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We won't be silenced. We’ll stay Union Strong, because it’s a question of…

September 18, 2020

RIGHT…

Nurses and Healthcare Professionals are on the front lines of this pandemic, risking our lives every day and speaking out for patient and staff safety. We:
  • Bravely spoke out about PPE and staffing issues at our “Silent Protest for PPE” at Riverside in April, and our safe staffing vigils in May at West Hills and Los Robles
  • Held a 10-day Safe Staffing Strike at Riverside in June/July to sound the alarm on unsafe conditions in the hospital
  • Currently use our contract bargaining table to advocate for:
    • Proper staffing levels—with the appropriate expertise—to safely care for patients
    • Safe meal and break relief that ensures patients have enough Nurses on duty at all times.
    • Adequate, sanitary PPE throughout the hospital

 or WRONG!

Even in a pandemic, when everyone else calls us heroes, HCA hospitals:
  • Threatened discipline when we insisted on wearing masks
  • Failed to provide adequate access to, fitting for or training in PPE (they scored lower than other hospitals in a survey of 121RN members—despite their incredible wealth!)
  • Suspended RNs who spoke out about lack of pandemic safety precautions, such as misuse of PPE and the absence of exposure notification
  • Held bargaining hostage until we agreed to temporarily close bargaining sessions to elected officials or reporters interested in our examples of lack of safety, lack of PPE, broken, expired or reused PPE and other health and safety concerns.
  • Put out a memo telling us not to speak to reporters,
  • Threatened a lawsuit to try to stop our 10-day Riverside Safe Staffing Strike
  • Tried to eliminate 57 leadership charge nurse positions
  • And so far at the bargaining table, all they’ve proposed is contract language that would take away our rights to union stewards, block access for union reps, and cut off our resources to stand united by stopping dues collection
While:
  • HCA’s CEO said that the corporation’s profits in the 2nd quarter THIS YEAR DURING A PANDEMIC made it “possibly the most remarkable” quarter he’s experienced in his 37 years with HCA.

We won't be silenced! Here’s how we continue fighting for what’s RIGHT:

  1. Support our Bargaining Team as we stand strong in negotiations to protect and strengthen our contract—including participating in all upcoming member actions.
  2. Switch our dues payments to pay by credit card* until we settle a fair contract. Visit: stayunionstrong.org

The first payment won’t happen until after the hospital stops deductions, but there’s no time to waste. We are not going to let them silence us by taking away our resources.

* SEIU 121RN has taken steps to assure that your account information remains entirely safe. We’ve partnered with industry leading payment processor Square to securely collect and store sensitive member financial information. Your payment information remains entirely separate from your member record and can’t be accessed by the union. We take your data security seriously and made sure direct dues payment is as safe as payroll deduction.