What's Love Got to do With it?

It's no great secret how I feel about unions. They have the potential to do such good for their members that their flaws often seem so much less important to me. Sometimes I hear how I talk about unions and suddenly feel like someone in a bad relationship. They have such potential...if you only knew the side of them that I do...I don't mind doing all of this extra stuff for them, really. I don't.

It should also be no great secret that unions often have an engagement problem. If you don't believe me you should take a moment to find out how many members voted in your last election cycle, or even for your contract. I can't source it because it was a conversation, but in 2022 my local unit had a vote for a retention bonus. Less than one fourth of the members showed up to vote and our Union Representative told us that was still more than had showed up to vote on the previous contract. So, yeah, engagement problems.

I suspect that this is, in part, due to the ever present inheritance from the service model of unionism. The service model taught us that all we needed to do was pay our dues and someone else would handle everything. The service model was also the model in play when union membership declined and the unions in the US were so effectively weakened. The service model is what I saw lead to a great deal of dissatisfaction and disengagement within my own bargaining unit.

There is a key factor to the service model that those who championed and employed it forgot; it's only an effective union model when the members feel as if the person providing the services (or even the union as a whole) is doing so effectively. As soon as you have an ineffective person or an ineffective system in place the system becomes incredibly damaging.

So, that's part of it. We were taught to depend on others, to expect others to do for us in our stead. You know, like learned helplessness.

Another factor, and one which I do not think is discussed enough, is how much time, effort, and mental and emotional space it takes to be actively engaged. In my union, WSNA, officers (stewards), unit reps, board, committee and council members, delegates and any other member filled position one could name are all volunteer positions. Sure, your expenses like gas and motel rooms will be covered, but is that really enough?

Okay, yes, I do a little more than your average member, but let's look at a typical month. I round on the hospital units (something I'm currently behind on) to touch base with members and update boards. Easily two-three hours. Conference committee is an hour, with 1-2 hours of prep before hand. Staffing committee is 2 hours. Nurse practice committee one to two hours. I review ADO's as they come in and try to reach out to those who filed them when I can. I am a general resource for members and have received messages/reports at five am. I spend time recording updates on conference committee, staffing committee and other applicable events for the members. I represent members in investigatory meetings, the length of which can vary, and often spend time leading up to the meeting communicating with them and trying to prep them. I can be called to be at a fitness for duty meeting at the drop of a hat, and I go. If L&I come to our facility I (or another officer) will be pulled to be available to them for questions or supervision when they interview members. I participate in developing a media strategy, liaise with politicians when necessary, intervene in unfair labor practices, advise on possible grievances, am working on planning our 50th anniversary party and providing education on the changes to our bylaws that the members have been asked to vote on. I keep track of reported contract violations/issues that occur throughout the month and bring them forward to be addressed. I have spent countless hours in planning sessions with members, organizers and our Nursing Rep.

That's for my local bargaining unit. Let's step out now to look at my responsibilities at the state level.

Three times a year I devote an entire day to a meeting of the board of directors and three different days of the year I devote to a meeting of the trustees of the Washington State Nurses Foundation. I have been asked to help manage the foundations Facebook page, to do research on ways to increase donations, to find items to supply for auction as a fundraiser. I was a member of the statewide staffing coalitions Taskforce? Workgroup?, I have participated on the WSNA innovations Taskforce. I drove back and forth between my home in Wenatchee and Tacoma to be present at our convention because I am a board member and I believe it was right for me to be there, and didn't have anyone to watch my dogs. For two days. I devoted an entire day to lobbying for safe staffing changes at the state capital. I continually push and advocate with our union for improved advocacy, autonomy and responsiveness to our needs.

All of this, and more which I am certain I have forgotten, I do for free as a volunteer.

This is possible because, as I like to say, I have no life. I am single and have no children. My dogs certainly don't mind all the time I spend on other people (the youngest one even tries to be in all of my update videos). My hobbies are all those which can occur on my own time and I am not currently in school. In other words, I have the time and the drive, the belief in and love of unions which can lead someone to give up so much time and energy.

And in the first two months after being elected to Chair of my local bargaining unit, I lost my Co-Chair because they couldn't justify the time and effort their position was taking from their family without some kind of tangible compensation.

We ask a lot of those who choose to step up for us and in return we give them...recognition? I guess?

Is that really enough?

Take, for example, the officers at Good Sam. Their last bargaining session was twenty hours long. This was their last, not their only and it doesn't account for the time and effort they spent in working their contract campaign. If they didn't have PTO, or a special provision in their contract, this time too was all volunteer time. While they have every right to be proud of their accomplishment and to be celebrated for it, do they not also deserve to be compensated for the time those efforts took away from their families, their friends, and their lives? Or is a heartfelt thank you an acceptable equivalent to the labor they expended in their efforts?

Doing union work is hard. It can be exhausting and draining. It can be nerve racking when you find yourself in a situation with an administrator who will take every little opportunity to pick at you and try to drive you off. Here are some examples of that from my own experiences. I got written up for giving a medication late (when we didn't have it on my unit). For suggesting a patient might need a PICC as I contemplated placing a fourth PIV. For asking for help when administering TPA, which I had never done, when it is our policy to have two RNs precent during administration. For scanning and hanging a bag of LR, connecting it to the patient and not starting it before the patient was whisked out of the room to the floor. So, for not pushing a button. I got written up because the nurse I gave report to didn't read their orders and a patient didn't receive their Q15 minute enemas (in the ED, mind you). Because I had acknowledged the orders and neither I nor the other nurse could recall if I mentioned the enemas in report. So that was on me.

Never mind the fact that I was focused on the person who lacked bilateral peripheral pulses (as one presumes the following nurse was as well). Never mind the fact that it was an inappropriate order for the setting.

I have been yelled at by various administrators in various meetings. I have been yelled at by members. I have worked a shift where not a single coworker would talk to me because they were upset with a union action.

Union work is hard and we should't be asking people to do it for free just because I am willing to do so.

Because we are, we shouldn't be surprised when we find it difficult to find and retain bargaining unit leaders or members willing to expend any amount of effort for statewide positions. I love unions. I love my union. And still there are days where I want nothing to do with it because it never stops and the wins come in such small packages.

It's strange to me that as a union we expect more out of our members with less compensation than we would ever accept from our employers. Strange, that on one hand we fight and demand recognition for the value of our time and labor, yet on the other hand expect to always be given what we insist the other side pay for.

As I believe that you should never bring up a problem without proposing a solution, here are my thoughts on how this issue might be addressed.

1. A set stipend for all voluntary positions.

2. Refunding of union dues to all volunteers at the end of the year.

3. Union leave.

The first two options are pretty straightforward and I don't think we need to take too much time discussing them. Each of these options at least recognizes all that our union leaders do for the benefit of the union. It might be token-ish, but sometimes the acknowledgement can mean far more than what a person is actually receiving.

The last of these, union leave, is probably new to many of us. It was certainly new to me when it came up in a random conversation. As it turns out, it's not a new concept to other unions and it seems that it is something they fight to get into their contracts.

Union leave is pretty simple to explain and understand as well. It is a form of contractually protected leave that preserves your job while you take time off to work for the union, with the union paying you for the work you perform for them during that leave.

See, I told you it's simple.

I could get on board for any of these options, but I'm really in favor of the union leave as it seems to me to be the option that best preserves our members work/life balance. Union work is basically a second job, with this form of protected leave no one would be expected to sacrifice their personal time for the good of the union. Which is appropriate, as the good of the union should be what is best for its members. It's hard to say we have our members best interests at heart while expecting them to run themselves ragged between two stressful, often opposed roles.

I'll continue to serve regardless of recognition or compensation, it's who I am and what I believe is right for me to do. I'm not brining this forward because I want more than I have. I'm bringing it forward because I want others to be able to step up into leadership rolls in their local bargaining units, or at the state level, and I understand that the demands of these roles can be too much. I am bringing it forward because the more voices we can bring to the conversation, the healthier our union will be.

Finis