After waiting a year since voting against unionization last fall, Duke Hospital's nurses have expressed no interest in beginning a new campaign for unionization.
Last year, after a 10-month campaign to instate a nurses union failed after on-campus nurses voted against the plan, pro-unionists said they would raise the issue again in a year. The one year that federal law mandates the unionists had to wait and work with hospital administration before recommencing any campaigning ended in October, but many are now more satisfied with the hospital administration and no pro-union movement has re-emerged.
The University has made changes so that interest is not strong enough for another unionization attempt, said Henry Loftis, a spokesperson for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 465.
Previously, because of a nurse shortage, the hospital forced nurses into mandatory overtime and discouraged them from calling in sick or taking vacations. Since then, the nurse-patient ratio has increased so that each nurse is not assigned to more than five patients. Additionally, the nurses now have the authority to refuse patients, and the hospital will close bed space if there is not enough staff.
"The most important thing is now when nurses leave they know that they have met the patient's needs and have provided quality care," said Kathleen Weaver, a registered nurse. She added that last year they were frustrated because they had too many patients.
The hospital also promoted all previously-employed nurses to the next level, gave them pay raises and now reward them with bonuses for not calling in sick. Mardi Warner, a registered nurse at the hospital, said this helped job satisfaction.
Weaver said she feels the new management training program has opened communication. Nurses are able to express concerns more easily, and managers are more responsive to these concerns, Weaver said.
"The nurses would have been better off with a contract, but they have gained a lot of respect. The University knows that they should treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve," Loftis said.
The hospital has developed an advisory council that consists of two staff members from each unit, and nurses are encouraged to discuss concerns at shared governance meetings.
"Conditions have improved tremendously and are better than anywhere else I have worked over the past 35 years," Weaver said.
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