For Immediate Release
Monday, June 24, 1996
AFSCME Wins Big Nurse Election in San Diego Forming Largest Unit of RNs in Collective Bargaining
San Diego —The United Nurses Associations of California (UNAC) won a big organizing victory last week in San Diego, creating the largest unit of unionized Registered Nurses (RNs) in the United States. The union carried nearly two-thirds of the votes cast by nurses working for the privately-owned Sharp Healthcare system of seven facilities throughout the metropolitan area. The vote was 1,114 in favor of the Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN), the UNAC local affiliate, with 622 opposed to union representation. The election was held on June 20 and 21.
According to Henry Nicholas, President of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE), "we will be representing 2600 nurses, which makes this the largest unit of nurses in collective bargaining in this country." UNAC is affiliated with NUHHCE District Council 1199, a unit of AFSCME since 1989.
The victory is especially noteworthy because the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, Columbia HCA, which operates more than 340 hospitals, is in the process of acquiring Sharp.
SPNN organizers stressed issues of patient care quality and the need for a strong, organized voice for nurses as patient advocates in hospital decision-making. Sharp hired a union-busting firm, the American Consulting Group, pouring a lot of money into the effort to defeat the union. Two separate "vote no" videos were produced and mailed to nurses.
