OLR Nurses File for Union Election

[Omaha Steve]

5-23-11 email no link.


Nurses at Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center are one step closer to gaining a voice at work. On Wednesday, May 18, the nurses’ organizing committee petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a union election.

Working with AFSCME Council 31, nurses in the Resurrection Health Care system have sought to persuade management to agree to fair rules of conduct that would allow employees to make their own decision regarding unionization. But RHC has rejected all such proposals.

In fact, as support for a union has grown among nurses frustrated by deteriorating conditions and reductions in staff, hospital management has intensified its anti-union campaign.

Resurrection hired a notorious and expensive “union avoidance” law firm. In addition to a steady bombardment of letters to nurses with distorted and inaccurate information, the hospital began to take more aggressive steps to try to stamp out union support.

The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a complaint against Resurrection for several incidents in which nurses were illegally prevented from distributing union literature and speaking to other nurses.

OLR nurses are now bracing for a likely increase in anti-union activity, but they are proud of their success thus far and enthusiastic about the union election to be scheduled soon.

Religious Leaders Stand with Nurses

Two days after nurses filed for a union election, an interfaith delegation went to Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center in an attempt to meet with the hospital CEO Martin Judd to press for fair election rules of conduct. Judd refused to even speak with the clergy members in attendance. They delivered a letter to his office—and pledged to again seek to meet with him to get a response.

Also last week an Open Letter to Resurrection Health Care signed by more than 100 religious leaders was published in the local community paper. The letter calls on Resurrection to halt the anti-union campaign and “allow nurses to make their own decision about whether to form a union based on what they believe is best for their patients, their profession and their families.”