The Houston Chronicle, August 13, 2008, Wednesday

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The Houston Chronicle

August 13, 2008, Wednesday

3 STAR R.O. EDITION

HEADLINE: Two nurses say union agreement violates federal rules

BYLINE: L.M. SIXEL, STAFF

BODY:

Two registered nurses in Houston allege a neutrality agreement dictating the terms of union organizing at two local hospitals violates federal rules prohibiting company-picked unions and improperly restricts nurses from speaking out against the union.

On Tuesday, the nurses who work for two Tenet Healthcare hospitals in Houston filed unfair labor practice charges against the California Nurses Association and Tenet with the National Labor Relations Board.

They say the agreement negotiated between the union and Tenet - which gave the union names and addresses of the nurses along with meeting space - discriminated against nurses who opposed the union by not giving them equal meeting room space.

The agreement also subverts the board's role by stipulating that an arbitrator will resolve conflicts rather than federal board representatives, according to the charges that were prepared with the help of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The dispute revolves around union activities at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center and Park Plaza Hospital.

The California Nurses Association won an election in March when the nurses at Cy Fair voted to join the union.

"The nurses wanted substantive pay raises, retiree health benefits, nurse-to-patient staffing based on acuity and other benefits guaranteed in a contract," according to David Monkawa, regional organizing director of the California Nurses Association's National Nurses Organizing Committee Texas.

Monkawa referred the charges as a "publicity stunt."

Employees are entitled to a fair procedure, including determinations by the board who is entitled to vote and who is a supervisor, said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for Virginia-based National Right to Work.

"There was a counting of ballots, but it's not clear there was a fair election process," he said.

Tenet declined to comment.

Currently, the California Nurses Association is trying to organize the 260 nurses at Park Plaza. Union officials have until the end of August to decide whether they have enough support to schedule a secret ballot election, Monkawa said.

Richard Hurd, a labor studies professor at Cornell University, doesn't see the charges sticking because from what he knows about the situation, nothing violates federal labor law.

"In my view, it's pure annoyance," Hurd said.

However, Michael Muskat, an employment lawyer in Houston who represents management, sees the charges as an attack on neutrality agreements.

The law on neutrality agreements is still developing, and right-to-work and some employer groups would like to see regulators clamp down on them, according to Muskat, who is not involved in this case.

The nurses involved are Esther Marissa Cuellar, a Cy Fair nurse, and Park Plaza nurse Linda Bertrand.

NOTES: lm.sixel@chron.com

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