MI Nurses want fair union organizing (after the nurses filed charges with the NLRB)

[Omaha Steve]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080425/BIZ/804250333

Friday, April 25, 2008

Nurses want fair union organizing
Group urges DMC to remain neutral on its employees' rights during labor effort.
The Detroit News

DETROIT -- The Michigan Nurses Association on Thursday stepped up its campaign to try to pressure the Detroit Medical Center to sign an agreement pledging not to interfere in an election asking nurses at the health system's hospitals to unionize.

Nurses supporting the organization effort and their supporters held a news conference outside the medical center to tout a settlement agreement reached between the DMC and MNA before the National Labor Relations Board, and to publicly call on the DMC to remain neutral on the unionization effort.

The agreement, dated April 17, stipulates that the DMC post notices in its hospitals informing employees that they have a right to organize and join a union, and that the health system will not interfere with those rights, including organization activities such as discussing the union during breaks or distributing union literature at outdoor public events. The required notice also says that the DMC will not interrogate employees about or discipline them for their union activities.

The settlement agreement came after the nurses filed charges with the NLRB claiming that the DMC had engaged in unfair labor practices during a drive to organize nurses at Harper University and Hutzel Women's hospitals last fall.

The unionization drive continues, said Griselda Mariscal, a regional organizing coordinator for the United American Nurses, AFL-CIO, of which the MNA is a part. But she said for the drive to succeed, the DMC, through a fair election agreement, must commit to remaining neutral in the election and accepting its results.

"There is a higher road the DMC can take," Mariscal said. "Our position is that fair election agreement is absolutely necessary. We want (DMC CEO) Mike Duggan to remain neutral."

FULL story at link.