Houston nurses' vote on unionizing may touch Dallas

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-NurseUnion_27bus.ART.State.Edition1.15df509.html

Results at Tenet hospital may provide a shot in the arm to Dallas efforts

07:41 AM CDT on Thursday, March 27, 2008

By JASON ROBERSON / The Dallas Morning News

If nurses at a Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital in Houston vote yes today and Friday, Texas could have its first nursing union.

Such a vote at a hospital owned by the Dallas-based hospital system would probably send reverberations across North Texas hospitals. Union organizers have already been in touch with at least one Dallas hospital.

The California Nurses Association, the largest statewide nurses' union, collected enough signature cards at Tenet's hospital in the Cypress-Fairbanks suburb of Houston to force the union election.

CNA predicts victory in the Houston vote but said organizing in Texas has been difficult.

"There's been a culture there that's an anti-union culture," said Jill Furillo, a registered nurse and the CNA's chief negotiator with Tenet. "There has been a desire and there have been attempts, but there have been efforts by hospital administrators to interfere."

CNA is also focusing efforts on some North Texas hospitals. Last month, the union asked Parkland hospital officials for the names, phone numbers and addresses of its 2,500 nurses. Parkland had to comply under the Freedom of Information Act because it's a government-funded hospital.

FULL story at link.

[w8liftinglady]

1. I hope they are successful-many of my coworkers are ready to organize