Louisville, Ky. Nurses Cure Unfair Labor Practices

Louisville, Kentucky

In a victory for workers across the country, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Columbia/HCA, Inc., the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, to bargain with the union representing registered nurses at its prestigious Audubon Regional Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

After a majority of RNs at Audubon signed union cards, Columbia/HCA began to threaten and harass them. The union lost the 1994 election. But the NLRB decided that the company had won through an illegal campaign of intimidation. The board did not simply re-run the election because the climate of fear meant that there could never be a fair vote.

"The law must guarantee the right of workers to vote on union representation without fear of retaliation," said AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee.

The Nurses Professional Organization, representing the nurses, is the Kentucky nurses' affiliate of AFSCME.