Those solidarity-minded folks at Change To Win keep running into a problem — each other. The latest comes from nurses who successfully decertified the UFCW, and decided against joining SEIU. But it’s interesting that SEIU organizers hoped to capitalize on the UFCW’s poor reputation. The skinny:

St. Johns Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis Missouri voted to decertify their labor union the UFCW. On the same ballot was a choice to become represented by the SEIU. The nurses chose to reject unionization by the SEIU.

Here is a link to a website created by SJMMC RN’s:

http://www.nursesfornursesfornone.com/

St Johns was the subject of a court battle when a number of nurses refused to pay union dues. When the hospital stood by their nurses and refused a union demand to terminate them, the United Food and Commercial Workers union took the hospital and the nurses to court. The court upheld the union security clause and forced the termination of thoses nurses. http://k.b5z.net/i/u/6011029/i/St_Johs_8thcourt.pdf

During the next round of negotiations the nurses demanded an end to forced unionism and the union security clause was negotiated out of the new contract. Support for the union plummeted and at last estimate, less than 22% of the nurses chose to pay union dues.

Congratulations to the Nurses of St. Johns Mercy Medical Center

Sherwood Cox, R.N., CCRN