Giving workers a hand on the wheel
"We like driving the car, and we're not going to give the steering wheel to anybody but us."
That's how Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott explained his opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act to a reporter last month.
Scott and other CEOs want to continue to deny the rest of us a chance to share in the prosperity we work so hard to produce. They want to continue the same failed economy where people are working harder than ever but falling further behind; where the average family now spends more than $4,600 more each year for necessities than in 2000; where in the past year nearly a million people have lost their homes to foreclosure.
The Employee Free Choice Act provides a non-governmental solution to help create an economy that works for everyone. It simply says that when a majority of workers choose to form a union, they are free to do so.
I'm an operating room registered nurse at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. Shortly after I came to Sunrise Hospital 13 years ago, my co-workers and I came together to form a union. Unlike the vast majority of employees who seek to form a union in their workplaces, we were ultimately able to negotiate free and fair conduct guidelines for the campaign.
Under current law, employers can demand an election process wherein, according to research, 91 percent of employers force employees to attend intimidating one-on-one meetings with their supervisors, and 30 percent unlawfully fire workers who support forming a union.
Because of our landmark agreement with HCA, we saw none of these tactics. It was a positive experience for management, staff, and the patients whose care was never disrupted. But unfortunately, the free and fair election at my hospital was a special exception to a broken rule. The Employee Free Choice Act will guarantee the basic right to a free choice like I had to employees everywhere.
Over the past decade as a union facility, the way decisions are made and the quality of care we provide at Sunrise has improved dramatically.
One of the most important things we did through our union was to set up two committees -- one on Labor management and patient safety and one on staffing; I currently serve on the latter -- to facilitate our collaboration with hospital executives on patient care issues.
In conjunction with the staffing committee, caregivers and business managers are currently working on a redesign for the hospital's intensive care unit. Together we are figuring out how we can utilize new technologies in a way that improves efficiency without compromising the level of care we provide.
Earlier this year, when budget shortfalls necessitated staffing cuts in the hospital, management immediately brought the issue to our union leaders, saying, "We need to figure out how to do this in a way that complies with our contract and has the least impact on patient care" -- a goal they knew we hold in common.
Having a union has made a dramatic difference in our lives. Before we united under the Service Employees International Union, the health plan available to hospital employees was too expensive for many ancillary staff to afford, meaning that dozens of the people working in the hospital did not have health care themselves. Today, we all have access to employer-provided health care for ourselves and our families. We've negotiated a pay scale to attract and retain high-quality and experienced caregivers. Nationwide, workers in unions earn 30 percent higher wages on average and are 59 percent more likely to have employer-provided health coverage.
And we've ensured that registered nurses and other direct care providers have the ongoing training and education we need to provide the highest quality care.
Wal-Mart's Lee Scott and his corporate allies want us to believe that giving workers a seat at the table and a hand on the steering wheel will lead to them running the ship aground. But my experience at Sunrise has proved just the opposite.
Fredo Serrano is a registered nurse and a member of the Service Employees International Union.
