Union Truce: Good, Bad or Somewhere in Between?

Looks like the two naughty children have stopped beating on each other and have decided to join forces. Maybe they remembered what mom always said: You can build a better sand castle if you cooperate.

The misbehaving kids are the country’s two nurses’ unions: the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC). The SEIU claims 1.8 million members, of which 80,000 are registered nurses. The remaining are non-nurse hospital employees. The CNA/NNOC represents 85,000 nurses in 50 states, but that number will expand to 150,000 members when it merges with United American Nurses and the Massachusetts Nurses Union.

A little background on the war: For more than a year, the two unions have been name-calling, accusing each other of stealing members, and orchestrating dirty tricks like conference-crashing and obstructing employees from joining the other union.

But all that’s in the past, now, the unions say and, on March 19, the two organizations announced that they would quit taking punches, straighten up and play together.

They pledged to work toward common goals which include unionizing as many nurses and other hospital workers as possible; supporting proposals for single-payer health care systems at the state level and, with a couple of exceptions, creating one, big, strong nurses union.

Both parties also want to “advocate for improved patient care conditions and stronger patient safety legislation.”

The initial focus of these efforts, leaders say, will be the nation’s largest hospitals, so I imagine these institutions are none-too-thrilled to see the squabbling stop. And certainly health insurance companies are not happy thinking about the unions’ push for a single-payer system.

I’m not sure whether this truce is all good or all bad, but I’m guessing it’s some combination thereof.

Unions can obtain concessions that a single nurse or a handful of nurses can’t, but I’m not a true believer, either. When unions get big and bloated and their leaders amass power and money, something usually goes wrong. Sometimes it becomes all about the union and not the goals, as it apparently did when the SEIU and the CNA/NNOC were punching and poking each other. So it remains to be seen whether they can continue to cooperate and keep their eyes on their goals.

And I’d like to make a small suggestion: The CNA/NNOC should find a shorter name and one that does not include the word “California?” After all, the union represents nurses nationwide, and it should have a name that reflects who and what it is.

What do you think about the unions joining efforts to promote their goals?

Is pushing for unionization a good thing in this tough economic climate?

Are you ready for a single-payer health insurance system?

Tell us what you think.