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Management Gets the Union it Deserves

 |  By John Commins  
   March 28, 2011

Maybe it's workers' anxiety and uncertainty associated with the struggling economy and the sweeping changes under healthcare reform. Maybe it's dissatisfaction with staffing ratios, hours and wages. Or, maybe it's simply poor management by hospital leaders.

Whatever the reason, healthcare labor unions continued to demonstrate remarkable success at organizing workers in 2010, just as they have for most of the last decade.

That's according to the new Semi-annual Labor Activity in Health Care Report from the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration.

Since 2000, healthcare unions have on average won well more than 60% of organizing elections. In the last five years they've won about 70% of elections, demonstrating that the success they've had predates the labor-friendly Obama Administration.

In 2009, there were 220 union elections in the healthcare industry, and unions won 153 of them (70%). In 2010, there were 305 elections in the healthcare industry, and unions won 215 of them (70%).

The Service Employees International Union won 75% of its elections in 2010. It was involved in more elections (105) than any other union, accounting for 44% of all representative petitions filed in healthcare in 2010 compared with 27% in 2009. The relatively new National Nurses United proved even more formidable, winning 94% of its organizing elections in 2010, its first full year of operations.

"There is a lot of uncertainty in healthcare, with the reforms and the impact that that will have," says Jim Trivisonno, president of IRI Consultants, who compiled the report for ASHHRA. "People have to work harder than they have before. Organizations are looking to improve efficiencies through process improvements. There are major changes in the way patient care is delivered. There is electronic medical records implementation. Major changes lead to employee uncertainty."

So, if your hospital finds itself the target of a union organizing effort, the odds are not in your favor. However, that doesn't mean the battle is lost. What about that 30% of hospitals and healthcare entities that successfully thwart organizing efforts? Do they share any common traits?

"It's two things, and they are connected," Trivisonno says. "One is leadership and the second is culture. The leadership in organizations that embrace engagement and communication and leadership development create a firewall. Often unions can penetrate an organization not just because workers are feeling uncertain, but also because management isn't treating them well, or they are disengaged and don't understand what is going on."

"But the organizations that have a clearly articulated vision, and continue to communicate to their employees what is going on, those employees have fewer concerns, and they are less susceptible to unions," Trivisonno says. "No question that wages and benefits are a piece of it. But beyond that it boils down to the culture of the organization, building a firewall, and inoculating the organization because people believe in the leadership of the organization."

The bottom line: Workers don't organize in a vacuum. It's easy to accuse unions of sowing unrest in the workforce. It is probably more accurate, however, to say that union organizers are good at recognizing the discontent that already exists in a workforce – discontent that poor managers have either failed to notice or ignored. Remember the mantra: Management gets the union it deserves.

John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.

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