This is the learning year, not the leader year.

When you are at the negotiating table let them speak and don't interrupt. You never know what they might say that is unexpected and could help you. I learned that early in my first contract negotiating session and it served me well several times. Best of luck.

particularly if they think you're green they'll often say something that helps you, they'll let something slip that they shouldn't have.

Oftentimes, as a union rep you'll be expected to go in all guns blazing and in table thumping mode.

Softly softly sometimes throwns them off guard

:patriot:

your welcome:kick:

I was observing my son's union go through their contract negotiation and the thing that struck me was the way it was portrayed in the media. They don't tell you that the company pretty much starts over from square one, with holidays and time schedules and all sorts of routine items on the table. It's as if you have to renegotiate the entire labor rights movement every time there's a new contract. The newspaper always reports that it's always about more money, and often the other details never get discussed at all. I would like to hear more about how a union fights for things that help regular people, like in nursing the number of nurses on shift, or other things that we don't know are contract negotiations. I think it would help unions if the public got a better picture of everything unions do.

Good Luck!!

and read the press releases. I suppose some of it depends on how the newspaper wants to portray the strike and how effective 'management' is with their press contacts. I don't know if unions just routinely think money and benefits are what people care about, or whether they feel they're having a hard time getting a fuller message out. Anyway, it was just my observation. I was very surprised when I read the contract stuff the union had released to my son because I had no idea that so much was technically on the table, every single negotiation.

on behalf of your fellow members and the staff of your union thank you for being willing to take on the role, so many people wont touch it with a barge pole.

Labor Notes is a good resources http://www.labornotes.org/ and you should find something relevant on http://www.biglabor.com/everyunion.html but it might take a lot of sifting.

Ask your organiser - the union most likely has resources to help

Thank you

I had noticed a tendency to want to stay away from this job. I've also noticed that in our open shop, people don't seem to get how much the union helps, having never worked in areas that didn't have unions. We have about 25% membership from our nurses.

send him a PM

you have people complaining about the Union all day and night. You are on duty as a stewart 24/7. One big problem is that the unions waste a lot of resouces defending people who the membership feels, should be fired. Be sure you always point out the union's duty of fair representation, leaving unions liable if representation is not upto par. Take notes at every meeting with Mgmt. Turn in all grievance paperwork. and be strong, outspoken and brave Good luck

Oh, shit.

I am strong, outspoken and very, very brave. I also have treated ADHD. I forgot about the paperwork. Please, gods of Concerta, help me.

It was stressful, grueling and also very rewarding for him. For 14 years - seven terms - he was an elected rep for his local where he and his boss represented workers at several dozen factories, from little shops to big places like Caterpillar and Nabisco. All his union stuff is long gone, but here's what I can advise from what I remember.

Get a mentor. My dad's boss was a factory employee with a high school education, just like Dad; but he had been repping longer and his experience was priceless. Find someone you can learn from and stick to him or her like glue.

Look for books on contract negotiation, arbitration and grievance mediation. Try Amazon or these more specific sources (can't vouch for them but they may be helpful):

ssl30.pair.com/unionist/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi
www.labornet.org/resources.htm

Read up on your state's labor laws, and learn what you can about general labor law. This site might help get you started:

http://www.adrlawinfo.com/

Find out if any schools or organizations in your area offer courses in negotiations training that your union will pay for. They don't have to be labor-specific to be valuable to you.

Other people here have given excellent advice about listening. Read, listen, learn, and develop relationships with your membership.

Bless you for taking this on. It's hard work but it's so important. Good luck!

OTOH, when I'm passionate about something, I find energy stores I never knew I had. And I'm passionate about politics and being a nurse so maybe these two things together will be great. I am also passionate about my family commitments, too, and if this ends up just taking too much from that, well, I'll choose my family. But I won't know until I try.

Thanks for the tips and the sites!

and kudos to you for taking on such a herculean task. Looks like you've received a lot of good tips. Being a union member myself, (NALC #47), I have always heard that you need to know your contract. Those stewards who do seem to be better stewards, overall. Good luck.

I'm doubtless confusing the job you're taking on with my dad's full-time elected role, which was very demanding. But before he ran for office he was active in the union for many years: a shop steward, secretary of his lodge and later part of the negotiating committee at his plant. His commitments didn't take up that much of his time - we had a fairly normal family life (except during strikes) as opposed to later when he was in it up to his ears. But I saw the word "rep" and jumped to a conclusion. You shouldn't have to study labor law and mediation yet. Sorry if I scared ya! :hi:

I'm the new NICU rep and I get to be on the negotiating team, as long as I go to all the meetings in February (about 10 meetings lasting 3 hours each, hey, what's the big deal, right? :silly: ). I'm psyched and terrified.