Nurses Petition To Cancel Union Contract
More than 240 of the 700 registered nurses at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside on Monday signed a petition to cancel their union contract with the California Nurses Association, the North County Times reports. The nurses that signed the petition cited disagreements with the union's registration tactics and contract.
The petition represents 30% of the hospital's nursing workforce, thus permitting a secret ballot decertification election scheduled for March 8. The election requires more than 50% of a vote in favor of decertification for nurses to leave the union.
The nurses joined CNA in December 2005, yet negotiations delayed a contract from being ratified until two weeks ago.
Denise Douglass, a nurse at the hospital, said that nurses leaving work were asked by union members to sign registration cards without being notified that a signature represents a vote to join the union.
Douglass also said that the contract contains conditions that already existed, including a ban on mandatory overtime, rules on nurses "floating" to other departments and a "lift team" to help nurses pick up patients (Sisson, North County Times, 12/19).