Citing patient care ahead of wages and pension concerns, registered nurses in Houston vote to affiliate with a California labor union.
By Garry Kranz Comments 0 | Recommend 0
Labor Movement: Nurses at a Houston hospital have thrown open a window that
could permit widespread unionization of the nursing profession in Texas, and
indeed in other states as well. On a narrow 119-111 vote, registered nurses at
Texas Cypress Fairbanks Hospital decided to join the California Nurses
Association’s National Nurses Organizing Committee. The 80,000-member union
moved into Texas last year. They are the first hospital nurses to unionize in
Texas. Texas Cypress Fairbanks is part of Tenet Healthcare Corp., based in
Dallas.
It’s unclear how the move might affect costs for hospital care. Union
supporters told the Houston Chronicle newspaper that wage and pension issues are
important but are secondary to patient-care concerns, including higher
nurse-to-patient ratios. But union organizing is likely to increase at other
Tenet-owned hospitals, according to experts cited by the Chronicle.
Workforce Management contributing editor Garry Kranz is based in Richmond, Virginia. E-mail editors@workforce.com to comment.
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