We are all WSNA. Together, we have grown our membership by leaps and bounds, achieved major victories to help protect our patients and our professional lives and negotiated precedent-setting agreements, all while fighting off efforts to strip away pay, benefits and the dignity of the nursing profession. We have not won them all, but consider the following recent achievements:

• New contract language to attack chronic understaffing, including specific nurse-to-patient ratios written into our contract at MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital;
• A new staffing law passed by the legislature in 2017 that empowers nurses to protect patients through stronger staffing committees;
• Supreme Court victories to force employers to give meal and rest breaks;
• Wages that support freedom for families to prosper; and
• Multimillion dollar settlements with new break-relief nurses.

And consider just a few examples of the takeaways threatened by management that we defeated together:

• Forced house-wide floating;
• Cutting or eliminating rest between shifts;
• Mandatory on-call/standby in all units;
• Even deeper cuts in medical insurance, PTO and retirement; and
• Pay-for-performance schemes tying nurses’ wages to factors beyond their control.

We have won at the negotiating table, in court and the legislature because we stood together in unity. When we as WSNA members exercise our freedom to join together and speak with a single powerful voice, we can stand up to management’s combined financial power.

Corporate lobbyists and wealthy CEOs have been mounting attacks on our freedom to speak with that one voice. One of the greatest threats is a case now pending before the United States Supreme Court, Janus v. AFSCME, in which the new conservative Court appears poised to overturn its own longstanding precedent and take away the freedom of public sector nurses to build their powerful, unified voice.

At risk is the freedom of public sector union employees and their employers to agree to fair-share union dues agreements. This gives employees the option of becoming full union members or skipping membership and becoming fair-share payers, who pay a reduced fee to support their union’s efforts on their behalf.

 If the U.S. Supreme Court decides against working people, and public-sector nurses start dropping their membership, our power to negotiate fair contracts for our work would be significantly diminished. If that isn’t bad enough, we will face a coordinated, sophisticated campaign by anti-union groups and foundations to persuade our members to drop their membership. They know that when we don’t speak with a strong, unified voice, management wins and our patients lose.

Organized attack by wealthy corporations

These anti-worker attacks are coming from individuals and groups such as the Walton family (of Wal-Mart fame), the Koch brothers, Wall Street, banks, huge multi-national corporations and corporate-funded political think tanks. These groups work with state politicians behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. This is the wealthiest one percent, and they are the ones who benefit when they take away our freedom to join together and negotiate.

Make no mistake. These groups are very upfront about their goal— to weaken and destroy public employee unions. As one fundraising letter to wealthy donors puts it:

“To the horror and dismay of government unions across the country, the Supreme Court is taking up Janus v. AFSCME this term. As a result, we may well be on the verge of an historic victory over government unions — and now is the time to put ourselves into position to make the most of this incredible opportunity.”

They are engaged in this massive fundraising effort so they can peddle falsehoods, and will even go so far as to send paid, scripted lobbyists to show up at members’ homes and harass them into resigning union membership. Why go to the trouble, you may ask? Because your collective voice is in their way.

Big corporations, politicians and wealthy interests have rigged our economy against working people for decades. They have robbed Americans of the freedom to earn a decent living, have work-life balance, take a loved one to the doctor or serve the public well without fear of losing their job. In our hospitals and clinics, wealthy CEOs press management to cut staff, often leaving nurses without rest or meal breaks and with more patients than they can safely care for. Nurses are forced to float to units in which they lack the necessary skill and training. Many nurses now work in constant moral distress. Your collective voice is what keeps these issues in check.

Our power in numbers to fight back

Unions are the most effective way for workers to come together and counter the influence big money and big corporations have on our democracy. By forming strong unions, workers are able to negotiate a fair return on their hard work and benefits that support their families, as well as provisions to protect patients and their own health. This isn’t just talk. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers who belong to a union typically earn higher pay than non-union workers doing the same kind of job.

And we use our collective voice to advocate for policies that benefit all working people—like increases to the minimum wage, affordable health care and great public schools for students—and to elect politicians who will stand up for working people, not the wealthy and corporate interests.

Unions are critically important to fix a rigged economy that disproportionately hurts workers across the country, and particularly workers of color. Across the country, more than half of black workers and nearly 60 percent of Latino workers are paid less than $15 per hour. If corporations and politicians eliminate our freedom to come together in union, they will continue to drive down wages, kill jobs, defund public hospitals, silence working people at the ballot box and dismantle the fundamental values of freedom and opportunity we hold dear as Americans.

We can’t let that happen.

What is the Janus case?

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case regarding the constitutionality of public sector unions’ right to collect fair share or agency fees from non-members in a case known as Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. The issue in Janus is whether the First Amendment gives the freedom to a public employer to reach an agreement with a labor union that all employees of the bargaining unit who choose not to become members of the union will be required, instead of paying dues, to pay a reduced “fair share” fee to help cover the union’s costs of negotiating contracts and grievance administration that the union is required to provide to those non-members. Outlawing “fair share” agreements would overturn 40 years of legal precedent.

The Janus case originated with a federal court lawsuit, filed by billionaire Bruce Rauner, Governor of Illinois, in February of 2015. Governor Rauner summarily signed an order that stopped the collection of fair-share fees from non-union state employees represented by over 25 different unions, in an attempt to weaken the ability of state employees to join together and negotiate. The union defendants and the state attorney general moved to dismiss the case. That’s when state employee Mark Janus, with legal assistance from national anti-union groups filed a motion to intervene on the side of the Governor. The district court subsequently dismissed the Governor from the case, but Janus pursued his claims before the district court and court of appeals, losing at every level.

Now that the case is before the U.S. Supreme Court, huge corporate interests and the wealthy are funding a host of briefs to the Court arguing to weaken the ability of working people to negotiate a fair return on our work. The case is expected to be decided sometime between the end of March and June of 2018.

What happens if the Supreme Court rules against working people?

The first impact of a loss in Janus is that it will become illegal for unions like WSNA to deduct fair-share fees from public sector non-members. While this is a blow, the much bigger question is up to all of us, the members of WSNA. If we maintain our memberships and persuade future nurses to join, we will keep growing stronger together. But if a substantial number of current members drop out, the impact on your standard of living, freedom to live a balanced life and ability to advocate for and protect yourselves and your patients may be profound.

Ask any union negotiator. The single most important factor in negotiating fair collective bargaining agreements is the level of union membership. If management is not convinced that nurses are united to support their negotiating committee, not only will fair wage increases disappear, but management will try to force nurses into giving up the keys to their independence and professionalism. In hospitals with strong union membership, we have time and time again beat back painful takeaways and dangerous proposals that would endanger the care our nurses provide.

What are the implications for each of you?

Consider both your home life and professional life. Real freedom is about more than making a living—it’s about having the time and ability to spend time with family and friends or care for loved ones. Many employers are proposing new restrictions on the use of earned benefits and are trying to take away your freedom to use your time off as you need.

The same is true with scheduling. How would your freedom to schedule your life be impacted if the employer could tack on additional shifts over your FTE without your permission, or even change your shifts and hours weekly or daily? And, perhaps most importantly, what if your wages stagnate or even fall? Over time, your family’s freedom to prosper will diminish. In 2017, 94 percent of union employees in the U.S. had access to health care benefits, compared to only 67 percent of non-union workers. Union workers also pay less out-of-pocket for their insurance than non-unionized workers do. What if hospital CEOs were to erode your medical benefits packages at will, imposing plans with thousands of dollars of copays and deductibles at ever higher premiums?

Also consider your professional life. From the point of view of many CEOs, a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. Some hospitals are trying even now to take away your freedom to do work in your own specialty by forcing you to float all over the hospital. They want to take away rest between shifts for nurses who are already working far past a 12-hour shift. And what about your professional duty to care for your patients? Many hospitals are already stripping critical support staff, laying off nurses and denying time for breaks. We as WSNA members are pushing back against these practices, but we can only do that if we stand together in unity. Ask yourself if you are happy with trends like these continuing at your hospital and imagine it becoming intolerably worse.

Finally consider your profession. Your dues money supports advocacy efforts to protect your professional standards in state law and regulatory agencies, and it allows for full participation in the American Nurses Association and its critical advocacy role for nurses. Your dues also support WSNA in its role of interpreting the complexities of the Nurse Practice Act and assuring the quality of nursing education. We represent your workplace and practice interests with the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission and other state agencies, and we also provide input on proposals that affect your workplace safety and your practice.

What can I personally do if Janus is decided against us?

Engage

Remain a member and persuade others that standing together is not only the right choice, it’s the smart choice.

Get involved

Get involved in negotiations and talk to your negotiators. Help educate your fellow nurses, especially those just entering the profession, about the collective bargaining agreement.

Serve

Become a local committee member and learn how to bring those around you together.

Whatever happens, know that WSNA has faced and overcome even greater challenges in the past. Standing together we can and will fight. Standing together we will win.