Union Membership Trends Labor union membership has shrunk from 20.1% of all U.S. workers in 1983 to 12.9% in 2003. There were 15.8 million union members last year, down 369,000 from 2002. Men were more likely to be union members than women (14.3% men versus 11.4% women.) although the gap between men and women continue to narrow. In 2003, 33 states reported lower union membership while 15 states and the District of Columbia reported increased rates. About half (7.9 million) of the 15.8 million union members in the U.S. live in six states (California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania). North Carolina and South Carolina report the lowest union membership rates for 2003, 3.1% and 4.2% respectively. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

American Federation of Teachers:
25 Years Representing Healthcare Members

In 25 years, the AFT Healthcare has grown from 300 members to 70,000 members today. In a recent event to commemorate their history in the healthcare industry, AFT Healthcare touted themselves as “one of the most influential and fastest growing healthcare unions in the country.” Supported by the strength of the more than one million-member American Federation of Teachers, AFT Healthcare’s agenda includes the setting of “criteria for quality patient care and safe staffing, successful campaigns to prevent staffing abuses and initiatives that protect the public from shortsighted restructuring and downsizing schemes.” read more...

Staffing Ratios Update

In January, California became the first state to implement regulations that mandate fixed nurse staffing ratios in acute care hospitals. Significant in the regulations was the language added by the California State Department of Health Services (DHS) that require the ratios be in place “at all times”. The California Healthcare Association (CHA), which represents of the state’s general acute care hospitals, challenged the “at all times” requirement in a lawsuit filed against the DHS.
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Staffing Ratios Update

In January, California became the first state to implement regulations that mandate fixed nurse staffing ratios in acute care hospitals. Significant in the regulations was the language added by the California State Department of Health Services (DHS) that require the ratios be in place “at all times”. The California Healthcare Association (CHA), which represents of the state’s general acute care hospitals, challenged the “at all times” requirement in a lawsuit filed against the DHS.

As written, the regulations require that the ratios be met even when a nurse takes a brief lunch, bathroom or coffee break. On May 26th, A Superior Court judge rejected the suit, ruling that the regulations were clear and that the “hospital must reassign the nurse’s patients to another nurse and the reassigned patients must not cause the relieving nurse’s patients to exceed the applicable ratios”.

The California Nurses Association called the lawsuit “an insidious attempt to evade the law”. CHA survey results show a consistent trend of unmet ratio requirements by 86% of survey respondents. After the ruling, DHS officials commented, “so far none of our investigations have found that patients were harmed because the hospital’s were out of compliance”.

Bolstered by last November’s report by the Institute of Medicine, “Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses,” nursing unions across the country are rallying behind ratio legislation. Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Oregon and New York all are addressing staffing legislation, while Missouri and Nevada have recently rejected ratio proposals. Several nursing contracts in New York, New Jersey and Vermont have incorporated staffing ratio language.

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