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Right to Work group files complaint on behalf of Kent nurse
Oct 01, 2009 | 1103 views | 9 
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But Jack Callaci, representative for United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) Local 5008 maintains everything the union has done “is above board” and that nurses have been informed of their rights and dues structure.
“What this has done is to show that this was real, not a back room gossip campaign,” Jeanette Geary said this week. Geary was active in organizing a union at Kent, but then became disenchanted after nurses voted in UNAP and the union finalized a contract with the hospital. Earlier this summer she mounted a campaign to de-authorize the union, an action that would strip the union from collecting dues from those choosing to drop formal membership.
De-authorizing the union is a two-step process requiring 30 percent of the member unit, which numbers 666 nurses to petition for a de-authorization vote. A majority of the unit, 334 nurses in this case, would then have to approve of authorization for it to occur.
So far Geary and her group have collected 104 petition signatures or less than half what they need for the National Labor Relations Board to consider a vote. Geary says she has also obtained letters from 22 nurses requesting an accounting of union dues that she forwarded to the union on Sept. 17 by certified mail.
“I haven’t received any return from the union,” she said.
Geary’s chief complaint with the union is that the contract reached with the hospital failed to address many issues such as scheduling that prompted the nurses to organize initially. Also, she questioned voting on the contract and says nurses still haven’t seen the contract.
“We are continuing. This is going to happen, but I don’t know when” Geary said. She said she is not alone in her effort and “many nurses are putting a great deal of effort into this.”
In response to questions from the Beacon, Callaci said the union has followed regulations. He also made available to the newspaper a fact sheet distributed to nurses outlining when dues are deducted from pay should that be the selected method of payment and that nurses can choose not to be a union member. If that is what they choose they are to pay $19.56 per pay period or a dollar less than members.
It is this amount that is the fulcrum of the National Right to Work Foundation complaint. According to the foundation, in the 22 states with Right to Work protections, employees cannot be forced to pay any union dues. The U.S. Supreme Court held in the Foundation-won Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988) that union officials in states like Rhode Island, which do not have Right to Work laws, can lawfully compel nonmembers to pay union dues as a job condition, but not the part of dues spent for activities like political activism, lobbying and member-only events. Union officials must also provide nonmembers with an independently audited breakdown of union expenditures, and nonmembers may challenge the calculation of the reduced fees.
According to Nicholas Cote, legal information director for the foundation, the union is obligated to provide an independent audit to show what portion of dues is spent on lobbying and other member-only events.
“They need to explain the process,” he said.
Cote said the next step is for the NRLB to investigate the complaint and decide whether to prosecute. He said the union could appeal findings.
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The union got people to vote for it by telling us we needed a union to protect us when the merger happens, yet nothing in the contract addresses this. If this were a politician we had elected to office we would all be screaming to oust him from office. Yet the pro-UNAP faction insists that they have done a good thing by bringing this useless, money-sucking scourge into our lives.
We have no provisions for staffing improvements other than unsafe staffing forms. These are useless.
Some of the RNs in the union claim they are "professionals" by virtue of bringing this union into Kent yet they agree to say only what the union wants and do only what the union says. That is as bad as the old days when we jumped up when a doc came in the room and gave him our seats. This union takes you back 100 years. Professional? No way.
Best,
Gold
Currently we are challenging the union's "financial statement."
We are questioning their listing of expenditures as:
$83,000 a year stipend for Kent local union president
$10,541.84 a year for entertainment
$17,784.57 a year for hotels
$51,232.83 a year for "special projects"
$12,589.87 a year for landscaping
$625,510.17 a year for union payroll
$ 87,642.87 a year for their health insurance
$ 8,451.04 a year for trash removal
$ 8,852.98 a year for oil heat
$ 16,005.67 a year for office supplies
$ 12,134.94 a year for copier and postal rental
$ 7,149.46 a year for educational benefits
$ 2,062.37 a year for internet fees
$ 15,489.96 a year for telephone costs
$ 13,742.76 a year for mileage reimbursement
And this is the SHORT list.
And the contract? Sight unseen for the "corrected" ("corrected" AFTER all parties signed the contract) contract to be delivered to the nurses.
From the "rough draft," some of us have, nurses will have INCREASE payment for their health insurance, shift rotation is 50% of their schedule, increases in floating to other units to work, and a $41 a month = ~ $500 a year dues.
This should be enough to encourage nurses to sign a petition, and sign a Beck Letter.
Jeanette Geary RN
look at the leadreship clowns at council 94, making 6 figure salaries. they finally let the workers vote on the deal with the state.
when is the last time one of them got laid off or took a pay cut.
just because the nurses do not want to be in the union is no reason for this offensive comment.
To the nurses: do what is best for you and the patients, period.
That's already changed. UNAP has decided at least to begin to abide by the law, and now is responding to Beck Letters completely thwarting their original attempt to tell nurses they would pay $1 less as "non members."
The letters to the nurses who signed Beck Letters is confusing, as UNAP intentionally usually is, but the reduced dues are either appx $22 less, or $17 less a month. The way the letter is written only a lawyer could possible decode it.
So, all that Callaci stated originally has now been recanted by the union, and they are now beginning to submit to the law. And the $1 less statement for "nonmembers" has now been replaced with a much larger, in accordance with the law, amount.
Nurses are NOT to send the union any money until our attorney(s) have reviewed the letter of obfuscation, and let us know what dues we are legally required to pay.
The unfair labor practices charges stand. And Callaci, and UNAP, never told nurses their rights. We are proceeding with the charges.
Nurses need to sign Beck Letters, and a Petition in order to reach our goal of deauthorization. Our numbers have already increased since this newspaper's accounting. I just sent 36 more Beck Letters to the union, and we have 20 more petitions since last Friday.
Nurses are learning what the facts are, and regardless of Callaci's ongoing statements, the truth is being revealed. This is motivating nurses to join us.
Deauthorization now is only a matter of time.
Jeanette Geary RN
jeanette_joy_ri@yahoo.com