|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
December 15, 2004NMH nurses against union?Hospital says so; Teamsters may file NLRB complaintBY JOHN FLESHERThe Associated Press GOODBYE, TEAMSTERS?: Northern Michigan Hospital says majority of registered nurses have signed petition to end affiliation with Teamsters union. WHAT IT MEANS: Hospital says it is legally barred from continuing to recognize Teamsters as nurses’ bargaining agent and is suspending talks on settling a 2-year strike. WHAT’S NEXT: Union says it will consider filing unfair labor relations petition with the National Labor Relations Board. Hospital says it hopes nurses will abandon strike. As a result, the hospital said Tuesday it would not continue talks with the Teamsters as a strike that began two years ago - one of the longest ever by nurses - drags on. "We're hoping this is the beginning of the end of the strike," hospital spokeswoman Barbara Allen said. Don't count on it, responded Ted Iorio, attorney for Teamsters Local 406. He dismissed the petition as a tactic to avoid a vote on whether to decertify the union as the nurses' representative, which he said would fail as it did a year ago. "They haven't negotiated with us in good faith for 2« years," he said. "All this does is give the hospital a legal basis to not go through the formality of sitting down with us." Iorio said the union might file an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, which would determine whether the petition was legitimate. Allen said working nurses circulated the petition with no involvement from the hospital. Sharon Norton, business manager for Local 406, was skeptical: "We believe that like most things that go on there, the hospital had knowledge if not control." About 470 nurses worked at the hospital when roughly half walked out on Nov. 14, 2002. About 200 remain on strike. The hospital has continued to operate with help from temporary replacement nurses. Unresolved issues include wages, benefits, patient-to-nurse ratios and the nurses' demand for a bigger voice in patient care. Liz Horrom, who has worked at the hospital off and on for 30 years, said she and two other nurses organized the petition drive. She said they tried it last year, but couldn't get a majority of the nurses to sign. Instead, nurses voted Nov. 13, 2003, to continue their Teamsters affiliation. The two sides resumed negotiations the next month and have met several times since, but have made little progress toward a settlement. Another session had been scheduled for Jan. 5, but Allen said it was off because of the nurses' petition. She declined to say how many nurses had signed the document, but said it was a majority. Horrom said she believed support for the walkout had slipped in the past year because of improved conditions for nurses, including the hiring of new administrators. Some of the nurses who signed the petition have returned to work after taking part in the strike, she said. "I believe that some of (the strikers) want to come back," she said. "I hope that they will." - On the Net: Teamsters Local 406: http://www.mash406nmhnurses.com Northern Michigan Hospital: http://www.northernhealth.org
|
|
