Question

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is one of the most significant pieces of federal legislation dealing with labor relations (textbook Chapter 19, pages 516–517). The act is generally known as the Wagner Act, after Senator Robert R. Wagner of New York. Use the case you identified in the discussion preparation on unfair labor practices in a health care organization. Summarize the case law findings.

Answer 1

A Massachusetts-based health alliance has been charged with "bargaining in bad faith and depriving nurses of their union rights” following its decision to cut retireee health benefits for nurses.

The Commonwealth Employment Relations Board held a hearing last week on complaint it had issued in July against the Cambridge Health Alliance. The board citing the CHA following its decision to “prematurely cease negotiations, declare impasse and unilaterally slash nurses' retiree health benefit.”

Officials say that the case is drawing scrutiny from the labor community in Massachusetts and could have implications for thousands of public sector employees across the Commonwealth. A ruling on the case is due as early as August 18

The 395 registered nurses of the Cambridge Hospital campus of the CHA, who are represented by the 23,000-member Massachusetts Nurses Association, had filed an unfair labor practice charge with the CERB against the hospital on July 1 for its refusal to engage in good faith negotiations with the nurses to reach agreement on a new union contract.

A preliminary hearing before the CERB was held on July 8. The CERB issued a complaint against CHA on July 12.

On August 11, the MNA's attorney argued that this was a violation of nurses' rights, as the Cambridge Health Alliance had declared an impasse after only five sessions and without first participating in the legally required process of mediation and fact-finding.

As a result, the hospital cut the nurses' retiree health benefit by 40 percent and told them to file for retirement by July 31 if they wanted to retire with the current benefit.

The MNA is arguing for an expedited decision by the board to prevent implementation of the CHA retirement cuts, saying nurses would suffer harm by being forced to retire early.

"All the nurses at Cambridge Hospital are looking for is justice," said Betty Kaloustian, a nurse at the hospital and chairman of the nurses' local bargaining unit. "I'm not a lawyer, but I can read, and the law seems pretty black and white in this case. They had an obligation to negotiate with us, and they chose not to. For us, this is more than a legal matter, it is about our retirement security, and it's about treating people with dignity and respect."

Hospital officials argued that public employers can choose to skip mediation and fact-finding and instead declare an impasse and make changes in working conditions even though, according to CERB's own publication, the law forbids employers from unilaterally changing working conditions until the collective bargaining process, including mediation and fact-finding, has been completed.

There is a statutory deal in place that makes it illegal for public sector employees to strike, but in return public sector employers can't unilaterally implement contract terms until the collective bargaining process has been fully complied with.

"If the board accepts this employer's outlandish argument and removes mediation as a guaranteed right to public sector workers, then there will be no meaningful recourse for dispute resolution to protect working people in the public sector and the board would be blatantly ignoring the letter of the law they are sworn to uphold and enforce," argued Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes