National Nurses United

4 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y | M A R C H 2 0 1 9 NORTH DAKOTA N urses at a Bismarck, ND, hospi- tal made a historic choice to improve their working conditions and have a voice in their work- place. RNs at CHI St. Alexius Medical Center overwhelmingly voted this March in favor of representation by the Minnesota Nurses Association and becoming part of NNU. The vote is especially significant because they voted to affiliate with MNA in a state with very anti-union laws. The labor family throughout the country has taken notice of this accomplishment, which is a signal that organizing in what are perceived as anti- labor areas is very possible. Nurses are happy they have a voice in their workplace for the first time. "We tried to work with administration, we tried to make patients be more than numbers, but they wouldn't hear us," said St. Alexius RN Chettie Greer. "Now that we are part of MNA, we have the seat at the table to start making changes and put the care back in healthcare." "MNA members are very excited to welcome St. Alexius nurses to our union family," said MNA President Mary C. Turner, RN. "We are thrilled to assist them as they take their seat at the table and have a say in their workplace." It all started in 2017, when several nurses began speaking to each other about work- place and patient care issues. They called for meetings with management, and were repeatedly ignored or given perfunctory meetings where management refused to take nurses' input seriously and took no action on their concerns. Nurses felt they had no voice in critical patient care decisions, and couldn't advocate for their patients. They were most con - cerned about unsafe staffing levels, work- place violence, and patient care. On top of that, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) took over the hospital, and imposed severe budg- et-cutting measures that made working conditions even worse. After exhausting all internal methods to address issues and getting nowhere, nurses began talking about unionizing. Nurses met with coworkers from other units and floors, and after determining that issues in the hospital were not isolated to one or just a few units, decided to contact MNA. MNA organizers began meeting with nurses in spring 2017 and started building an organizing committee. The committee met regularly and crafted the strategy behind the campaign, and, more important- ly, began speaking with all of their cowork- ers in one-on-one conversations to identify deeply, widely felt issues, as well as to educate about the strength in numbers nurses would have in coming together and forming a union. After building to majority support later that year, the organizing committee filed for a union election. Management had been run ning an aggressive union-busting cam - paign that com mittee members fought against by continuing to educate and mobi- lize their coworkers. The initial vote was lost by the slimmest of margins. Nurse leaders were not defeated and were already discussing how they could return after the required one-year cool- down period. During the cool-down period, organizing committee members continued to recruit leaders from across the hospital, and trained them on how to be nurse organizers. They grew the committee and retooled their strat- egy so they could be successful in their second attempt at unionization. With a more robust organizing team, nurses once again reached out to MNA organizers, and began holding regular meet- ings to move their campaign forward. Nurses worked tirelessly to continue to educate their coworkers and move them to action. Nurses built a super-majority of support, and executed a flawless get-out- the-vote campaign to bring them a landslide and historic victory, taking home 70 percent of the vote. St. Alexius nurses kept up the fight because of the difficult issues they continued to face. In fact, the hospital gave nurses an excellent organizing tool: shortly following the 2017 vote, management gutted nurses' sick time plans. That decision motivated many nurses to see they couldn't trust management, and a union would help them have a voice at the table. Nurses are now immersed in organizing their new union and initiating negotiations for a first contract. Several nurses went to NNU and AFL-CIO events to get a flavor of unions on the national level, and were the center of attention from people impressed with their win in an anti-union state. —Barbara Brady NEWS BRIEFS RNs take historic vote to unionize with Minnesota Nurses Association

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