Collective Bargaining

873 Words2 Pages

1. Does the presence of unions increase the likelihood that management will be fairer and more consistent with employers?

Management is on the side of the employers, since many of those positions are unable to in the union (Huston, 2010, p. 294). If the manager holds a full-time supervisor position, then they aren’t eligible to join the union, which in turn may upset them when the union renegotiates their terms, and the nurses get better benefits. An example of this is that a floor supervisor can actually make less money than that of the floor nurse, and they don’t get any overtime pay (S. Smothers, personal communication, Fall, 2009).

There are two types of relations that unions can have with management; acceptance, and accommodation (Huston, 2010, p. 297). Since unions have realized that they don’t make progress when they are aggressive they try to use these tactics to help improve their relationship with management (Huston, 2010, p. 296 & 297). Acceptance is when management is willing to accept what the union is proposing, but is still hesitant, and apprehensive of them (Huston, 2010, p. 297). They sometimes feel as though the union is stepping on their toes sort of speak. With accommodation there is a mutual respect for one another, and together they can establish mutual goal (Huston, 2010, p. 297). Of course out of the both of these the unions would most prefer to have accommodation with management, since it would be much easier on them to deal with management.

Many times nurse aren’t included in bargaining for wage increases, benefits, staffing ratios, and therefore need to have unions represent them in these types of negotiations with management (Huston, 2010, p. 291). When issues where brought up to management by...

... middle of paper ...

...
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). (2011). The impact of collective bargaining. Retrieved from http://www.afscme.org/publications/2202.cfm

Huston, C. J. (2010). Collective bargaining and the professional nurse. In Professional issues in nursing: challenges & opportunities (pp. 287-302). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

National Nurses United. (2010). Health Care employees RNs adopt national bargaining standards. Retrieved from http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/news/entry/health-care-employees-rns-adopt-national-bargaining-standards/

Rosenbaum, S. (2008, September-October). When worlds collide: public health and union rights in Virginia Mason Hospital v Washington State Nurses Association. Public Health Reports, 123(5), 664–666. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2496941/?tool=pubmed

Open Document