Valley Hospital nurses say "no" to union

PALMER -- More than 150 Valley Hospital Association nurses cast their votes Thursday, ultimately deciding to hold off on joining the Alaska Nurses Association and give the incoming Triad/VHA joint venture management a chance to meet their needs first.

Although Dianne O'Connell, labor program director with the AaNA, said she and many of the nurses knew beforehand that the vote would be "no," she felt the votes should be cast to provide closure to a discussion that has stretched over a period of two years.

Valley nurses were previously represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which Patsy Crofford, Valley's vice-president for employee services, said still represents much of the staff at Valley. Everyone from housekeeping to food services to clerical support and plant operations is represented by IBEW, Crofford said. But in August 1999, Valley nurses voted to opt out of the union.

"They felt they were not getting the representation they wanted," Crofford said, explaining that the nurses weren't recognized as separate from the other staff members in IBEW's bargaining group.

O'Connell said about two years ago, nurses from Valley Hospital contacted her staff and, during the next several months discussions were held to see whether organizing could benefit Valley nurses and what it would take to bring the matter before them.

"We had several meetings, and then we just kind of let it be," O'Connell said. "There was interest, but not a huge amount of interest."

When talk of a potential sale of Valley Hospital began, O'Connell said, the topic of union representation resurfaced. Last fall, nurses started gathering signatures from other nurses who were interested in opening up discussions with AaNA.

AaNA's union represents about 900 nurses at Providence Alaska Medical Center, the Central Peninsula General Hospital in Soldotna and the Ketchikan General Hospital in Ketchikan. It also operates as a professional organization, with members from hospitals across the state, including Valley Hospital.

According to the National Labor Relations Act, if more than 30 percent of a group agrees and verifies it with their signature, union representatives can meet with the group.

"We had well over 50 percent interested in discussing it," O'Connell said.

Shortly after the signatures were gathered, Valley Hospital staff put together information encouraging the nurses not to join the bargaining group, O'Connell said, and what they said made sense to many of the nurses.

"As the campaign went on, a number of people really wanted to give Triad a chance," O'Connell said. Others said in meetings, surveys or telephone conversations they still had hard feelings about the previous union representation, she said. Still others were reluctant to part with the union dues -- less than what IBEW required, but a portion of their paycheck nonetheless.

Although it became evident that the necessary majority of nurses were not willing to join at this time, O'Connell said she and her staff felt it was important to go through the election process to give the matter closure.

At Thursday's election 125 out of 155 eligible nurses cast votes, with 92 voting against and 33 in favor of organizing.

O'Connell said she was glad her staff and other nurses who spoke about the union to Valley nurses were able to provide a forum for discussion.

"They really want to give this new operation a try, and we wish them the best," O'Connell said. "We were really pleased that we king of shook things up a bit. I think we've done a good thing just opening up the lines of communication between the staff and management out there."

O'Connell said, through the two mail-out surveys and telephone calls with Valley nurses, several areas of specific concern came up. The most pervasive concern, she said, was staffing and the patient-to-staff ratio.

"They want to continue to deliver quality patient care," O'Connell said. "They were concerned that, with new management, it would worsen."

Keeping mandatory overtime at its present levels and increasing innovative scheduling strategies were other concerns O'Connell mentioned, and job security and health care benefits also topped the list. Money, she said, was not on the list.

O'Connell said she planned to compile the list of concerns into a letter directed to Valley Hospital management next week, to give them information about the outcome of their surveys and studies.

Crofford said Valley's management staff, after the election is certified, will be taking a look at some of the issues that came up through the discussion.

"We plan to take some of the issues the RNs brought forward and meet with them and try to see how we can go about addressing them," Crofford said.