In January 2013, SEIU Local 121RN was approached to work on an abstract for the American Public Health. After peer review, the APHA published the abstract and invited 121RN to be a part of its annual conference to present the abstract in Boston on Nov. 3.

SEIU 121RN President Gayle Batiste, RN, and Kathy Hughes, RN, 121RN liaison to the SEIU Nurse Alliance of California, presented the abstract at the conference. Ironically, 121RN Health & Safety Director Richard Negri was not able to participate because his flight was cancelled due to a tragic incident of workplace violence at Los Angeles International Airport.

Below is the abstract.

Richard Negri, BA_, Service Employees International Union, Local 121RN, Pasadena, CA_

Gayle Batiste, RN, CNOR_, Service Employees International Union, Local 121RN, Pasadena, CA_

Sue Weinstein, RN_, Service Employees International Union, Local 121RN, Pasadena, CA_

Katherine Hughes, RN_, Service Employees International Union, Local 121RN, Pasadena, CA_

Mark D. Catlin, BS, BA_, Health & Safety Program, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Washington, DC_

[caption id="attachment_3200" align="aligncenter" width="570"]SEIU 121RN President Gayle Batiste and Former 121RN Intern Yasin Khan stand at left with Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). 121RN Liaison to the Nurse Alliance of California, Kathy Hughes, is to the right of the 121RN Workplace Violence Prevention Program presentation poster.[/caption]

To respond to the ongoing threat of workplace violence facing its members, Service Employees International Union Local 121RN has established a four-part program in 2013. This poster will describe the origins of this prevention program, its four key elements and the accomplishments in its first year. The 121RN Workplace Violence Prevention Program consists of the following four elements: 1. Collective bargaining and contact language and enforcement 2. Education and communication, including the use of social media 3. Regulatory and legislative strategies 4. Cooperation with other SEIU local unions across the nation, the SEIU International Union and other unions and organizations. 121RN created a position of Director of Health & Safety and hired staff to help implement the Local's workplace violence program. Local 121RN, is a labor union representing 8,000 registered nurses and other healthcare professionals employed at 18 hospitals throughout Southern California. SEIU Local 121RN is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, which has more than 2 million members worldwide. SEIU is the nation's largest healthcare workers' union with more than 750,000 RN and LVN nurses, doctors, technicians and others, including 35,000 Registered Nurses in California.

Learning Areas:

Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives: List four elements of a union-based workplace violence prevention program.

Keywords: Violence Prevention, Labor

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Health and Safety Director for SEIU 121RN and I led the development of and direct this program.

Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.