Labor & Employment Law

550 Florida Nurses Join NNU

By James Parks

The 550 registered nurses at Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee, Fla., voted overwhelmingly for a voice in patient care and dignity on the job last night by deciding to join National Nurses Organizing Committee-Florida (NNOC-Florida), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU).

In an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the nurses voted 92 percent in favor of joining the union. The hospital is part of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the nation’s largest hospital system. Osceola is the first of several HCA hospitals in Florida where RNs will be voting in the coming weeks on affiliating with NNOC-Florida/NNU. 

Sharon Bray, a labor and delivery nurse at Osceola, said:

I became an RN to be a patient advocate, and through NNOC-Florida, Osceola RNs can truly put patients first. With the support of all our colleagues, we can work together to build nurse power and strengthen our voice in our hospital and beyond.

The Osceola RNs will next focus on choosing leaders to represent them in contract talks. Their key issues include nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, a patient care monitoring committee chosen and run by direct care RNs and improved health coverage and retirement benefits.

“What a monumental day for nurses and patients in Florida,” said NNU Vice President Malinda Markowitz, who chairs NNU’s HCA RN Council.

HCA RNs are uniting across the country to win dramatic gains for patients and nurses that will strengthen the quality of care and protect all of our communities. We could not be more proud of our Florida pioneers at Osceola.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 16, 2010 (boomark / email).