This was not going to be easy. I was called by the union to inform me that the contracted nurses from Canada were hired by the State Employer as employees and they elected to be represented by UAW Local 6000. I was to meet with them asap and welcome them to the union. They seemed very happy when I met them for the first time in the training room in the Administration Building and gave them all the current contract UAW Local 6000 had agreed upon with the state employer. The first thing they wanted to know was how their seniority was going to be determined? I was stumped, and thought this should have been worked out before being hired. I called the Union and asked for clarification on this issue. They needed an answer because the sick time and vacation accrual rates needed to be determined. Seniority was also used in the offer and assignment of overtime work. They were all contracted from the same company as well. The employer listed the start date as the date they accepted employment with the state. Again, complicating the issue because they accepted State employment on the same day. Our employer wasn’t keen on the details. It was left to me to hammer out the details, and believe me when I say that “hammering” was what I had to do.
The seniority issued was resolved with the date being used when they began working for the contractor. It was great to get this resolved. Health Care at the prison was unique. To have dedicated professionals working with us as part of a team was even more important to our overall mission. Having worked in health care prior to teaching in the prison, I had a good idea of what the nurses would be facing here. Between the prisoner’s and the administration’s demands they would be hard pressed. They showed a lot of positive enthusiasm and I was glad to represent them. As what always seemed to be the case, when the employees had their department operating well, an incompetent manager was hired to run it and prove how bad a manager they were. So in a three year span our new nurses had a couple of new bosses and a number of new reporting relationships. It never failed to amaze me at those hired to be managers. The governor had eliminated the civil service examination process and manager’s were hired by the “good-ole -boy,” better known as, “who do you know and not “what you know” method. This process provides much managerial inbreeding and results in dysfunction. The number of law suits settled in court and out of court in favor of the employee plaintiffs is the tale of the tape.
In my last year of representing the nurses, I got to see one them promoted to the newly created Heath Unit Manager position, and was happy for them. Timing was everything, and while demonstrating to my students on the proper way of pruning, I took off the tip of my left index finger. My first reaction to inform my students that making sure your fingers were no where near the pruners seemed moot. The blood traveled quickly over my hand and arm. An officer who saw my distress immediately wrapped my hand, radioed for my supervisor, and took me to Health Care. His partner collected my students tools and sent them back to their housing unit. I felt like an idiot. My thought, “this was a good lesson for my students on what can happen if you are not careful,” seemed ludicrous. Once inside Health Care the nurses hurried me to a procedure room where they unwrapped the dressing which was now soaked in blood. They asked me if I knew where the tip of my finger was, and my response was, “its not on my finger ?” They shook their heads no, and smiled. This was going to be a long day. They cleaned my finger, hand and arm. I didn’t feel anything as they rewrapped it and sent me to the control center where an officer was dispatched to drive me to our local hospital emergency room. I felt a sense of calm. The nurses cared for me as much as I had cared and represented their grievances. The respect was mutual. TO BE CONTINUED .. Readers go to the next web site to see what mad man thug Putin is lying about in his war to exterminate Ukrainians. Slava Ukraini Highlight and right click.
MJ-Way 