In Second Vote, Rockville General Nurses Join Union

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-union.artjan06,0,2193836.story

By MARA LEE The Hartford Courant

January 6, 2010

VERNON — - After one failed union card drive, a lost election, two appeals to labor relations board panels and a second vote, registered nurses at Rockville General Hospital have joined a union.

Nurses at Rockville General Hospital first considered unionizing when the hospital was acquired by Eastern Connecticut Health Network in 1995.

The hospital group, which also owns Manchester Memorial Hospital, is nonprofit.

A unionizing drive in the '90s was unsuccessful, and never came to a vote.

Two years ago, a change in vacation policy sparked enough anger that nurses reconsidered. Previously, nurses could bank vacation time and carry it over from year to year. Dennis McConville, ECHN's senior vice president for planning, marketing and communications, said there had been no hard and fast cap on how much could be saved up.

Sandy Lambert, a nurse at Rockville for 22 years, had banked 10 weeks.

"They told us: Use it or lose it," she said. "I almost quit."

FULL story at link.