Join us in lifting up the image of nursing to the public.                          Recent News. Permanent Solutions Labor Consultants PodCast February 2013 I was honored to participate.       Click here to listen

                
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A little history lesson ~

Years ago when the California Nurses Association attempted to organize the nurses
at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, I was faced with one of the most difficult and rewarding
challenges of my nursing career. I had to decide who I was as a nurse and who I was going
to listen to and believe in the ensuing battle for my vote. The decision was clear to me

from the beginning and I decided to stand up and fight for my professional ability to speak
for myself. I started this web site soon after and the nurses who are on this site are a
representative sample of the many who stood with me and fought to remain union free.

I have maintained this site over the years due to the many messages I have received from
other nurses around the country who admired the fact that we were willing to share our
story and proud to post our pictures and speak out for professionalism in nursing. I have
continued this site with my own money and on my own time. No one pays me to do this site.
We continue our belief that it is best to remain union free and we are proud of our
professionalism. We periodically update and add photos and information of interest.
I have given talks to other organizations over the years as to how and why we stood
up to this union and enjoy speaking about the profession I love.

When a union comes in to organize, the hospital management has to remain impartial.
However, they do have the right to inform and educate staff about what this means and
what their rights are. The union makes a big noise about how they are forcing the staff
to attend meetings and not letting the union in to tell their side etc. but most of us wanted
to go to these meetings to learn what all of this was about. That was our right and we
were educated on those rights.

The union did more than their share of "telling their side" of the story. Their organizers
stood outside on the sidewalk passing out flyers to incoming and outgoing staff at shift
change. Some of them were really outrageous and actually backfired. The one they passed
out with my picture on it that proclaimed I was in cahoots with administration and insinuated
that I was being paid for all the work I was doing was truly done to cause staff to doubt
my intentions and to stop the momentum I had created along with the other nurses who
joined the effort. The bottom line is that they went out of their way to deliberately smear
my reputation with the nurses and create doubt.

 Well, you can imagine at first this took me back a few steps and I briefly considered
shutting down the site and just walking away. Then I got mad and as they say down South,
Don't make a Southern girl mad. I knew if I quit they would win.  When I educated myself
on what my rights were with The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
this helped me gain the confidence needed to stand up and remain true to myself and my
professional beliefs and values.

 Unions want your people to add to their declining numbers. They see healthcare as fertile
ground for finding new members. Just watch the news today. People everywhere are being
educated about the excesses of unions in today's world. There is a lot of abuse in many
instances.The  time is now to educate yourself. Don't wait until it's too late. I highly
recommend an education on dealing with unions from Rick Torres, a former union
organizing Director.

Click here to go to his site. 


There is a growing number of nurses across the country who are standing up
to unions and taking their voice back. LISTEN UP! We are certainly smart enough
to speak for ourselves and especially in this economy. Don't give your hard earned
money to a union that will use it for their own agenda and not yours.

Sending best wishes to:  All nurses who are against forced unionism such as
The Nurses at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California

These professional nurses speak with a strong voice regarding
their desire to keep their own voice. Good for them!

We also Salute Genevieve Clavreul RN, PhD  for her
well written blog - The Nurse Unchained.  
I highly recommend it    click here to read
 

There are many challenges coming our way. These are tough times but we can do it
together. Even though we may have differences in opinion on many issues, the
important thing is to know how we should approach them and how we can approach
them together. How do we make a difference professionally?

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I was honored to Speak at John C Lincoln Hospital at their annual Nurse Leaders Day.
What a great group of professional nurses. It was a pleasure to participate in this important day. Many thanks to Barbara Brewer and her team.

I have also been a speaker at the  Arizona Organization of Nurse Executives in Phoenix
to speak about the good work we have done over the years standing up for ourselves and our patients and remaining union free.

Sometimes we forget that we are all Ambassadors for Nursing in everything we do.
Thank you for standing up  for our profession and the right to use your own voice.
There are many nurses out there who are very committed to their profession and our
willingness to speak out gives others a positive example to follow and reinforces their
own belief that they are on the right path and not on it alone!       

Thank you Joyce Benjamin and the Arizona Nurses Association for standing up
for nursing and the right to speak with your own professional voice.