WHY WE ORGANIZE

Working in any profession can be a frustrating experience. Significant cuts in health care funding, the over-all decline in the U.S. standard of living, job changes in the economy that have dramatically increased the number of people uninsured and underinsured, the increase in the percentage of those living in poverty, shifting health care cost from employers to employees, and union busting have all impacted the health care system and our jobs.

Employers are attempting to cut costs by cutting corners, cutting jobs, and trying to change our working conditions.

This forces understaffing and unbearable workloads. It compromises care for patients and leads to high employee stress and frustration.

This is especially true for employees that have no union to represent them.

Unlike union members, employees without a union face discrimination due to favoritism. They lack job security because they have no recourse through the grievance procedure. They have no ability to collectively negotiate on their wages, hours and conditions of work. Most importantly, they are not part of an organization that advocates for quality patient care and access to health care.

If we want to be able to gain more control over our work lives, make our jobs more satisfying, and improve the kind of care we deliver, it will take significant growth and strength and clout that comes from power in numbers.

We cannot afford the luxury to despair over the conditions we face. We must work towards improving our jobs and the health care system by bringing union organization to health care employees. If we want to achieve our goals and ideals, it will take a movement of health care employees to produce it!