HPAE Local 5118 at Cooper University Health Care - Health Professionals & Allied Employees

HPAE Local 5118 at Cooper University Health Care

Local 5118 Wins Significant Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Charge

October 28, 2015

After Local 5118 President Doris Bell was unjustly disciplined and then denied access to the hospital to deliver Nurses’ Day gifts, the local filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge against Cooper University Healthcare with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In addition to agreeing that the hospital administration’s actions were a form of retaliation against Doris, the NLRB also cited the hospital for their no-solicitation policy.

Below is what Cooper has to post at three different locations on the bulletin board for official notices:


FEDERAL LAW GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO:

  • Form, join, or assist a union;
  • Choose a representative to bargain with us on your behalf;
  • Act together with other employees for your benefit and protection;
  • Choose not to engage in any of these protected activities.
  • WE WILL NOT do anything to prevent you from exercising the above rights.

    WE WILL NOT promulgate, maintain, or enforce an overly broad no-solicitation policy.

    WE WILL NOT enforce our work rules or policies in a discriminatory manner because you have engaged in Union activity.

    WE WILL NOT discipline you because you have engaged in Union activity.

    WE WILL NOT refuse to grant Cooper employees who act as your Union representatives access to our facility because they have engaged in Union activity.

    WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere with your rights under Section 7 of the Act.

    WE WILL notify employees via email that our no-solicitation policy has been revised or modified so that you are assured it is not intended to interfere with your right to engage in Section 7 activities, and we will provide a copy of the new policy to all employees via Cooper’s policy network.

    WE WILL grant, upon request by the Union within 14 days of the Regional Director’s approval of this Settlement Agreement, access to the Union to our facility for the purpose of delivering gifts to nurses who have not yet received their 2015 Nurses Week gifts from the Union, within 14 days of the Union’s request.

     

    Local 5118 at CCOP 30th Anniversary Dinner

    October 16, 2015

    Local 5118 President Doris Bell attended the 30 Year Anniversary Dinner of the Camden Churches Organized for People, which was held yesterday at the Kove in Audobon. A number of political leaders attended, including State Senator Cruz-Perez (with Doris in the photo). Congressman Don Norcross was the guest speaker at the event.

     

    Local 5118 Presents Nursing Scholarship

    September 16, 2015

    Every Labor Day weekend, several locals that form the South Jersey Central Labor Council give “Peter J. McGuire” scholarships to students affiliated with Unions. Peter McGuire is credited with being the first person to propose that the U.S. have a national holiday honoring labor.

    Our local union has been participating in this event for many years. Every year, our Local gives a scholarship to a student that is going to school for nursing. This year the recipient is Maryrose Figuracion (center in the photo). Maryrose worked at the Borgata in Atlantic City and is a member of Unite Here-Local 54. She will be attending nursing school at Rowan College in Gloucester County. Her mother is an ICU nurse at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia.

    Peter J. McGuire – The Man Behind Labor Day.

    Peter McGuire was born into poverty in New York City in 1852. He was not able to attend a university, but enrolled in the Cooper Union – a school for the underprivileged. There he studied history and continued to be involved in labor’s cause.

    As the years went by, Mr. McGuire went from job to job, continuing to campaign for the unification of labor. He founded the Brotherhood of Carpenters in 1881. He soon settled on Byron Street in Camden to start a family. In 1882 he attended a meeting of the Central Labor Union in New York City. He made a speech declaring that workers have earned a “day apart”. He said this day should be a Monday, so as to assure the workers two consecutive days off. In 1894, Congress, with the help of President Grover Cleveland, made it official and Labor Day was made a U.S. holiday. Mr. McGuire passed away in his Byron Street home in 1906. He is buried in Pennsauken, NJ.

    We honor his work, dedication and memory every year by presenting scholarships to students.

    Please feel free to contact me at jimandpattischarff@msn.com if you have a student interested in applying for a 2016 scholarship and I will give you the information. Information will also be on the Local bulletin boards in the near future.

    Patti Scharff, RN, Secretary/Treasurer Local 5118

     

    Local 5118 Joins with Other HPAE Locals in Lobby Day

    March 16, 2015

    Lobby Day was a great success. Over 300 members of HPAE and other healthcare unions in the Coalition for Patients Rights and Safe Staffing (CPRSS) came to Trenton to talk to state legislators about the need for staffing legislation, including nurse to patient staffing ratios, which ensure quality care and patient safety.

    HPAE members throughout the state of New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania were enthusiastic and excited to participate in Lobby Day. During the day, we held 23 meetings with state legislators, many of whom pledged their full support for a safe staffing bill.

    Photo: Cooper RNs and other HPAE members at Lobby Day, in front of the Masonic Temple in Trenton

    Local 5118 members with State Senator Turner:

    Check out HPAE’s Facebook page for more photos of Lobby Day

     

    Cooper RNs Make the Holiday a Bit Brighter for Camden Kids

    December 11, 2014

    Today, Local 5118 RNs made the holiday season a little brighter and happier for a group of kids in Camden who can’t count on presents during the holiday season. When the Local Executive Board asked each member to contribute $1 so that the local could buy needed items and gifts for the children who attend an after-school program sponsored by the Fellowship House of South Camden, Cooper RNs responded generously and a $1000 was collected.

    With the money that was collected, the local bought a flat TV screen for Fellowship House and many gifts for the kids, who were absolutely delighted.

    Since 1965, Fellowship House this organization has provided local ministry and services to thousands of children, teens and adults of South Camden through their after school programs, summer camps, teen job training and more. As a non-profit, faith-based organization, Fellowship House provides opportunities for the spiritual, academic, social and recreational enrichment of those it serves.

    Gratified and pleased by the local’s donation and gifts, the Fellowship House’s Director thanked the local and said that the “the nurses’ visit & gifts will play a big part in these kids’ lives for the holidays.”

     

    When We Stay United, We Can Win

    November 3, 2014

    After management at the hospital began to unilaterally float nurses out of their float districts, we filed a class action grievance, which was signed by over 400 nurses at the hospital. Management was not happy about the strong support for the class action grievance, but it was key to resolving the grievance in our favor. Management notified the local October 29 that we had won the grievance!

    Another issue concerns CDU. A meeting was recently held with the CDU nurses, Local Leadership and nursing administration to discuss: 1) RNs being sent home in the middle of the night due to low census 2) the need for a weekend unit secretary to cover 11am – 11:30pm , 3) why two CDU vacant tech positions haven’t been filled, 4) RN staffing needs and 5) their assignments when they are floated – always given the heaviest assignment.

    As with the floating class action grievance, we achieved positive results by sticking together: 1) RNs will not be sent home in the middle of the night; a decision & notification will be completed by 11pm ; 2) A CDU weekend unit secretary will be hired for 11a-11:30p; 3) The CDU vacant tech position has been filled. A second vacant tech position is in the recruitment process; 4) 2 CDU RN night positions have been added and 5) there is now oversight of the assignments when the nurses throughout the house are floated.