Union Promises: “Union dues are tax deductible”. Here’s the Truth: According to the IRS Publication 529, union dues are not 100 percent tax deductible. Union dues can be claimed as itemized miscellaneous deductions on Schedule A of an individual’s tax return. To deduct union dues you have to apply the 2% rule—an individual’s total miscellaneous deductions must exceed 2% of their adjusted gross income. Do the math. Are your employee’s union dues deductible?

Staff Nurse Ratios:
California Experience First 30 Days

After years of public debate and legislative and regulatory maneuvering, California has become the first state to mandate fixed staffing ratios for general acute care hospitals. While the sponsoring nursing unions California Nurses Association (CNA) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) claim that ratios will: (1) solve the nursing shortage, (2) protect a nurse’s license and (3) improve patient care, the experience by the 500 California hospitals has been much different. read more...

Heard it Through the Grapevine:
How is your communication?

As organizations grow and become more complex, it is easy to assume that information flows easily from the top down. But that is not a safe, or even realistic, assumption.read more...

• Nearly nine out of every 10 hospitals could not meet the ratios continuously, as required by the regulations
• Three-fourths of the hospitals were unable to meet the emergency department (ED) ratios causing almost half of the hospitals with EDs to go on diversion
• More than half of the hospitals experienced longer waiting times in their EDs than in the same week last year
• Half of all hospitals had to take beds out of service because of the ratios
• One-third of the hospitals were prohibited from transferring patients to another hospital because the receiving hospitals could not meet the ratios

CHA has filed a lawsuit in superior court against California Department of Health Services (DHS) requesting the court to force DHS to interpret its regulations according to CHA’s findings in the department’s administrative record. DHS added the requirement for continuous coverage which means that the ratios must be in effect "at all times," forcing hospitals to bring in relief nurses for breaks and meal periods. This requirement has angered many nurses who now must adapt to a scheduled break period.

The California Nurses Association (CNA), the sponsor of the legislation, has a different view. CNA reports that “staffing conditions are improved at 68% of the hospitals surveyed by CNA and 59% were generally in compliance with the requirements of the law.” Their survey covered 111 hospitals and were based on interviews with RNs in the hospitals. The current president is quoted as saying, “The law will undoubtedly save the lives and promote the safety and therapeutic healing of thousands of Californians.”

Key Facts:

• The Department of Health Services has estimated that the ratio law will cost hospitals $422 million in 2004 and $652 million in 2005. By 2008, after all the ratios have been phased in, DHS estimates the cost will be $956 million annually. This is an unfunded state mandate that comes at a time when 51% of California’s hospitals are operating in the red.
  
• Nearly 13% of nursing positions nationwide are vacant according to the American Hospital Association. That number is predicted to increase to 20% by 2015.
  
• California hospitals, statewide, are operating with a more than 15% RN vacancy rate.
  
• California currently ranks 49th out of 50 in the number of RNs per capita with 585 nurses per 100,000 population – compared to the national average of 798 RNs per 100,000.
  
• More than 85% of the RNs with active licenses in California are currently employed, and about 60% of those work in hospitals, according to the California Board of Registered Nursing.
  
• DHS has estimated that the ratio law requires an additional 5,000 nurses. According to the state Economic Development Department (EDD), California will be short more than 30,000 nurses by 2006, and by 2010, the shortage will more than triple – to more than 109,000 nurses.

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Heard it Through the Grapevine:
How is your communication?

As organizations grow and become more complex, it is easy to assume that information flows easily from the top down. But that is not a safe, or even realistic, assumption.

While all organizations agree that the “grapevine” or unofficial employee communication plays a role in how information is shared, employees and employers disagree on the extent. Employees say that 46% of the time they hear about major changes at work through the grapevine while employers say they believe that it is only 17% of the time (Source: Randstad’s 2003 Employee Review).

Front line supervisors are an organizations best support for assuring your messages are reaching the employees. The delivery of organizational messages varies according to the managers—bulletin boards, staff meetings, communication books, memorandums, e-mail, etc. With an effective communication strategy, managers should be directed as to how you want employees to receive the information and record and report employees’ response.

Unions thrive on grapevines. Strong and consistent communication habits are the best defense against organizational “grapevines”.

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