Welcome

Welcome! Thank you for visiting this resource for information and educational materials about unionization.

At Southern Maine Health Care, we encourage open communication with a focus on evidence-based practice to promote safe, quality patient care. This is the approach we also encourage for nurses interested in learning about union representation. We hope you’ll review this site with the same focus you would any other important research so that you can make an informed decision about whether union representation is right for you.

A Message from the CNO

Nursing Colleagues,

The success of the Southern Maine Health Care Department of Nursing has been built through our unique culture of teamwork, flexibility, open communication, shared governance and collaboration, as well as a commitment to lifelong learning and professional growth for our nurses. Together, we have created this culture — this is who we are as SMHC nurses.

National Nurses United (NNU), which is affiliated with the Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA), the California Nurses Association (CNA), and the National Nurses Organizing Committee, has been campaigning for an election to represent nurses at Southern Maine Health Care.

As I consider the union’s effort, I think first about our model of collaboration and professionalism, which is key to providing the care that we are known for in our community. Moving to union representation would change our culture to emphasize standardization over individuality and performance, and create an environment where third-party negotiation would replace collaboration and openness.

As a professional nurse, I believe that a labor union speaking for SMHC nurses is not the best choice or the best path forward. SMHC is great organization, with a unique culture, in a close-knit community. We’re accustomed to working directly together as professionals, as a team, with a shared focus on providing excellent patient care. If nurses were represented by a third-party union, our culture would change. We could not communicate and collaborate in the same way we do today.

As you speak with representatives from the union and review their information, it is important that you fully understand what unionization could mean for nurses. We have developed this website to provide important facts about unions, which will help you make an informed decision.

If you are ever asked to make a choice “for” or “against” a union, we want you to be able to make an informed decision based on facts about your rights and how unionization works. In coming weeks or months, you might be approached by a union organizer or colleague and asked for your signature in support of the union. Organizing campaigns typically begin with an effort to get nurses to sign a card or submit an electronic form that “authorizes” the union to represent them. Either way, you have a legal right to make your own choice, free of pressure, based on facts and your personal beliefs. If you are not interested, you can simply say “no thanks” and ask to be left alone.

We have received many questions about who could potentially be affected by unionization. If the National Labor Relations Board ever held an election to determine whether SMHC nurses would be represented by the union, the outcome would be determined by a simple majority of those who chose to vote. However, the outcome of that election would affect all SMHC nurses in the bargaining unit – whether the individual nurse was for a union, opposed to a union, or still unsure. At that point, it would be too late to “opt out” of representation. That’s why we will be talking about this issue and providing information proactively as we move forward.

These are challenging times for those of us on the frontlines in healthcare, and we recognize how hard you all are working to care for our community. I hope you remain open to learning more and asking any questions you may have.

On behalf of the nursing leadership team, thank you.

Jennifer Schmitz, MSN, CEN, CPEN, CNML, EMT-P, NE-BC, FNP-C
Chief Nursing Officer

Your Rights

Understanding your legal rights is the first step toward making an informed decision about union representation and what it could mean to you.

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees’ rights to engage in “protected concerted activities” with or without a union. The NLRA also protects an individual employee’s right to support or not to support the union.

You have the right to:

• Sign or not sign a union card
• Support and campaign for the union
• Oppose and campaign against the union