Texas nurses go union

 

HOUSTON — More than 1,900 registered nurses at five Texas hospitals have voted to unionize by joining the National Nurses Organizing Committee.

The Texas NNOC is part of the 155,000 member National Nurses United.

The organizing gains were made during the past two weeks, with the latest victory coming at the Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville. They follow union organizing victories in Texas at four other Hospital Corporation of America hospitals: Corpus Christi Medical Center in Corpus Christi, Del Sol Medical Center and Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso, and Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen.

Only one private hospital in Texas had been previously unionized, Cypress Fairbanks in Houston.

A study prepared for the 79th Session of the Texas Legislature found that in 2010, Texas will have a demand for 180,000 RNs but the supply will be only 150,000.

Also significant is a study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which found Texas has only 676 RNs per 100,000 people while the U.S. average is 836 RNs per 100,000 people. http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/cnws/SB132PP.ppt#271,10,Part 

The relation between supply and demand for RNs in Texas favors the nurses, and thus, helps the union organizing drive.