WEBVTT - The Union Election That Could Change Everything, Part 1 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.640 Welcome to Dick had Happened Here, the show about things 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:10.480 following apart how to put them back together again. I'm 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 your host, Mia Wong, and today we have a really 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.040 exciting episode. We're gonna be talking to a group of 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.000 workers from the California Nurses Association, which is specifically their 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:21.560 national Organizing Committee, which is I think better known to 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.120 most people. And then you are a National Nurses United 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:30.280 and these people are part of a shift of workers 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.120 who was for the first time running a rank and 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.880 file slate for the Council of Presidents, which is sort 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.680 of They're a body that combines the positions of vice 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:44.240 president president in the union. They're called Shift Change. And so, Eric, 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.880 do you want to introduce yourself? All right, my name 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.400 is Eric Cook. I've been a nurse for thirty two years. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:55.680 I currently work in the cardiac telemetry floor. And I 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.480 became a nurse after being a Navy corman in the 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:03.680 First Call War and just continued in healthcare from there. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.360 I was originally an alvin and then became a registered nurse. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.200 And I've been on the past three negotiating teams for 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:17.120 Altabates Summit Hospital and I've seen a lot of changes 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:22.520 in the attitude and movement of the union in the 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:28.600 past twelve years. So I'm hoping with John and Raina 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.959 and Mark to make a change for our union and 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.880 our members for the better. Yeah, I'm glad, glad you 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.199 could be here to join us. Thank you. Yeah, Rina, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.480 do you want to introduce yourself? Hi? There, I'm Rina Lindsay. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.600 I have been a California nurse for over thirteen years, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:52.080 and out of those thirteen years, eight of them I've 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.320 been in Altbate's Medical Center, which was my first union 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.760 as an r N. How I be an Also, I'm sorry. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.760 And also i work in ice you and I've been 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:11.519 there through been there for about seven years wow. And 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:15.880 I've worked with Eric a year prior to that. So 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:18.919 the reason why I became a nurse, it is a 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:24.680 long story, but the bridge version is at the beginning, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.920 I wanted to be a lawyer. So when I went 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.640 to college, kind of fund I was dyslexic, so that 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:35.160 kind of backed out. And then I also was a 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.840 teen mom, which that's something that a lot of people 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.560 do not know about me. And during that whole process, 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.080 I wanted to find something that I could be an 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.200 advocate for people and also know the political side of it. 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.079 So nursing became the best benefit. One thing I love 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:58.240 about nursing is you can learn everything about the world, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.920 to know about people without going anywhere, So that was 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.560 the thrill. And then also being an advocate for the 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:10.600 patients I take care for. In addition to that, you know, 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.480 knowing my peers and knowing that we all have the 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:18.480 similar struggles when it comes to the systems that we 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.959 work for. Doesn't matter which employer you work for, and 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:27.120 so being in the union it gives you that way 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.560 of a contract between you and your employer. And along 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.760 the way there has been some issues which Eric and 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:39.560 I and John all been experiencing where things do need 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:46.080 to change, and being part of shift change is part 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.080 where we have to change of leadership and be more 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:54.680 transparent between the union, the employer, and the people in general. 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.760 Hell yeah, and yeah, John, do you want to introduce yourself? Yeah? Sure, 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:07.520 I'm John Horronymous. I'm a packy recovery nurse at University 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.840 of Chicago. Before that, I was in the medical u 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:16.680 for six and a half years, and then before that 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.559 I was like a associate's degree our end working at 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.760 the emergency room at holy Cross Hospital. And I also started, 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:28.000 which is funny to me, as an LPN, which is 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.279 the same thing as an LVN that Eric did. And 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:35.000 I was a CNA before that. I decided to become 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.279 a nurse way back in the day when I was 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.320 trying to figure out what I wanted to do after 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.719 dropping out of high school, and I was thinking about 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:45.800 man and maybe it should become like a history teacher, 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.320 and I was like, oh, why would I want to 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.200 go back to this place I hate so much. I 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.640 dropped out of it, and I personally got like incredibly 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.640 sick with something called uld sort of kalitis, and I 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.520 got a bunch of surgeries done and got some really 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:05.800 amazing experience being taken care of by nurses, and it 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.360 became really immediately obvious to me, like I also, like Raina, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.279 wanted to help people. And also I thought that nursing 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.640 was like a way where even like for you know, individuals, 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.400 I could change someone's day just a little bit for 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.599 the better, but also like maybe changed some bigger things. 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.880 And so I thought nursing was just like a really 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.080 great way to do that. Also, it's really fortunate to 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.240 be raised by an amazing nurse. My mom was a 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:38.000 nurse and she was always like she's like one of 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.920 those people was my hero. And a lot of other 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:47.440 nurses in my family, both men and women, including someone 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.320 who is like a Kentucky Frontier nurses, like the first 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.400 group of nurse practitioner, nurse midwife back in the like 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:58.200 the nineteen forties, back in Kentucky. So I've got a 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.200 lot of nurses in my family and on this like 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:07.040 incredibly proud to be like paring on all the stuff 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.400 that they have been doing for all their years as 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.400 like nurses. So and like meeting the folks out in California, 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.839 like Raina and Eric. It just makes me feel so good, 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:21.359 like we're doing really important stuff in terms of both 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.640 our daily practice of being a nurse, but also like 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.760 that we can have like this bigger impact on how 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.360 things are happening in our profession, in the healthcare industry 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:37.400 and just the broader world. Yeah. Yeah, we've we've talked 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.000 like a decent amount on this show now about sort 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.440 of the labor issues that have been facing nurses both 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.960 actually here and in the UK, and I think a 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:47.839 little bit in a couple of other countries. Yeah, I 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:49.760 was I was wondering what were the sort of specific 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.839 things that you all were dealing with, both just in 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.839 the profession and then also in the union that got 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.440 you all together to run this slate. Okay, So one 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:05.640 of the things that caused us to actually meet by 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:11.520 coincidence was one of my co workers, Torol Doordall, who's 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:17.040 a Norwegian nurse who's been a nurse here in America 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:24.280 for over thirty years. She contacted Labor Notes and, you know, 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:28.640 realizing something was wrong in our union, she started talking 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:34.480 with specifically Sarah Hughes at labor Notes, and through labor 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.440 Notes and Sarah, we were able to connect with John 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:42.920 and Chicago, and it was amazing that what we discovered 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:50.280 is that our problems here in California were mimicking what 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:56.120 they've experienced in Chicago, and through Sarah finding out from 0:07:56.120 --> 0:08:02.600 other diverse communities of nurses and tech Florida, North Carolina, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.960 New York, in Minnesota that there same things are happening 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.680 there under our same union. And our complaint was through 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.320 our union was that we felt we were being siloed. 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.320 And of course, when I say siloed, is actually in 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:24.280 our negotiations. We had seventeen facilities negotiating, but we were 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.120 told that we were not allowed to communicate with each other. 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:33.359 I said it was it was forbidden by the federal mediator. 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.000 Now why this is? Yes, yes, I know that was 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.440 my reaction initially too. There were two other negotiators on 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.600 the team. It was highly suspicious because the union wanted 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:53.120 to put all new nurses onto the negotiating team, and 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.760 that was a little bit of a red flag. There 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.600 were so many red flags through this negotiations. I swear 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.880 I could almost see Lennon's tomb, that's how many red 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:07.600 flags there were. It was amazing to us is that 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.080 they said the mediator forbade us from talking to each other, 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.560 because that was part of the agreement to have the 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:21.479 federal mediator. The three of us that had previous experience 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:27.320 with negotiating just knew that was the wrong thing. And 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:33.319 it took over at least about seven months before we 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:38.040 started breaking through to other tables and communicating with them 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.000 on text and having our own zoom conversations with them 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.520 to convince them that no, this is a lie. We 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.880 are allowed to talk to each other. And we end 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.000 up finding out that we were kind of being railroaded 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:55.960 into what we considered an agreement that was less than 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.160 satisfactory for the workers, for the nurses who have suffered 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.960 during the pandemic. We could have gotten probably one of 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:11.199 the greatest contracts that any nursing body had ever received. 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:17.080 We had the industry by the throat. We suffered so much, 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.800 you know, John, everybody throughout the country, all the nurse 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:24.720 has suffered. Everybody's suffered, but everybody that was at that 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:31.760 bedside during the pandemic, we it was a horrific experience. 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.200 It's great when you take care of people and you 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:38.640 heal them, Yes, it's that's a great thing. But the 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:44.280 stress and the you know, the unending anxiety that you felt, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.480 and then in the midst of this you have a 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:52.000 union that short changes you at a point when we 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:57.400 had so much power, and thank Heavens for Sarah to 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.040 put us into contact with all these other nurses to 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:04.960 realize that it wasn't just the subter division of the 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:10.640 California Nurses Association that was running things amok. It was 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:16.240 actually it seemed to be a perceived playbook plan of 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.800 what they were doing throughout the country. And I think 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.520 nobody perceives themselves as doing evil or anything like that. 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:28.680 I think they always think that they're doing it for 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:34.400 the better interest of everybody. But that's what's important about 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:38.200 a rank and file movement is that every nurse, every 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.480 person in the union is important and deserves a voice. 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.319 And we don't need to be gas lit. We don't 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:52.960 need to be mistreated by the union that we pay 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.600 to represent us. We need to be marching on the boss. 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:06.960 We could have had an unending euphoria for nurses with 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:10.560 a contract. We could have had great staffing, we could 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.160 have had better pay, we could have had everything that 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:17.120 we wanted to make our work lives to be the 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:21.440 best they could be. And it seemed our union already 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:27.440 had a preplanned agreement with the corporation. Now they deny that, 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.080 but it's kind of hard to believe when they had 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:36.440 the same agreement that they were supposedly negotiating in silos 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.120 that they weren't communicate. Each table was supposedly negotiating their own, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.320 but it was the same thing they wanted at every table, 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.280 and not all the tables were equal. It was very 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.840 sad for us. Like I said, this is the third 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:55.320 negotiating team. I was on the first negotiating team I 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.720 was on. We lasted over two years negotiating and we 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:04.400 went through nine strikes and threatened at tenth and until 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:09.800 we got an agreement. So our hospital, obviously it's Altibates 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:14.200 Hospital in Berkeley. Our sister hospital, Summit Hospital in Oakland, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.640 and we have affiliated with us, is the Herrot Campus, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:27.319 which is the the psychiatric facility. And we have struggled 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.760 so much through this pandemic and it was amazing to 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.120 us that we came up with less than what we 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.000 should have gotten. I will tell you that thanks to 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.320 Sarah and meeting all these other nurses, we were able 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.080 to come back. And I think through fear and intimidation, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.920 our union was forced to back us and we're able 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:56.800 to get economically what we wanted. But like the rest 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.160 of the country, as nurses, we wanted better staffing. We 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:06.040 needed more more bodies at the bedside. We're overworked, we're fatigued. 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.160 Raina worked in the ICU and they had their own 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.800 COVID unit there. Um. I don't think there was enough 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:18.000 tums and roll aids to go around for all of 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:24.760 those nurses. The anxiety and um, you know, the heart 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.160 in your throat and of course John himself, I don't 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.680 want to his personal business, but you know his experience. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.760 He has long COVID. So we we as nurses, have 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.880 suffered quite a bit, and we expected a lot more 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:43.240 from our union. Yeah, and I mean even just on 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.640 a very basic level, like no matter what you go through, 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.760 you have the right for your union not to light you. 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.320 Let's see, this is a very elementary sort of that's 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:58.600 a that's a really elementary thing. Yeah, but like it's 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:05.120 really u it's really scary how comfortable some of the 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.840 people who are paid their wages out of our dues 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.440 are with lying to us. I think that's a thing 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.880 that like, um, you know, like we're one of the 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.400 things we're specifically fighting for is like transparency and accountability, 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:26.960 especially for our staff. And you know, when I, you know, 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.240 Eric mentioned that I had had long COVID, I'm finally 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.680 getting I've been to the point where I'm like as 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.800 recovered as I probably ever will be, and which is great. 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.920 You know, being recovered from long COVID is so much 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:42.520 better than having long COVID. But you know, I was 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.840 always like someone that they came to to ask for 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.240 help with like political sorts of issues inside the union, 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.000 or they would come to me for Medicare for all 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:58.200 or um you know, speaking around things like ratios that 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:00.440 sort of stuff, or they would send me off to 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.200 When the Chicago teachers went on strike in twenty nineteen, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.400 I was sent to speak on behalf of our union 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.280 for them, and you know, just doing the work of 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.840 I'm kind of a I'm a bit of an agitator. 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:19.160 And then COVID hit and it was just a really 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:25.200 surreal experience. And my area the hospital is one of 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.360 those places where they basically did everything they could to 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.520 minimize the amount of surgeries we were doing initially when 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.480 the lockdowns were happening for the first six months of 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.760 the pandemic, and then but they were moving us into 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.440 because we are all former ICU nurses, so I would 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.480 do my shift a few shifts up in the medical 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.000 ICEU than we made a special clean ICEU because we're 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.640 still getting traumas. A University of Chicago apparently sees more 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:56.200 penetrating gunshot and stab wounds than any other hospital in 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.200 the United States. Thirty percent of our traumas are are 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:06.040 from some sort of violence, which is substantially higher than 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:11.600 anywhere else in the US and then I got sick, right, 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:13.760 and so to me, the union was like a thing. 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:15.879 It was like, man, this is nice to have. I 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.960 had never worked at an union hospital before. Getting union 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.680 raises was like a big step up in my life, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:26.119 you know. And it was also like, oh yeah, our 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.800 union's progressive, Like I kind of I like most of 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.920 the things that it stands for, and I didn't really 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.560 think of it as someone that needed the union right 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.879 to do the things that unions really kind of like 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.119 is the bread and butter of unions, which is like 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:44.520 coming in and like helping you when you need help 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:49.000 as an individual worker, and you know, when you're not 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.840 in the middle of like a contract negotiation. And I 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:56.200 got sick with long COVID and lost. We had negotiated 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:00.560 this great you know, like COVID six pay polow see, 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.640 and management just took that away without like from me, 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.520 without really giving any notice or you know, explaination why. 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.000 And you sit there trying to get like the help 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.040 that you need from your Union's like I'm trying to 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.520 explain why it is that, like this is a problem 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:21.080 for me to our labor rep who's like our they 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.800 called them business agents. Labor reps whatever. There are people 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:28.600 who basically are paid out of our dues to kind 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.679 of help us in theory like stay organized and be 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.800 pushing management to do, you know, to follow the contract. 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.440 And it got to the point where like my partner 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.600 who's like is like literally screaming at the labor repel. 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:46.440 I'm on the phone with the labor rep and she's 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:47.960 you know, it's just like what the fuck is your 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.640 union even doing? Like why are they not making sure 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.720 that you are taking care of And it was like 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.920 this really like come to Jesus moment where you're like, oh, yeah, 0:18:56.080 --> 0:19:00.080 like this union ship isn't just like you know, flat 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.840 tudes about like we need a ratio bill in Illinois 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.879 or you know, Medicare for all or Bernie Sanders. It's like, oh, 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.560 this shit is actually like about my material well being 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.640 and like my family still hasn't recovered from all that 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.639 because they only you know, after an enormous amount of 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.880 pressure was put on staff, they finally started looking into 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.520 it and we got you know, payouts for not just me, 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.439 but for ten other nurses who had had their COVID 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:35.000 pay like cut, you like really unjust ways and really 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.680 opened my eyes as to like what a union should 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.399 be doing. Um, and it really opened my eyes that 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:44.240 maybe there's a problem with how staff interact with us 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:49.720 as workers, because like there should be you know, we 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.160 try and like say, like you know, there's a service 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:56.560 union service business or service unionism, and then there's rank 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.200 and value unionism and we have this weird situation sharing 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.040 union where they tell us where a rank and file 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:06.680 democratic union, except the staff kind of treat us like, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.200 you know, it's a business union. So we get told 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:12.280 one thing, but then we see another thing and like 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:17.879 not that I think that like, uh, it's you know, 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.280 the whole point of a union, you kind of pull 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:22.239 together to take care of people who can't necessarily take 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:24.960 care of themselves. In that moment, and like it just 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:28.280 took an enormous amount of effort on my family's part 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:32.240 to like get that moving, and it just seemed incredibly 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.040 it was as very eye opening for me as a 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:39.240 you know, my experience here in Chicago. No, that that's 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:41.760 really bleak. I mean that that's another thing that you 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:45.879 would you know, you would expect a union like to 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.399 just be on top of not not even just a 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.119 sort of oh well, you asked them and they started 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.560 doing it like you you would think that, hey, the 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.600 people who got COVID doing this job not getting paid 0:20:57.400 --> 0:20:59.440 what they're supposed to be getting paid would be like 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:01.840 priority and not something you have to fight them over. 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:18.280 That is is incredibly crim I don't know, well, I 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.960 haven't a story for you. So my first year working 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.879 at out to Bates. Before that, I was working in 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:30.359 Swallow hospitals and they gave you certain packages about your benefits. 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.720 So when it was time for me to give my benefits, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:35.879 I couldn't give my benefits at all because during that 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.680 time they were doing it at the yearly. So I said, 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:41.640 is there any way possible at least to get something, 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:44.040 because mind you, they are and for my benefits, I'm 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.680 not paying for it anything for it that there should 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:50.040 be a reason because if I had any medical issues, 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:56.240 what would happen? And basically the union was very lackluster 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:58.440 about it. Now, of course I went to the manager, 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:02.400 went to human resource. Basically they basically told me, where 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.960 there's eighteen hundred nurses, and you know what we're going 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:10.440 to do about this issue, and pretty much it was. 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.760 It has pretty much disappeared about it. There was nothing 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:17.480 I could do so for that whole year. So I 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:22.520 worked in January of two fifteen, I had to wait 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:27.680 till the following year to get benefits. To get medical benefits, 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.960 jes Now, I got everything else, so be honest, I 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:33.560 got everything else, But the medical benefits is important. But 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.080 thank god I don't have any health issues. Thank god 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.399 my daughters didn't have any health issues where we didn't 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:44.280 require any help and there wasn't in an emergency. But 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:47.760 when I started noticing there were other nurses or teas 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:49.560 that were spirits of the same thing. Because a lot 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:53.520 of us got hired within that time frame, they weren't 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:56.800 telling us these issues, and we would end up getting 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:02.040 these things sooner. And it's all about transparency, it's all 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:06.640 about our value. And then over the years, people always complain, 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:10.480 I'm paying these dues, why are they not helping? Why 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:15.000 are not supportive? And when I was actually hired, they 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:17.920 were quick to give you the paperwork to tell you 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:20.400 how to pay this. Also they could take money off 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:24.159 your dues quicker than what about the history about the union? 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:28.000 Why is the history is? Why is the union important? 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:32.560 And what you can do if there's a grievemance? There 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.160 was none of that, and to this day it's still 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:39.000 the same thing because I precept new grads and I 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:41.159 tell them about, you know, part of the union. What 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:44.520 he got. Oh I didn't get a booklet or oh 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:46.240 I didn't hear anything about it, but I got this 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:50.080 paper here so they could take out my dues. That's 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:57.120 what pisses me off of anything. Is that part so so? 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:01.640 And then all this stuff dealing with what Eric has 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:04.280 told you, what we've been doing with the strikes and 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:08.880 the negotiations meet. Personally, we should have done negotiated within 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:11.680 the first year the pandemic, and I think we got everything, 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:14.040 but they were quick to say, no, we're going to 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:16.840 get all these facilities all together at one and so 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:20.240 we can all negotiate. And then the gag order happened, 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:23.960 the slam of the gag order, and I'm like, there 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:26.639 is a lot of collusion going on and that shit 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:31.320 needs to stop. So I mean things that they don't 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:33.680 really tell us, which I think is really a thing 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:36.560 that we want to resolve, is they don't really inform 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:39.040 you of what your union rights are. You kind of 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:41.240 get the initial like here's your wine garden rights, which 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:43.680 means that you have a right to representation whenever you're 0:24:43.720 --> 0:24:47.720 being disciplined. But aside from that, there's very little discussion 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:53.840 inside of our union facilities, in particular about the kinds 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:57.399 of things that we have as like union members, what 0:24:57.520 --> 0:25:00.560 our rights are, what are our rights within the union, 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:04.719 how the union works. So many of my co workers 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:07.280 don't like a big part of our work is just 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:12.359 explaining that there's an election happening. And so you would 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:15.840 hear that an election had happened maybe and you know, 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:17.760 you would be like, well, who voted? I don't know, 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:22.639 like and you'd get these like, you know, all of 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:26.800 the communication from about the election to us as the 0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:30.080 people who are like the you know, the opposition has 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:33.760 all been in these very like plane plane envelopes that 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:36.359 don't look like anything like it could be like just 0:25:36.400 --> 0:25:41.320 an anonymous bill you wouldn't know or junk mail, and 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:44.600 so like, you know, as a union member, you have 0:25:45.280 --> 0:25:51.280 something called a right to represent representation. So and every union, 0:25:51.800 --> 0:25:56.440 every union employee and elected officer is considered a fiduciary, 0:25:57.160 --> 0:25:59.719 has a fiduciary obligation to look out for your financial 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:02.400 interest us and if they don't do that, it's called 0:26:02.400 --> 0:26:08.080 a failure to represent our union in particular, Spends had 0:26:08.280 --> 0:26:12.600 brags internally about never having a They called them unfair 0:26:12.680 --> 0:26:16.119 labor practice. Like if a nurse or any worker in 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:19.480 any union decides that their union, you know, did not 0:26:19.640 --> 0:26:23.240 represent them their financial interests, they can file something called 0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:27.160