Join the UNION, my boy!

[dgs49]

My 40+ year old nephew is working as a cleaning guy for a humungous hospital chain hereabouts. He makes about $11/hour, and he has been there for about 4 years. He was hired with the promise that he would be a "temp" for 6 months (no benefits), then move to permanent employee status with a 25% increase (to the $11). The Temp status lasted about two years, with no particular explanation offered. Now he is more or less content. He has reasonably good benefits, and works as much overtime as he cares to work. He can work any holiday at 2-1/2 times his normal hourly rate.

The SEIU wants to "organize" folks such as him at the hospital(s), and he believes the bargaining unit would be more than 10,000 souls. He thinks they are over-promising, to get people to sign the signature cards. They tell him he'll be making $17/hr under the first contract. But so what if they exaggerating? It will be more than he is making now, and I dare say, ENOUGH more to cover the monthly union dues, as well. (He thinks it will be $100/month. Is that possible? Seems high to me.)

The hospital is very much against the union, and has actualy implemented a pay increase to - I don't know - make people think they are being treated fairly?

I found myself in the perverse position of advising him to sign a card. He is as high as he will ever be on the economic totem pole of life, and he is the sort of person who will from time to time be involved in unfortunate circumstances, through no fault of his own, that might get him fired. He's just that kind of guy. With a union, he might survive one or two of those problems. This is by far the best job he has ever had, or is likely to get.

I hate the SEIU, and I don't particularly like the idea of hospital workers being organized, but for my nephew, I told him he'd be crazy not to sign a card, and encourage his co-workers to do likewise.

My son sat across the dinner table from me, stunned into silence. He could not believe I was advising Brian to sign a union card.

But to me, it's a no brainer. What is the downside for him?

[Scooter]

The downside might be that they will have to go out on strike to get that $17/hr, and if that happens, making up the lost wages will take a long time. But the fact that the hospital is that blatant about reneging on promises made when hiring says that they are probably treating employees badly in other ways, so it's probably worth that risk.

[Econoline]

I found myself in the perverse position of advising him to sign a card. He is as high as he will ever be on the economic totem pole of life, and he is the sort of person who will from time to time be involved in unfortunate circumstances, through no fault of his own, that might get him fired. He's just that kind of guy. With a union, he might survive one or two of those problems. This is by far the best job he has ever had, or is likely to get.

I hate the SEIU, and I don't particularly like the idea of hospital workers being organized, but for my nephew, I told him he'd be crazy not to sign a card, and encourage his co-workers to do likewise.

My son sat across the dinner table from me, stunned into silence. He could not believe I was advising Brian to sign a union card.

Good for you, Dave!



Hey, at least it's not AFSCME....

[Gob]

I was a miner
I was a docker
I was a railway man
Between the wars
I raised a family
In times of austerity
With sweat at the foundry
Between the wars

I paid the union and as times got harder
I looked to the government to help the working man
And they brought prosperity down at the armoury
"We're arming for peace me boys"
Between the wars

I kept the faith and I kept voting
Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand
For theirs is a land with a wall around it
And mine is a faith in my fellow man
Theirs is a land of hope and glory
Mine is the green field and the factory floor
Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers
And mine is the peace we knew
Between the wars

Call up the craftsmen
Bring me the draughtsmen
Build me a path from cradle to grave
And I'll give my consent
To any government
That does not deny a man a living wage

Go find the young men never to fight again
Bring up the banners from the days gone by
Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not, we are
Between the wars

[rubato]

He's worked there for 4 years and makes $22,880/ yr?

In your world, he's over paid.

In my world, all the rest of society are subsidizing his existence and thus subsidizing his employer.


yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

SEIU is a decent union; I worked with them some in Maine organizing folks around healthcare issues.

I have been a union member in a number of jobs and believe it was always a benefit to me. The only non union legal aid job I ever had was here in Montana, and my perception is that the dysfunction in management at that organization is a direct result of having no union to which to be accountable.

I wonder why, dgs, you are opposed in general to hospital staff being unionized? The for profit hospitals of today are real bastards who put bottom lines ahead of patient care in dealing with staffing issues, especially with regard to overworking nurses and other direct care providers. I think hospital workers often need the union's strength to support them in negotiating humane working conditions that are conducive to optimal patient care.

I agree that your nephew should sign the card.

[Crackpot]

It often matters what type of union you're in. My wife (nurse) was in a union that frimarily served office workers, and quite expectedly was tottaly inept at addressing nursing issues.

[dgs49]

My philosophical opposition to CB for hospital staff is that the bargaining power of the parties is distorted by the potential harm to the innocent patients that would come about in a strike. It is also distorted because large, dominant hospital groups ("University of Pittsburgh Medical Center," for those who may be curious) tend to be removed from the normal economic pressures of exorbitant pricing, because their costs are masked through employer-provided insurance.

I admit to having a bug up my ass about hospitals as employers. My limited dealings with them lead me to the conclusion that they are generally set up as rather oppressive "caste" oligarkies where doctors and high-level administrators live like Lords, and the people who actually do the work (patient care and maintenance of the facilities) have to fight for every fucking dime. Those at the bottom - like my nephew - put up with lousy working conditions, poor wages, and a TOTAL lack of respect from "management."

Brian often complains about systemic inefficiencies that Management seems either ignorant of, or are incapable of remedying. He is concerned that with the Union, these sorts of things will only get worse. He seems to be a conscientious employee.

[rubato]

Unions remain the only effective means of democratizing the work place.

Although at present they are so few, small, and weak that they are invisible in the economy overall.

But 'hospitals as caste systems' are no different than large universities or large corporations. Those at the bottom are being screwed harder than ever.

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

I'll give you this Dave, based on my representation of elite Boston hospitals and physicians in employment matters (but not collective bargaining), I think you're correct about the caste system.