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| UAN VA Voice | |||
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The VA Voice is published and distributed to dues-paying members of the UAN who work in the Veterans Affairs health system and features news and developments from UAN, as well as helpful resources for VA nurses. Fall 2007 issue
Click here to see the PDF version of the newsletter. Nurse Leaders Highlight Internal Organizing at Annual MeetingThe 22 local presidents who make up the National VA Council took action at the annual meeting this spring to make growing membership in existing local bargaining units a priority. “We need to focus on strengthening our union from the inside out,” said NVAC President Alice Staggs, RN. “It is critically important that the voice of every nurse in every UAN VA bargaining unit is heard through full membership and participation in union activities. With the issues facing staff nurses in the VA and beyond, we need the help of every VA nurse working with us to improve conditions for patients and nurses.” The resolution commits bargaining unit leaders to increasing the size of their dues-paying membership from 5-10 percent over the next year. The NVAC will evaluate progress on this resolution at next year’s annual meeting. Union members in the federal system face special challenges similar to workers in so-called “right to work” states in that workers are not obligated to pay, through union dues, for the representation services the union is mandated by law to provide to them. National Mid-term Bargaining Over Comp TimeUAN continues to bargain with VA management over unilateral changes the VA has made over when employees may use compensatory time. The parties were close to an agreement until a last-minute change in position by the VA. The VA is now inferring that any discussion on overtime and compensatory time is a violation of Title 38 U.S.C. 7422(b)(3) and any language addressing this issue is for “informational purposes,” a position UAN rejects based on statute and case law. The policy currently in place, according to the contract, allows nurses to use earned compensatory time within seven pay periods or the nurse will be paid for the overtime work at the overtime rate. In March, the VA issued final regulations on the use of earned comp time up to 26 pay periods without notifying the union and bargaining over the issue. The union objected and the status quo was restored until bargaining is complete. UAN will continue to fight to ensure that nurses’ rights to bargain over issues like compensatory time are preserved. NVAC Elections 20072007-08 Members of the UAN NVAC Executive Officers: President Alice Staggs (Cincinnati) After the election for president and two directors in May, protests were filed. The UAN Hearing Panel conducted a hearing in July and issued a decision in August that let stand the election of directors and ordered a re-run of the election of president. The ruling on the election of president has been appealed to the UAN Executive Council. Bronx UAN Nurses Put the “Nurse” Back In Nurses WeekUAN nurses at the Bronx VAMC confronted a common problem when celebrating National Nurses Week this year. The May holiday, originally designed to honor the hard work and dedication of nurses, had been co-opted by the hospital as its own holiday. In response, Local President Iris Lore, RN, and other bargaining unit leaders organized an event that would truly recognize and reward nurses: they reserved a room and invited VAMC nurses to a catered breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the day. Lore and her officers relished the opportunity to meet nurses at the facility, talk to them about the work their union is doing and learn more about the issues staff nurses are facing—from retention and recruitment to proper handling of proficiencies. “This event brought new exposure to our union,” she said. “Lots of nurses had been fed up because they feel like this has become ‘hospital week,’” instead of Nurses Week. The response from nurses was overwhelming: Lore signed up ten new members as a result and continues to get positive inquiries. NY Nurses’ Mission of MercyVAMC nurses Debra Ann Richards (Albany), Karen M. Hanover-Marshall and Karen Browning (both Buffalo) answered a call to serve and found their own lives changed. The nurses participated in a surgical mission to the Philippines sponsored by the Joliet Catholic Diocese of Illinois. The two RNs and CRNA were sent to a rural and poor area in the southeastern Philippines, where they helped perform 106 surgeries and saw 526 people in the outpatient clinic in their two-week stay. “We worked 12-hour days and saw daylight twice when we left the Easter Samar Hospital in Borongan, Samar, during our tour there,” says Hanover-Marshall. The group also became attached to the 35 children at a nearby orphanage run by the church. She notes the profound impact the journey had on her: “I believe that each one of us is called during our lifetimes to serve our brothers and sisters in unique ways,” she said. “I felt I was being sent to share my knowledge and skills with the poorest of the poor, to step outside my comfort zone of middle-class America and to gather insight into the injustice that occurs in our world.” Hanover-Marshall adds that she would readily make the journey again. “When we are called to serve the poor, the indigent, the homeless or the hungry, my answer can only be, ‘why not?’” Around the Union
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