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Union Solutions: Safe Staffing

 Survey on Nurse Staffing Levels (for consumers)

We've all been there. Trying to do our jobs the way we were trained, but finding it almost impossible because we're working on chronically understaffed units.

Only recently have hospital administrators begun to concede that they don't have enough nurses on staff, which they attribute to a growing nursing shortage brought on by demographic changes.

In their view, the solution is to expand recruitment and education programs to bring more people into the nursing profession.

But the industry actually created the shortage by cutting staffing levels to the point where nurses began to leave hospitals for less demanding and more rewarding jobs. Read more from SEIU's Shortage of Care.

That's why members of the SEIU Nurse Alliance are taking action across the country to improve staffing.

We're bringing safe staffing to your workplace through Legislation, Bargaining, and Regulations:

Legislation:  From state capitals to the U.S. Congress, SEIU Nurse Alliance members are making sure our voice is heard. We're helping to pass laws that provide concrete solutions to the staffing crisis, like the landmark legislation in California calling for minimum staffing levels in health care facilities.

• Read about the federal bill that's being introduced Feb. 26, and see what you can do to help build support for this important legislation.

 Bargaining:  In hospitals where SEIU Nurse Alliance members have formed unions, we're bargaining contracts that include minimum staffing ratios, patient care committees, and other innovative solutions to staffing problems.

• In August 2003, nurses at HCA’s Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas won an equal voice in staffing decisions and more competitive pay.  More
  
  
• Nurses at Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin negotiated limits on overtime, new pay steps to reward longevity, more affordable health insurance, and first choice for no-weekend positions. More
  
  
• Learn how nurses can improve staffing and the quality of care by forming unions.

Regulations:  Everyday in hospitals across the country, lives are put at risk when too few nurses are forced to care for too many patients. That's why we're taking action for better working and patient care standards.

• JCAHO Reform -- Reforming the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is a small piece of the larger staffing issue. Read about the agency's new surprise visits policy, and tell us about your experience with JCAHO inspections.