|
Senate Bill 5 - Collective Bargaining
By now you have heard that Senate Bill 5 (Collective bargaining) is being passionately debated in the Statehouse. Below is a letter that is being circulated by the leadership of the Ohio Nurses Association about the true facts of Senate Bill 5. Please contact your Senator and let him or her know your thoughts about this bill. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at kayball@aol.com.
Dear ONA Member:
The very hallmarks of the nursing profession are under attack and we need your help. The ability of registered nurses to provide high standards of patient care and ensure patient safety are at risk and the implications for RNs are truly frightening. The recent introduction of Senate Bill 5, under the guise of labor reform, removes the voice of nurses in decisions about patient care and workplace conditions and it is a clear threat to patient safety.
Senate Bill 5 eliminates collective bargaining in the public sector. Wait. Don't stop reading just because you aren't part of a collective bargaining unit. Senate Bill 5 may not affect you today, tomorrow or next week, but Senate Bill 5 will impact you at some point in your career. Senate Bill 5 hurts all registered nurses. The legislation takes power away from nurses and places it solely in the hands of health facility management. Patients lose their strongest advocates and nurses lose their ability to address patient and workplace safety issues. Bottom line: Senate Bill 5 is bad for nurses and bad for patients.
Ohio's current collective bargaining law impacts you even if you aren't part of a union and never plan to be. The ability of nurses to bargain collectively--even if in only one facility in an area-- sends out a ripple effect which benefits all nurses in that geographic market. Existing collective bargaining agreements often influence the workplace environment, patient care policies, compensation and facility support for nurses at the surrounding health care facilities. As facilities compete to attract the best nurses, the collective bargaining agreements at another facility help set the proverbial bar they must meet to ensure nurses are treated fairly and patients receive the best nursing care possible to achieve a positive health care outcome.
Through its labor arm, the Ohio Nurses Association bargains on behalf of its collective bargaining members for issues that directly impact patient care, many of which would be difficult to address otherwise. These agreements go beyond wages and compensation and focus on issues which protect patients and the nurses who provide their care. Regardless of the issues included in the contracts, collective bargaining provides a process that is time and cost-effective for all parties while protecting patients and nurses.
Some examples of these workplace issues are:
· Safe nurse staffing,
· Safe patient handling,
· Medication errors/adverse event prevention, and
· Maintenance of a safe environment for patient care.
Senate Bill 5 makes it all but impossible for nurses to use their collective strength to affect change--the very change you know could mean the difference between life and death. ONA has never been an organization driven by fear or prone to exaggeration but ask any nurse to name their greatest fear. It's losing a patient. That nurse will tell you that they are afraid a patient will die as a result of unsafe staffing levels or fatigue and exhaustion because of mandatory overtime and inadequate rest breaks, or the many other workplace conditions that lead to compromised care.
The threat to all registered nurses and their patients is real and it is now. Lawmakers expect to move this legislation quickly and it clearly is on the fast-track. We need your help to defeat Senate Bill 5 TODAY. Lawmakers need to hear from their constituents. We need you to get involved in our Safe Nurses, Safe Patients campaign to defeat Senate Bill 5. The association will be periodically pushing information to you and asking for your support with certain activities. To that end, ONA has created a special part on our Web site, www.ohnurses.org, to give you the tools and materials you need to help us in this battle. We have also placed contact information to help you reach ONA staff to get answers to your questions or support for activities in your area. And, please do not hesitate to contact any of us if you have any questions.
As nurses, we need to stand up for ourselves and our patients. I call on all members of ONA to join together to defeat Senate Bill 5.
Sincerely,
Paula K. Anderson, RNC - President, Board of Directors
Rose Marie Martin, BSN RN OCN - Chair, Economic & General Welfare Commission
Gingy Harshey-Meade, RN, MSN, CAE, NEA-BC - Chief Executive Officer
|
|
