RNs' Rights

The American Federation of Government Employees and a number of other AFL-CIO unions kicked off a campaign today to with collective bargaining rights for registered nurses and a number of other categories of employees at the Veterans' Affairs Department. Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Bob Filner have introduced complimentary legislation in the Senate and House to do just that, although I don't know what the prospects are for the bill at this point. The coalition supporting the bills, RNs Working Together, makes an interconnected argument for expanding collective bargaining rights:

Limiting employees' ability to fully exercise their congressionally mandated rights jeopardizes the VA's ability to maintain excellence in care and honor a sacred trust with our nation's veterans. The lack of a meaningful voice at the workplace limits the ability of the VA to recruit and retain a strong healthcare workforce resulting in dangerous staff shortages. As the nation confronts a growing nurse shortage, the VA must establish itself as an employer of choice to ensure safe, quality care.

Making an efficacy argument strikes me as smart politics. The biggest--and most misleading--argument about allowing federal-sector workers unionize has always been "what if they go on strike? won't the air traffic control system/veterans' care/national security be in peril?" That argument ignores the fact that federal-sector strikes are illegal, and in the post-PATCO era extremely unlikely. The risk just isn't worth it. But by arguing that collective bargaining is a means to get better care and better information on patient treatment, RNs Working Together is trying to head off the argument behind it, that unionization somehow means a less effective workforce.