In fairness, I have seen unions do good things- not so much in nursing homes but in factories and similar places. Unions once had their place in history; but we- the US anyway- has come along way in regards to workplace safety laws, wage and hour laws, worker comp, ect ect. Our industry (I hate that term)-LTC- is funded by our government. Therefore the money is very tight. I think it’s better to stay away from the big chain run nursing homes- they DO tend to be profit motivated and that means cuts for resident supplies and needs and the pay is pretty much WORSE at these places…than for NFP run homes.

This article is about HOW TO AVOID unions. Not why they are good.

Unions could care less about residents and patients. They care about increasing membership, they care about MONEY. And nothing else.

You might want to think of it more like a union levels the playing field. The company can afford lawyers and all sorts of things if you try to fight a termination without good cause. As an “at will” worker your rights are very limited to start with. If you get fired without cause (it does happen) all the cost of your defense, if you try to mount one, will be out of your pocket. With a union there is an established way to fire someone. If it is indeed a “bad” firing the union should fight it. It had better fight it since that is big part of the reason you pay your dues. It means there is someone with deeper pockets than you there to help you when you need it.

Also as a CNA your company or a supervisor might have you do something that is ilegal or unethical. Your ticket might be on the line. Your union should help fight either trouble with the company if you refuse to violate the law or if by orders and ignorance you do violate the law. I have seen companies order a pilot to do something against the rules and when caught want to claim the guy did it on his own and fire him. Lawyers to fight the FAA get expensive very fast. Your ticket is your career, your life. I hope you never have to defend CNA ticket but if you do it is nice to have a union with a bigger wallet (as well as the experience in that field) than your own to help you.

A union is not a cure-all. However it can improve things in many ways and to be honest at times the threat of a union can improve conditions. As an industy gets more unions the pay and working conditions for all will improve since all of the companies have to compete for workers. In the airlines it has made the treatment of the pilots more even, no favorites, no whipping boys. The union makes a company have to prove there is a reason to fire you. A good union will work for improved regulations in your industry and work against bad regulations. ALPA spends a lot of time and effort on aviation safety issues, not just the ones concerning the pilots. I don’t mind paying my dues! Cheap for what I get.

A union can improve pay and working conditions. But if the money isn’t there…it isn’t there. If that is true all the time there is something very wrong with that industy or company, but that is another issue. However they can have the muscle to make the company prove that there is indeed no money. Yes, I have taken pay cuts and had pay freezes but the union made efforts to make sure that they were needed and that the pilots were not the only group taking the cuts. Non-union jobs I have had left one with the feeling that the pilots got the increased work, drop in working conditions, drop in pay and managment didn’t join us in efforts to keep the company going, not fair at all.

The best way to keep a union out is to pay and treat the workers in a fair manner. I still feel that most of the time a company works to get a union on the property (in a negative sense). I have been at airlines when an organizing effort was being done. The company that could not afford to improve our pay and working conditions could afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a company (a law firm, one of several that do this) that exists to fight unions and union organizing efforts. If the money had been spent on efforts to improve things for the workers I doubt if the union would have been succesful. The waste of money on the anti-union effort pushed many anti-union pilots into voting for the union. “Gee, they can afford to pay them all that money while they complain they can’t afford us decent pay…? Let me think about that!” I find just find it very strange that the company that cannot afford to improve pay and working conditions for the people doing the work can find money (lots of money, those guys don’t come cheap!) to pay outsiders to try to keep a union out.

One last thing, if you do work in a union covered job…be active in the union. It will be your union so really make it your union and be active! The officers cannot do a good job without the members being active and letting them know their concerns and needs. If the union is not responsive to the members the members have only to look in the mirror to figure out why it isn’t working.

Work place *rules* are altered as well…a nurse cannot just write an aide up. They have to have solid proof of an issue and they have to document these things very well. Unions *do* protect employees from unfair attacks from management- often based on personality conflicts.

So there are pros and cons to unions.

Some things are in place because they have to be. A nursing home cannot leave it\’s patients unattended…sometimes requiring aides to stay over is the only option. When this is used rarely and in true emergency situations most aides I know *will* volunteer to stay.

Money? Unions can gain healthcare workers small raises and they can guarantee yearly increases by the percentage- more of a small cost of living increase than a merit raise though. Since aides are paid so poorly ANY increase is good even if it is not based on the quality of their work. The problem arises when the poor performers get raises-they don\’t deserve them. Union pay raises are not based on the actual good or bad work, they are just token. A given. A right. It takes away the desire of some to DO good work. Why show up all the time? When you know your attendance isn\’t going to matter come raise time?