Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/117852
NEWS BRIEFS uniform policy without bargaining with the union. RN Shellie Marvin described the issue in detail on Facebook. Despite nurses requesting to two consecutive shifts���much less enough to get us through a ���week��� without doing laundry. When I work three 12-hour shifts I do not want to do laundry in between. We would have been willing to DISCUSS but they were not. It is about respecting our contract conditions.��� Bargaining Unit Chair Eric Tronnes was proud of his colleagues for fully utilizing the Minnesota RNs Oppose Uniform Policy MINNESOTA M innesota Nurses Association members ���Got the Red Out��� on Oct. 25 to show MNA solidarity against a uniform policy Allina Health is attempting to force on nurses. The action took place as MNA was entering an arbitration hearing (arbitration is a legal phase of the grievance process nurses take to protect their union rights).�� Allina implemented the bargain, management refused. The nurses��� contract requires the employer to bargain over working conditions; what one wears to work is a working condition. Past practice and policy was scrubs for nurses. The employer unilaterally decided nurses had to wear a uniform color and refused to bargain over it. ���The employer gave us $75 or less (based on FTE���I work ���VE 12 hr. shifts every pay period and I got $50) each to replace the scrubs we already owned,��� write Marvin. ���Most of us could not even buy scrubs for tools available with a union contract. ���Today, we combined our legal efforts with collective member action,��� said Tronnes. ���This autocratic implementation is a glaring disregard for the obligation and respect to bargaining over mandatory subjects impacting nurses working conditions. Members stood together to greet the employer and the arbitrator to show them the power, support for one another and unity.��� Nurses from Allina system throughout the state as well as other MNA nurses participated in the action. ���Jan Rabbers 2012 Election Postmortem NATIONAL N nu registered nurses and other working people scored big victories across the country in November���s federal and state elections, delivering an unmistakable message to Wall Street, billionaires, and corporate interests that ���America is not for sale,��� said RoseAnn DeMoro, NNU executive director. DeMoro noted that working people and unions played an essential role in reelecting President Obama, bringing populist candidates such as Massachusett���s Elizabeth Warren and Wisconsin���s Tammy Baldwin to Congress, and thwarting a major attack on unions in California through the defeat of Proposition 32. ���The power of working people overcame the efforts to overwhelm our political process with massive spending by the 1 percent, and to prevent people from voting through disgraceful voter suppression efforts,��� said DeMoro. ���The votes of women 6 N AT I O N A L N U R S E are a direct repudiation of attacks on women���s health and rights. The alliance of workers and communities of color in this election is an af���rmation of the future for our diverse nation.��� At the federal level, the vast majority of NNU-backed candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate won their races. At the state level, many NNU-supported candidates won. In Maine and Minnesota, those winning candidates helped tip the balance of power in those legislatures toward nurse-friendly majorities. In California, voters passed Proposition 30, which raised funds for schools and other public services mainly through a small tax increase on the state���s wealthiest citizens, and voted down Proposition 32, an attack on the political power of unions. In Minnesota, voters defeated both Amendment 1, which would have banned same-sex marriage, and 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 Amendment 2, a voter suppression measure that would have required voters to present photo identi���cation. Unfortunately, despite a valiant effort by RNs and other supporters, an amendment in Michigan that would have protected collective bargaining in the state constitution did not pass. But nurses��� work is not over. The challenge now is to hold our elected of���cials accountable. ���Main Street communities are still hurting,��� said DeMoro. ���The president and Congress should stand with the people who elected them and reject any cuts in Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, strengthen Medicare by expanding it to cover everyone, and insist that Wall Street begin to repay our nation for the damage it caused our economy with a small tax on stock market speculation, the Robin Hood Tax.��� For more election details, please visit www.NationalNursesUnited.org.���Staff report NOVEMBER 2012