Publications

Legislative Updates

House Panel Moves Bill to Protect Nurse Collective Bargaining

The efforts of AFSCME and other nurse unions to restore nurses’ rights to unionize and advocate on behalf of quality patient care were rewarded when the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor approved the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradesworkers (RESPECT) Act (H.R. 1644) in September. The bipartisan bill would reinstate a common sense approach to determining whether nurses are employed as supervisors and therefore not protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

As reported in UNA Action (No. 2, 2007, Winter 2006, Summer 2006, Winter 2005), with a stroke of the pen the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) radically broadened the statutory definition of a “supervisor” in a way that can potentially deny protection to over 843,000 registered nurses (RNs) and 124,000 licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who routinely direct the work of other employees.

The RESPECT Act would clarify the law to ensure that only supervisors with substantial authority to affect the terms and conditions of a workers’ employment would be considered supervisors and continue to be excluded from the rights provided by the NLRA. The act would: (1) delete the words “assign” and “responsibly direct” from the statutory definition of “supervisor”; and (2) define “supervisor” to be an employee who has supervisory authority for at least 50 percent of his or her work time. Each of these changes addresses a distinct problem made evident by the NLRB ruling.

Although the House Committee on Education and Labor approved the RESPECT Act, the 26-to-20 party-line vote on the panel signals that opposition to the bill from anti-union employers and the Bush administration will be fierce. At press time, a vote by the full House of Representatives has not been scheduled, but it is important for nurses to let all representatives and senators know that they should support the RESPECT Act.

AFSCME nurses should contact their own U.S. representatives and senators and urge them to support passage of the RESPECT Act.  You can see whether your representative or senators back the RESPECT Act as co-sponsors of the bill (H.R. 1644 in the House and S. 969 in the Senate) by checking at http://thomas.loc.gov. Do a search on the bill number, including the initials (S. 969 or H.R. 1644), then click on “Bill Summary & Status,” and follow the “cosponsors” link.

Legislation Introduced to Stop Mandatory Overtime for Nurses

While more states are recognizing that forcing nurses to work double shifts and extra hours puts patient safety in jeopardy, there currently is no federal law prohibiting employers from assigning nurses mandatory overtime. The Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2007 (S. 1842/H.R. 2122), was introduced by Massachusetts Senators Edward Kennedy (D) and John Kerry (D) in the Senate and by Representatives Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) in the House. The measure would set reasonable limits on mandatory overtime for nurses and improve the quality of patient care.

Research has found that when nurses work 12.5 hours or more per day, the likelihood of giving a patient the wrong medication or making other errors triples. The bill would prohibit health care facilities from requiring RNs and LPNs to work more than a scheduled work shift, more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, or more than 80 hours in a consecutive 14-day period, absent a declared emergency. The act also protects nurses from retaliation if they report employers for violating these patient-safety provisions.  

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