Join us in lifting up the image of nursing to the public.
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A little history lesson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years ago when the California Nurses Association attempted to organize the nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, I was faced with one of the most difficult and rewarding challenges of my nursing career. I had to decide who I was as a nurse and who I was going to listen to and believe in the ensuing battle for my vote. The decision was clear to me from the beginning and I decided to stand up and fight for my professional ability to speak for myself. I started this web site soon after and the nurses who are on this site are a representative sample of the many who stood with me and fought to remain union free.
I have maintained this site over the years due to the many messages I have received from other nurses around the country who admired the fact that we were willing to share our story and proud to post our pictures and speak out for professionalism in nursing. I have continued this site with my own money and on my own time. No one pays me to do this site. We continue our belief that it is best to remain union free and we are proud of our professionalism. We periodically update and add photos and information of interest. I have given talks to other organizations over the years as to how and why we stood up to this union and enjoy speaking about the profession I love.
When a union comes in to organize, the hospital management has to remain impartial. However, they do have the right to inform and educate staff about what this means and what their rights are. The union makes a big noise about how they are forcing the staff to attend meetings and not letting the union in to tell their side etc. but most of us wanted to go to these meetings to learn what all of this was about. That was our right and we were educated on those rights.
The union did more than their share of "telling their side" of the story. Their organizers stood outside on the sidewalk passing out flyers to incoming and outgoing staff at shift change. Some of them were really outrageous and actually backfired. The one they passed out with my picture on it that proclaimed I was in cahoots with administration and insinuated that I was being paid for all the work I was doing was truly done to cause staff to doubt my intentions and to stop the momentum I had created along with the other nurses who joined the effort. The bottom line is that they went out of their way to deliberately smear my reputation with the nurses and create doubt.
Well, you can imagine at first this took me back a few steps and I briefly considered shutting down the site and just walking away. Then I got mad and as they say down South, Don't make a Southern girl mad. I knew if I quit they would win. When I educated myself on what my rights were with The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation this helped me gain the confidence needed to stand up and remain true to myself and my professional beliefs and values.
Unions want your people to add to their declining numbers. They see healthcare as fertile ground for finding new members. Just watch the news today. People everywhere are being educated about the excesses of unions in today's world. There is a lot of abuse in many instances.The time is now to educate yourself. Don't wait until it's too late. I highly recommend an education on dealing with unions from Rick Torres, a former union organizing Director.
Click here to go to his site.
There is a growing number of nurses across the country who are standing up to unions and taking their voice back. LISTEN UP! We are certainly smart enough to speak for ourselves and especially in this economy. Don't give your hard earned money to a union that will use it for their own agenda and not yours.
Sending best wishes for continued success to: All nurses who are against forced unionism such as The Nurses at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
These professional nurses spoke with a strong vote regarding their desire to keep their own voice. Good for them!
We also Salute Genevieve Clavreul RN, PhD for her well written blog - The Nurse Unchained. I highly recommend it click here to read
There are many challenges coming our way. These are tough times but we can do it together. Even though we may have differences in opinion on many issues, the important thing is to know how we should approach them and how we can approach them together. How do we make a difference professionally?
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I was honored to Speak at John C Lincoln Hospital this past May at their Nurse Leaders Day. What a great group of professional nurses. It was a pleasure to participate in this important day. Many thanks to Barbara Brewer and her team.
I have also been a speaker at the Arizona Organization of Nurse Executives in Phoenix to speak about the good work we have done over the years standing up for ourselves and our patients and remaining union free.
Sometimes we forget that we are all Ambassadors for Nursing in everything we do. Thank you for standing up for our profession and the right to use your own voice. There are many nurses out there who are very committed to their profession and our willingness to speak out gives others a positive example to follow and reinforces their own belief that they are on the right path and not on it alone!
Thank you Joyce Benjamin and the Arizona Nurses Association for standing up for nursing and the right to speak with your own professional voice.
