http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/5762871.html
May 7, 2008, 10:50PM Working
Unionizing requires deal
By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Union organizing sometimes isn't as spontaneous as it seems.
It turns out that sometimes unions decide where and when they'll recruit based on quiet deals made with the very companies they're organizing.
The California Nurses Association, which has made big news in Houston recently by becoming the only union to successfully organize nurses at a Texas hospital, has such a deal with Tenet Healthcare.
It specifies which eight hospitals the union can organize in Houston, Dallas and Philadelphia, according to a copy of the agreement provided to the National Labor Relations Board.
It also identifies the quarter and year in which union officials can launch their organizing campaigns.
And if one of the hospitals can't be organized by CNA — it's sold, for example, or another union comes in — Tenet agrees to provide the California Nurses Association with "a comparable organizing opportunity, located in an area of interest to the union," according to the deal, which was obtained by the Chronicle from the National Labor Relations Board.
According to a Tenet representative, the agreement — and a similar one with the Service Employees International Union — was struck in 2003.
At the time, Tenet and the California Nurses Association were locked in a bitter strike. Tenet wanted to get rid of distractions and entered into the agreements, according to a company representative.
The 2003 peace accord, in which Tenet pledged neutrality in organizing elections, only allowed the California Nurses Association to organize in California.
In a similar deal with the SEIU, Tenet also added two hospitals in Florida as organizing targets.
When it reached new agreements with both unions in 2007, Tenet identified which hospitals both unions can organize workers during specific windows of opportunity, according to a Tenet representative.
The agreements call for a secret ballot election but limit what kind of statements the hospital and union can make. Both sides basically agree not to disparage the other.
Deadline ahead The recent organizing campaign at Cypress-Fairbanks Medical Center, which the union won 119-111, had to be launched before Dec. 31, according to the timetable.
According to the deal, the California Nurses Association and its National Nurses Organizing Committee must file an intent to organize Park Plaza Hospital in Houston by the end of June. Otherwise it loses its chance.
The union's window of opportunity at Houston Northwest Medical Center runs between July 15 and Aug. 15.
The deal also would allow organizing to begin at Doctors Hospital in the Dallas area in early 2010; Centennial Medical Center north of Dallas in the third quarter of 2010; and Lake Pointe Medical Center east of Dallas in the first quarter of 2011.
In addition, the peace accord spells out when the California Nurses Association can argue with another union over representation rights. In exchange, Tenet agrees not to make a deal with another union regarding organizing rights for any registered nurses in Texas, Pennsylvania or California.
Tenet's deal with SEIU does not involve any hospitals in Texas, according to a company representative.
SEIU spokesman Carter Wright said he can't comment on the agreement it has with Tenet because of its confidentiality provision. He also wouldn't say which states the agreement covers.
A spokesman for the California Nurses Association also declined to comment.
The right pace
Michael Muskat, an employment lawyer with Muskat, Martinez & Mahony in Houston who represents management, was surprised to hear such a specific timetable. But he said he understands Tenet's motivation to buy labor peace.
"It sounds like Tenet is willing to accept some unionization at its hospitals as long as it's done at the right pace," he said. "It's trying to avoid multiple organizing campaigns attacking them at the same time."
But he added that it seems like an odd way to rally registered nurses when the union came into Texas saying it was choosing its targets based on which nurses came forward at organizational meetings.
"This is not organic union organizing," Muskat said, referring to a movement that starts on the factory floor by workers who want a voice at work. "It's top-down, not bottom-up."
Organizing from the bottom up or the top down isn't really the issue, said the SEIU's Wright, but whether people have access to a fair and democratic process.