Charge nurses eligible for collective bargaining
A recent court decision in Alaska is being hailed as a major victory for charge nurses who sought collective bargaining rights, and a setback for health care employers who argued that they are supervisors and therefore not eligible.
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Anchorage, AK, recently ruled that charge nurses at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage are not supervisors and may participate in collective bargaining for better pay and work conditions. The decision came after three years of legal challenges that began in August 1994 when the 700 nurses at the hospital voted to be represented by the Alaska Nurses Association.
The 2-1 circuit court ruling upheld the February 1996 decision by the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, DC, which determined that the votes of 180 charge nurses were properly counted in the representation election. The hospital administration had argued that the charge nurses actually were supervisors and therefore not eligible to vote in the representation election. By eliminating the charge nurses’ votes from the count, the hospital decided that the nurses had not voted in favor of collective bargaining and it refused to bargain with the Alaska Nurses Association. The circuit court ruled that the refusal was a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
The court determined that the type of supervision provided by charge nurses is different from that found in many other work situations. It said that "to the extent a charge nurse gives some guidance to other RNs, she does so more in the capacity of a lead man or straw boss than anything else. By exercising her professional judgment in this routine manner while working alongside and guiding less experienced employees, the charge nurse is not transformed into a supervisor."
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