Vital Signs

The Value of Unity

by Mary Ellen Patton, RN

Joining our professional association was the best career decision I ever made.

More than 30 years ago, I was among 450 nurses at Youngstown Hospital Association in Youngstown, Ohio, who faced staffing and scheduling problems, lack of supplies, no input in decisions affecting nursing, physicians controlling promotions, a low starting wage, few benefits, and no pension. The final insult was management's offer of a 10-cent-per-hour raise for full-time nurses, with only five cents per hour for part-time nurses, which were most of us. This was later called the most expensive nickel in hospital history because it galvanized us to unite. In 1965, we made the historic decision to organize for collective bargaining, forming the Ohio Nurses Association (ONA).

Our decision to organize proved to be just the beginning of a challenging adventure. After months of attempts to negotiate recognition of the ONA as our representative with hospital management, we submitted a mass resignation letter that included signatures of approximately 85% of the nurses. At the end of October 1966, the hospital agreed at the 11th hour to allow the ONA to represent the nurses, and the resignation was put on hold. A month later, when the ONA negotiating committee discovered the hospital was trying to squeeze out the committee, we reinstated the mass resignation letter.

The mass resignation began on December 1, 1966, and successfully ended 13 days later with the assistance of a federal mediator. We had a contract in hand, an agreement to return to work for the nurses who honored the work stoppage, and the ONA as our representative. That contract and the unity, courage, and sacrifices of those 450 registered nurses changed employment conditions for health care workers--not just across Ohio but nationwide. At the same time, nurses across this country supported the Youngstown nurses. We received strong support and multiple donations to assist nurses with living expenses from many state nurses association members, enabling us to recognize the magnitude of our unity's impact on the profession.

Today, the ONA continues to represent the Youngstown nurses. Having served as the second unit president for seven years and as an active member of this unit since its inception, I believe joining our professional association was the best career decision I ever made. Not only have the economic benefits of our contracts over the years given me and my family a higher standard of living, but it introduced me to the association and its members and leaders. Both the ONA and the ANA have taught me skills and tolerance, knowledge of and appreciation for standards of practice, ethics, research, political action, patient advocacy, and respect for all RNs regardless of position or education.

They have encouraged me to be a leader in the ONA and the ANA and have supplied me with information to actively defend nurses and patients. The nursing issues in acute-care institutions today are very similar to when we at Youngstown first organized. Then, the primary issue was a nursing shortage due to low enrollment in a profession with low economic rewards. Today, the shortage is created by management restructuring to cut costs. The abandonment of nursing positions creates similar staffing and scheduling problems. Non-organized nurses frequently enjoy astarting wage similar to that of organized nurses, but their spread of wages from beginning to end is compressed compared to contract nurses. Overtime, holiday and weekend shifts, and other differentials are also usually lower for non-organized nurses.

My experience has been that staff nurses not represented by collective bargaining do not have adequate information on the challenges and opportunities in nursing. They wouldn't, for example, have the opportunity to join the ANA's grassroots political alliance, the Nurses Strategic Action Team (N-STAT), which you must be a state nurses association member to join. N-STAT members receive action alerts on legislation and information on whom to contact to support or defeat particular legislation. And few unaffiliated nurses speak out for nursing and patients for fear of reprisals from management. Organizing with your state nurses association provides you access to colleagues knowledgeable about the profession's crucial issues.

Membership allows you to network with nurses in all types of nursing positions. Newsletters from both your SNA and the ANA inform you of the latest in nursing practice, research, legislation, and collective bargaining--beyond that which is covered in general nursing publications. Your SNA provides you with in-depth information needed to protect your patients, other nurses, and yourself. Belonging to the association that speaks for the profession reaffirms the values that brought you to nursing. As it was for me 31 years ago, organizing for collective bargaining with your SNA can be the most important decision you make in your career.

Mary Ellen Patton, executive director of District 3 of the Ohio Nurses Association, is a staff nurse at Youngstown Hospital Association. In 1995, the ANA Board of Directors approved the Mary Ellen Patton Staff Nurse Leadership Award, of which she was the first recipient in 1996.