Supervisory nurses caught in increasing tensions Union activity in hospitals i s causing in- creased tensions between administration and nurses and between supervisory nurses and staff.

Nurses s i t on both sides of the negotiating table. Nursing administrators and super- visory nurses, including OR supervisors, are part of management and sit on one side; staff nurses are part of labor and s i t on the other side.

With the extension of the Taft Hartley Act in August to private health care institutions, an estimated half million nonsupervisory nurses as well as other health care personnel are now covered by the benefits of collective bargaining.

The Taft Hartley Act i s intended to bal- ance the power between labor and manage- ment. It guarantees to employees the right to organize and bargain with employers through representatives they choose. At the same time, employees also have the option of refraining from organizing. The Act re- strains both management and labor from unfair practices such as discrimination against an employee who is active in a union.

As a result of the Taft Hartley Act exten- sion, hospital employees, both professional and nonprofessional, are being wooed by unions. Flyers are distributed; meetings are held; fact and rumor intermingle during

fL1 Editorial

coffee break. Registered nurses are being courted by both trade unions and state nurses' associations which want to represent them.

Many nurses are unsure on which side of the table they sit. In some situations, it is not clear whether a nurse is a supervisor. This was one of the questions that concerned nurses involved in passage of the amend- ment because they believe that the extension of the definition of an industrial supervisor might be too brood for application in the health care field.

As defined by the National Labor Rela- tions Board, a supervisor i s one who hires, fires, promotes, and directs the movement of other workers. Function, not title, is what counts.

Like it or not, the supervisory nurse i s part of management. She i s acting on behalf of the institution. The head nurse, according to Cosimo S Abato, attorney-at-law and speaker at the June American Nurses' As- sociation (ANA) meeting, i s part of manage- ment or labor depending on the facts of the situation. If she has the title, but no authority, then she is labor. Conversely, if she has authority, but not the title, she i s considered management. We have heard reports of changed title and added responsi- bilities to put nurses into management category.

Who i s a supervisor is still an unsettled question and one that the National Labor Relations Board will be evaluating as it applies to the health field.

One growing tension between nurses and administrators i s the question of supervisory

AORN Journal, Februarv 1975, Vol 21, N o 2 191

nurses' membership in the ANA. Because of ANA's activities in collective bargaining, some administrators are pressuring super- visory nurses to either resign from ANA or their jobs. In the December Journal, AORN Executive Director, Jerry G Peers, RN, re- assured AORN members that if they were experiencing this kind of pressure, they were not required under the law to relinquish their professional association membership.

The National Labor Relations Act states that administrators and supervisors can belong to organizations that engage in col- lective bargaining. This right i s protected by the first amendment to the constitution.

ANA i s both a labor organization and pro- fessional association. Its bylaws state the organization's purposes are "to foster high standards of nursing practice, to promote the educational advancement of nurses, and promote the welfare of nurses to the end that all people may have belter nursing care."

ANA'S role as a collective bargaining agent is not new; the association adopted i ts Economic and General Welfare Program in 1946. ANA has no intention of abandon- ing this function. At a special meeting in early November, the ANA board of directors reaffirmed the organization's multi-purpose role.' At the same time, the board expressed recognition of the need to support supervisory nursing personnel who were being pressured to resign from ANA.

The right of supervisory nurses to be- long to a professional association will be one of the critical issues of 1975. If you find yourself in a difficult situation, keep calm and get the facts. Don't believe everything you hear or are told. Most important, don't be afraid to get legal counsel if your job i s in jeopardy. Administrators who are pres- suring nurses to resign from ANA are on unsound ground, but because of the current economic situation and job market, nurses will be reluctant to put their jobs on the line.

Even though nurses s i t on opposite sides of the bargaining table, this does not mean there must be a schism in nursing. Nursing must take care that outside forces do not split it into opposing factions.

€/;nor S Schrader Edifor

Notes

can Nurse, 6 (November 1974) I .

I The question of mandatory service re- quirements for nurses (Editorial: October 1974) has sti l l not been settled as of this writing, but it appears that the requirements will be considerably softened.

The issue was fought out in the health manpower bill which now requires one fourth of all medical school graduates to serve two years in shortage areas. The original bill, proposed by Sen Edward Ken- nedy, required all medical students to give two years of service. The nurse training will probably reflect similar requirements to the health manpower bill.

I . The American Nurses' Association, The Ameri-

I Gremlins were at work in the December "Speak out," by Barbara Massaro, RN, who urged inclusion of recovery room nurses in AORN activities.

In the first paragra'ph it stated that if recovery room nurses believe in the OR, they can be active members. The word should have been relieve. Faith in the OR is a good thing, but not a requirement for membership in the association. The second paragraph should have read that recovery room nurses also are considered a segment of the OR setting since they are often under the direction of the operating room super- visor.

In December, AORN sent out question- nalires to recovery room nurse members to determine what their education needs are and how AORN might meet these needs through educationall programs and Journal articles. We thank you for your response.

192 AORN Journal, February 1975, Vol 21, No 2