What happened to us in Ohio is a long story. Forgive me for starting at the beginning.

Three years ago, healthcare workers at hospitals owned by Catholic Healthcare Partners (the largest hospital system in our state) started to talk about forming a union. We wanted to have an independent voice about patient care, staffing, and common issues that relate to our jobs.

 

We started working with SEIU, the largest organization of healthcare workers in our state, in a campaign to win a genuinely fair process that would let us make up our minds without pressure of any kind.

 

We met with other CHP workers from hospitals around Ohio. We reached out to the Catholic community and elected officials. We had rallies and spoke out.

 

Finally, we had our breakthrough when SEIU and CHP agreed to a set of fair ground rules. The ground rules ensured that we would have equal access to information from both sides and a truthful and honest debate.  We were set to vote on March 12 and 14.

 

How our hopes were dashed.

 

Just a few days before we were going to vote, employees of the California Nurses Association suddenly showed up at our hospitals.

 

We were confused. It did not seem to make much sense that a California nurse group was relevant to what we were working to accomplish in Ohio. They certainly had never been around during the three years we’d been working to form a union.

 

Then we learned that, apparently, CNA has been trying to organize a national group for some time. CNA’s effort has mostly failed, with hardly any nurses at hospitals in any other states deciding to join their group.

 

It seems that the fact that my colleagues and I wanted to join with the 27,000 Ohio healthcare workers who are already united in SEIU was seen as a threat to CNA’s agenda. So they decided to block us from joining an organization of healthcare workers in our home state.

 

It was ugly. CNA accused us of trying to set up a corrupt process because we fought for ground rules with our employer to make sure we could make this decision without interference.

 

Perhaps the saddest part of this experience came when I found out that CNA itself has worked to set up similar ground rules at hospitals in California.

 

I have no idea why CNA thinks it’s okay for them to protect their freedom, but wrong when my co-workers and I make the same choice. Truth seems to go out the window when CNA decides to attack another group of nurses.

 

Don’t let this happen again.

 

CNA’s behavior is simply not acceptable.

 

The challenges facing us as healthcare workers are real. We can’t afford to let a selfish group of people in California interfere with our lives because our hopes don’t match up with an agenda they’ve decided we have to follow, without any input from us.

 

It’s not up to them to decide that they know what is best for me and my co-workers here in Ohio.

 

What’s next and what you can do.

 

We had to postpone our elections. CNA’s attacks on us had created a circus atmosphere at work. It would have been impossible to have a meaningful election in that environment.

 

I’ve seen that CNA is telling the news media that it can now go back to California and declare “victory". But here in Ohio, my colleagues and I don’t have a voice and don’t have a union.

 

To us, this has been a devastating experience. It’s a huge setback for us and our patients.

 

Now we’re working to rebuild.

 

It’s important that everyone signs the petition to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.

http://seiuaction.org/campaign/tellcna

 

— Gloria Jean Bedel, RN
Mercy Western Hills, Cincinnati, OH