How can a union solve problems on the job

How Can A Union Solve Problems on the Job?

A Voice on the Job · Job Security · Patient Advocacy · Respect Better Wages & Benefits · Fairness · Recruitment & Retention · Legislative Action

Once your SEIU-UHW contract is in place, you'll have new avenues for solving problems and making improvements every day. You'll choose healthcare professionals from every department to serve as union stewards in your facility. These leaders will meet regularly with managers to make sure the contract is followed, and to solve problems — formally or informally — when they arise. Union contracts include grievance and arbitration procedures that ensure that the contract is properly implemented and enforced. Most issues are resolved informally, through a meeting of staff, managers, and union leaders. When it's necessary, a problem can be resolved through arbitration — in which a neutral party, rather than the administration, has the final say. In addition, most SEIU members negotiate joint union-management committees in their contract that guarantee them input in staffing, patient care, and other policies. With a union, no one ever has to go it alone. When there's a problem, we solve it together as a group. Because we speak with one voice, we have a say in decisions that affect you and your patients. Working together, we're making our hospitals better places to work and receive care.

A Voice on the Job When healthcare workers are part of a union, management sits down and negotiates with employees over job security, wages and benefits, rules and procedures - everything that matters at our jobs. In this way, employees gain a voice to make our facilities the best places to work and receive care.	"Through our union, we are involved in the decisions that are made about our department. My co-workers and I explore the latest safety devices and safer needles, we have a say in staffing levels and we can improve the ergonomics of our work place. Also, we can take the time to make sure specimens are handled safely so we can get reliable test results and patients get the proper treatment plan." Jonathon Blitzer, Lab Assistant

Job Security In a union work place, there is a fair process set up so that every employee gets equal treatment and no one can be disciplined without just cause.	"In today's health care industry, there is always a danger of your department being downsized or sub-contracted to a company that pays lower wages. With our union, we've been able to get a full ban on sub- contracting at our hospital." Debbie Mecham, Food Service Worker

Patient Advocacy By joining together, we can make sure that patient care, not profits, is the top priority at our work places. In hospitals throughout California, SEIU-UHW members have been able to set up committees to improve staffing and patient care. These committees are made up equally of healthcare workers and managers and disputes are resolved by a neutral healthcare expert.	"As a union, we have the strength to advocate for our patients and improve staffing. We can speak up for better care without fear of losing our jobs." Salve Millard (left), Licensed Vocational Nurse "Because we are part of the union, we have a way to educate ourselves about our rights as well as what's going on in the hospital. Management respects health care workers more when we are educated and knowledgeable." Luz Blanco (right), CNA

Respect Being part of a union means having a united and effective voice in the work place which improves the way management treats employees.	"Before we were part of SEIU-UHW, the Respiratory Therapists would constantly approach management with problems. Manage-ment would tell us 'put up with it' and nothing would change. Then we joined the union and now we have an effective voice that management has to respect. Our union is one of the best things that ever happened to me because I feel like I have control over my life again." Michael Morrissey, Respiratory Therapist

Better Wages & Benefits Healthcare workers who are members of SEIU-UHW have been able to achieve some of the best wages and benefits for healthcare workers in the country. Some of those gains include: regular step increases, substantial cost of living raises, good pensions so that members can retire with dignity, employer-paid health benefits for employees and their families, paid time off and education and training programs.	"Joining SEIU-UHW changed my life completely. Not too long ago, I was going to leave my job because we were constantly short-staffed and the pay was low. Management was actually asking me to cover emergency room EKG's on my lunch break. Then we voted in the union and negotiated an incredible contract. We get more respect from management, I can take the proper amount of time for each procedure, we have a good retirement plan and I got a 35% wage increase. Now my wife and I can finally afford to buy a house. I would tell any non-union health care worker: The way to go is SEIU-UHW Yes!" Rick Carrillo, Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer

Fairness All workers, regardless of race, nationality, age, gender or sexual preference, deserve to be treated fairly. When healthcare workers are part of a union, guidelines about fair treatment are established and enforced to make sure that equality, not favoritism, is the guiding principle of the work place.	"A union helps to make sure that all employees are treated equally, without management favoritism. It helps break down barriers so that every employee, regardless of race, age, gender or sexual preference, is treated fairly and has the same opportunities." Lillie Mitchell, Environmental Services

Recruitment & Retention OSHA recently reported that healthcare is now the most dangerous industry in California, with more injuries per capita than mining, construction or manufacturing. Caregivers need to be concerned about injured backs, needle sticks, exposure to diseases and more. These dangers, combined with short-staffing and wages and benefits that are often still too low have made a career in health care less attractive than it used to be. By organizing unions, healthcare workers have been able to achieve better staffing, work place safety standards, improved wages and benefits and a voice on the job. When we improve the quality of our jobs and the care we are able to provide by forming unions, we are able to attract and keep high-quality staff.	"Nowadays, there are too many health care facilities where decisions are made based on the bottom line and employees are getting burned out. Because we just won a great union contract that includes substantial raises and a voice in staffing, we will finally be able to attract and keep high quality staff." Liz Cottrell, Senior Hospital Office Clerk

Legislative Action The members of our union have lobbied, rallied, talked to the media and written post-cards to legislators and we've been able to achieve important legislation that protects patients and health care workers alike. From safe needle laws to better staffing regulations to nursing home reform, the members of SEIU-UHW have been at the forefront of reforming the healthcare industry. It's pretty hard to make politicians listen to you when you are all alone. But when health care workers join together, we've proven that we can make government work.

How Can A Union Solve Problems on the Job?