|
Unions
Run Corporate Campaigns - So Should You
Has your organization recently merged or had a change of ownership?
Has it affiliated with another organization? Have you had a new CEO
or change in leadership recently? Have you had a major cost-cutting
initiative or layoffs in the past two years? If you answer "yes"
to any of these questions, you may be a prime target for an organizing
attempt by any number of unions looking to fill the ranks of their
membership with healthcare employees.
Many administrators believe, "It can't happen at my institution."
Perhaps it won't, but then again, don't bet on it. By the time you
discover that a labor organizer has been sitting in your cafeteria
talking with employees, you are facing an uphill battle that will
be difficult and costly to win.
In today's environment, most hospitals are facing extraordinary changes,
but not all face a union challenge. What makes a hospital vulnerable?
Why can one hospital successfully push back a challenge at the earliest
stages and another suffer a whopping defeat at union hands after an
arduous battle? Relationships. Some hospitals understand the idea
of using their employees to be their #1 advocate... and some don't.
Today's unions understand relationship building, and they use it effectively
to win over disenfranchised employees. Their formula to win employees
is simple, and it's spelled out, "cookbook" style, in the
union's organizing handbook.
A union organizer is ready, willing, and able to listen to your employees—to
hear their concerns and to help them determine their own goals. Unions
strive to create an effective internal communications network that
binds employees together in a common cause and gives them a sense
of control over their own destiny. They literally "court"
your employees in the campaign phase. Their numbers are growing because
unions are striking responsive chords in the heart of employees across
the country.
Facing
Reality
Through its latest Reality Check 3 series, the American Hospital Association
and several state hospital associations conducted focus group research
with rank-and-file employees, physicians, and nurses. These employees
expressed frustration and distance from their hospital's leadership.
Employees acknowledged that declining reimbursement streams, increased
managed care, and increased competition have made a CEO's life difficult.
Employees lament the "corporatization" of their hospital
and being left out of the decision-making and communication loop.
Clinicians express concern over quality of care issues and the sense
that they cannot be advocates for their patients.
This growing frustration is what has opened the doors for successful
organizing. It's an escalating strategy of involving employees—from
that important first step of getting the cards signed through election
day. Here's how it works, straight from the union manual, Contract
Campaign Manual, published by Service Employees International Union,
AFL-CIO, CLC, beginning with rank-and-file involvement. "The
most important source of power we have as a union is the unity and
organization of our members." With that said, the union organizer
courts employees with no less passion than the most ardent suitor.
Research
and Goal Setting
The Union machine at its best includes a well-organized, behind-the-scenes
infrastructure. The employees regain a sense of control as the union
staff gathers data and information, analyze management's financial
status, and seek out management's weak or vulnerable areas. Accumulating
facts, questioning issues, and developing strategies empower the employees,
who are engaged in the research process. The plan is diagrammed, charted,
time-lined, and shared with the employee team. The union knows its
potential members —who's with them and who needs to be converted.
One by one, trained union experts go after the "convertibles"
by using peer pressure to win over employees. In constant meetings
and discussions, phone calls, and home visits, the labor organizer
gets to know your employees, their problems, and their issues.
Soon a sense of we/they is cultivated. A cohesive employee team begins
to take shape. It's carefully planned—members are rehearsed,
phone trees are developed. Then, the small core of union organizers
and employee leaders begin to fan out, to convert the unconverted.
Each step is carefully orchestrated—direct from the union manual.
Often, the early phases of the campaign, getting the cards signed,
is dismissed by hospitals as inconsequential. "Our employees
know better. They're too loyal." By the time management is convinced
there's a problem, much of the behind-the-scenes work is well under
way.
Using
Innovative Tactics and Gradual Escalation
Most hospital employees would never think about marching on a strike
line early in the days of an organizing campaign. But as management
revs up with anti-union rhetoric and hunkers down for the fight by
establishing a "war room," the we/they environment has just
been confirmed. Employees, encouraged to assert their rights and voice
their opinions, can be persuaded to demonstrate outside the hospital—"just
this once" — especially if there's an issue that resonates
with them. It's a giddy experience for the employee, that first time
on the line. The entire family is encouraged to attend, making it
a fun afternoon — a social event rather than a union action.
The media show up and the employees' "voice" is heard, albeit
usually from the mouth of the union staffer. From the employees' perspective,
this first experience with a union tactic was not unpleasant, but
more important, management is now paying attention.
Remember, the union has field-tested this recipe over and over. Your
hospital is suddenly thrust into the fray, usually unprepared and
inexperienced. The constant barrage of "what is wrong at this
hospital" becomes the never-ending drumbeat. It's hard to get
out in front once the clock starts running. This is the union's only
job for the duration of the campaign. It has the people, the money,
and the time to devote to this initiative.
The
Best Defense is a Strong Offense
There are several critical opportunities to thwart an organizing attempt.
First, the best defense is a strong offense. Build a strong relationship
with your employees by including them in decision-making in appropriate,
but meaningful ways. Provide multiple ways for two-way communication.
And communicate, communicate, communicate.
If, however, the union organizer is sitting in your cafeteria right
now, all is not lost. You have three key windows of opportunity:
- before
the cards are signed,
- before
an election date is set, and
- before
the last ballot is cast.
During these stages, take your cue from the playbook—one-up them
at their own game. Make your employee relations better than theirs—reestablish
the contract between you and your employees and build on the years
of positive accomplishments. No recognition is too small to be unappreciated
by an employee.
Reprinted
with permission from Spectrum, the bimonthly newsletter of the Society
for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, a division of the
American Hospital Association.
Starting
With A Third-Party Intervenor
Any hospital facing an organizing challenge should ask why its employees
feel the need to have a third party speak for them. Some important
questions to ask include:
1. Does my organization value and promote employee relations?
2. Do my employees hear about important news from the organization,
before hearing it in the media?
3. Does my organization use first-line management as a vital communications
tool? Does it provide communications training, emphasizing relationship
building, for first-line supervisors?
4. How often do senior management and the CEO "walk the halls,"
eat in the employee cafeteria, or meet with employees in informal
settings to listen and discuss their concerns?
5. When major changes or programs are introduced at your hospital,
how often are employees from all levels of the organization included
in the change and decision process?
6. Are there multiple ways for employees to provide feedback to the
organization such as personal, face-to-face communication as well
as through employee surveys and suggestion boxes?
7. Does your hospital conduct formal, employee surveys on a regular
basis?
8. Do you use the results of your employee surveys to help build a
better relationship with your employees?
9. Is this feedback taken seriously, with mechanisms in place to follow
up with the suggestions and the employees?
10. Do your employees believe that they can make a difference at your
hospital?
If
you answered no or never to any of the above questions, you may need
to improve employee relations.
St.
Vincent Nurses Approve Union
Final
results of the union election at Little Rock's St. Vincent Health
System were announced June 26. By a 368-321 margin, registered nurses
(RNs) who work for the system approved organizing under the Office
and Professional Employees International Union. The vote marks the
first time in state history that a union represents employees at
a major private hospital.
The next step in the unionization process will be negotiation of
a contract between union and hospital officials. Union organizers
have already begun polling RNs, seeking their input about issues
to be included in those negotiations. Labor relations experts say
the negotiations could take as long as nine months to a year to
complete.
BBA
Relief Chances Improving
Reports
from Washington indicate that the American Hospital Association's
(AHA) goal of obtaining more Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) relief
is increasingly likely to occur this year. House majority leader
Dick Armey (R-TX) announced that BBA relief would be added to his
House floor agenda for action after Congress' Labor Day recess.
In addition, subcommittees of the House Ways and Means and Commerce
committees have been holding hearings on Medicare's cash crisis.
The White House, too, has been increasing its commitment to BBA
relief—it is now up to $21 billion over five years, and $40
billion over the next decade. And Senate Democrats have announced
their intent to push for a much bigger plan, estimated at $80 billion
over ten years, including at least two years of full market basket
inpatient prospective payment system updates, plus relief for indirect
medical education costs and Medicare disproportionate share hospitals.
Credit for the progress goes to the nation's hospitals and health
systems as well as the AHA and state hospital associations. All
have worked their members of Congress hard since January, explaining
the costly toll that BBA provisions are taking on hospitals and
the resulting damage to providers' infrastructure and beneficiaries'
access to healthcare services.
While all members of the state's congressional delegation have signed
as co-sponsors for the American Hospital Association's two flagship
bills for BBA relief (S. 2018 and H.R. 3580), the Arkansas Hospital
Association encouraged its member hospitals to keep up the pressure.
Hospital CEOs in the second and fourth congressional districts met
as a group in August with Congressmen Vic Snyder and Jay Dickey.
The CEOs provided the congressmen with first-hand information about
the BBA's effect on hospital operations, thanked them for the support
they've given, and asked that they continue to support hospitals
by working with their colleagues to gain more support for votes
on crucial bills that could take place as early as mid-September.
|
