AFT Convention Delegates Resolve to Fight For the Right of All Nurses
To Be Union Members

BOSTON – With the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set to issue a ruling that could place the union rights of nurses in jeopardy, nearly 3,500 delegates to the American Federation of Teachers convention overwhelmingly approved a resolution Friday to fight for the rights of all nurses.

 At stake in the group of cases that the board is considering, collectively known as Kentucky River, is whether a nurse should be considered a supervisor and therefore ineligible for union protection. 

“If the nurses and other healthcare professionals lose their right to collectively bargain with their employers, an important vehicle for patient care and advocacy may be lost forever,” the resolution says. 

Under the resolution, the AFT and the AFT Healthcare division vowed to fight for the right of all nurses to collectively bargain.  The AFT is encouraging a “sensible supervisor definition” under the National Labor Relations Act that recognizes the professionalism of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and other healthcare professionals, and their right to form unions and collectively bargain.

The potential harm to patient care and to working men and women in a number of professions that could be caused by the Kentucky River decision has even made it into pop culture.  A recent Colbert Report episode http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml satirized numerous NLRB anti-union cases of the past several years.

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