Advise the Independent Living Home

¶ … advise the independent living home management to do? Should they oppose unionization?

The difficulty for Happy Trails managers is as follows: other healthcare professionals in nearby independent living facilities similar to Happy Trails have benefited from union representation. Happy Trails staff members are not currently unionized. Happy Trails staff members have reduced access to overtime hours and fewer benefits than unionized health care providers. Taking a strong stance against unionization could be counterproductive, and make it seem as if management does not respect its employees. But the unions could attempt to make certain benefits and overtime hours mandatory, as well as try to limit management's ability to hire LPNs vs. RNs or to limit overtime hours to cut costs when necessary. Management could ask representatives of the staff to meet and to air their concerns about wages, hours, and benefits, to see if an agreement could be reached without creating a formally unionized workforce. Legally, management must not frame such negotiations in a 'quid pro quo' manner, that is, employees will receive x benefits if they do not unionize.

What arguments or defenses might the hospital raise to the union's organizing issues?

In spite of the benefits unions can offer, membership is not always essential desirable even from the worker's point-of-view. Union dues can be expensive and unionized employees can be frustrated with union limits on the types of tasks they may perform. This can be particularly difficult for the multifaceted nature of the tasks of healthcare professionals. Especially for LPNs and non-RNs, healthcare unions may take a stand against hiring more part-time or lesser skilled workers who can still perform the necessary tasks to take care of patients. This may result in LPNs being fired before RNs from now on, even though many of the current LPN staff members were hired to replace the more qualified but higher-paid RNs. Furthermore, some individuals in union leadership positions have taken advantage of union members by mandating strikes even when the workers do not desire to strike, and union rules can protect unproductive workers at the expense of less senior, more productive or formally less qualified, but still competent workers ("Unions pros and cons," 2007, About.com). Finally, healthcare providers may specifically resist the idea of striking, because of the potential to compromise the care of the individuals in their charge.

If the company elects to resist unionization, what steps should the company follow?

Management should be aware of what they can and cannot do in thwarting union membership. For example, threatening employees with loss of jobs or benefits if they join or vote for a union or engage in protected concerted activity is prohibited by federal law. Managers cannot question employees about their union sympathies or activities. Particularly important is to remember that managers cannot directly promise benefits to employees to discourage their union support. Instead, to resist unionization, the company must recognize legitimate employee grievances, and create a dialogue between representatives of the staff to provide employees with a more attractive employment package, ideally one that matches those negotiated by the unions in other assisted living facilities, but perhaps with greater flexibility than the union might allow.