Being Part of a Union: Is a Union for You?

Dues and Other Costs of Joining the NNU

A union is a large and complex organization that relies on its members to pay its costs. The vast majority of NNU funding comes from monthly dues and fees paid by represented nurses.

  • NNU dues would equal 2.2 times your hourly rate and are the same for full-time and part-time nurses.
  • The cap on what you would pay in dues could increase if RN pay rates increase at other hospitals with NNU contracts.
    • The maximum amount (cap) of regular direct member dues shall increase based on the average wage increase in the preceding calendar year at the three NNU – directly represented or NNU Affiliate – represented facilities with the highest RN base rate wages. Source: NNU Constitution, Dues Policy, pp. 37-38.

To calculate what you would pay the NNU in dues, view our Dues Calculator.

What do your dues pay for?

A union like NNU/CNA is a large, complex organization with enormous overhead costs and financial commitments to other labor groups, community groups, and political allies. Together, the unions spent more than $166.5 million in 2020, with nearly $60 million going to union overhead, administration and political spending.

In the 2020 election cycle, NNU/CNA spent nearly $14 million of member dues on various political candidates and causes. SMHC nurses can decide for themselves whether they agree with what NNU supports, but nurses may also consider whether they would instead prefer to control their own political donations. With the NNU, you could expect part of your paycheck would go to union overhead, politics and causes that are unrelated to your work or healthcare in Maine.

Questions About Dues and Union Spending

A: Yes, in two ways:

  1. In 2012, NNU instituted an “automatic annual escalator,” meaning that your dues would automatically increase every year. Source: Part II Standing Rules in CNA’s Rulebook and Article VII, Section A.3. in NNU’s Rulebook.
  2. In addition, the NNU’s Constitution provides for dues increases made by a majority vote of the Convention delegates. CNA Bylaws also allow delegates to vote to assess members up to 10 percent of their annual dues.

A: Most unions make it a priority to negotiate a “union security” agreement in the first contract. These clauses require employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.  NNU contracts usually also contain a provision for “dues checkoff,” which requires the employer to deduct dues from represented nurses’ paychecks and send that money directly to the union. Maine is not one of the 28 states with Right to Work laws, so unionized nurses would not be able to “opt out” of paying union dues or fees.

A:  Yes, if the union negotiates a union security clause, as is standard in most NNU contracts.

A:  Based on current dues rates, the NNU could bring in as much as $1.1 million a year from nurses at SHH.

Consider that nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) paid the NNU $2.89 million in 2016, before the MNA disaffiliated from the NNU. By organizing nurses at SHH, the NNU would make a big step to recoup the revenue it lost when MNA dropped out.

A:  The term refers to a procedure whereby union dues, fees, fines, and assessments are automatically deducted from an employee’s paycheck by the employer and forwarded to the union. Unions prefer this process so they don’t need to collect dues directly from each employee – the employer does it for them.

A:If a nurse is required to pay dues or fees and falls behind on payments, NNU/CNA imposes a monthly finance charge of as much as 1% of the amount owed.

A: Dues revenue pays for a union’s operating expenses, including salaries and benefits for union staff, rent and facility costs, professional services, member representations, political causes, protests and social action, and costs related to organizing workers at other facilities. There is no requirement in the union’s Constitution or Bylaws to earmark a share of dues paid by nurses at a particular hospital to representation activities at that hospital.

A: Individual union members do not vote on dues, and dues are not negotiated between the union and an employer. The union has a legal right to increase dues as it sees fit. According to NNU’s Constitution, dues rates are determined at the union’s annual convention.

A: NNU is a primarily a labor union with the goal of promoting unionization and supporting a broad range of issues unrelated to healthcare.  As a nurse, you have a strong voice at SHH through Shared Governance and other opportunities to directly advocate for patient care and professional development. In our view, nurses would get far better professional value by joining professional RN associations or nurse specialty organizations that focus exclusively on nursing and patient care rather than a labor union with its own agenda.

Collective Bargaining

A collective bargaining agreement is a contract between an employer and a unit that covers every employee in the bargaining unit. By their nature, union contracts represent a “one-size-fits-all” approach to setting rules and policies. Most limit flexibility as a threat to the union’s authority in the workplace.

In hospitals, typical NNU contracts determine factors as varied as pay and differentials, benefits, scheduling and paid time off. Once a contract is in place, everyone has to follow the provisions of the contract, even if individual nursing units or procedural areas had systems that worked differently.

SHH nurses should carefully consider how important flexibility is to you in working directly with your manager to accommodate scheduling and other individual needs on your unit.

Questions About Collective Bargaining

A:  No. There are no guarantees in collective bargaining. Nurses could end up with more, the same, or less than what they now receive in pay and benefits. There is no predicting the outcome of union contract negotiations. Source: Coach and Equipment Sales, 228 NLRB No. 51.

A:  There is a great deal of misunderstanding about how collective bargaining really works and the role of individual nurses. While you may have an opportunity to identify the issues most important to you, it is exceedingly rare for NNU to allow individual nurses to vote on specific contract proposals, and the reality is that NNU members would have no control over the union’s bargaining priorities (and what they leave out) or how the union spends your dues money.

A:  We can’t speak for the union, but provisions like that are not found in most collective bargaining agreements. The NNU often surveys potential voters to ask their priorities, which may present an illusion of inclusion. In reality, however, the union bargaining committee controls the proposals and which concessions the union would make during the give and take of bargaining.

For example, the NNU routinely claims supervisors can’t perform bedside care because it is “bargaining unit” work that only union-represented nurses can do – a position that is simply contrary to the essence of our collaborative model of supervisors working side by side with other caregivers on their team.

A:  Union security clauses are an important consideration because a union may “bargain away” something that directly benefits nurses to secure a clause that could force a hospital to fire nurses who don’t pay dues. These clauses are standard in NNU contracts. For example:

The union security clause in the NNU contract at MedStar Washington Hospital Center reads:

“All bargaining unit members are required to pay either Union dues or agency fees. Any Nurse who fails to pay such dues or agency fees shall, within thirty (30) calendar days following receipt of written demand from the Union to the Hospital requesting his/her discharge, be discharged, if during such period, the required fees have not been tendered.” (Article 4.5, Section a, Maintenance of Membership/Agency Shop)

The union security clause in the NNU contract at Providence Hospital reads:

“Any Covered RN who fails to pay such dues or agency fees in accordance with this Agreement shall, within thirty-one (31) calendar days following receipt of written demand from the Union to the Hospital requesting his/her discharge, be discharged, if during such period, the required fees have not been tendered.” (Article III, Section b Union Shop and Checkoff for Dues/Fees Deduction)

A:  A union would “represent” all members of the bargaining unit on issues related to pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment, but in reality that doesn’t mean NNU would necessarily promote a nurse’s or unit’s individual interests at the bargaining table.

By its nature, the bargaining process is lengthy, and contracts are usually in place for several years. Without a union, individual nurses are in a much stronger position to address issues and concerns directly with their supervisors or other hospital leaders. With a union, that privilege belongs with the NNU and the small group of RNs on the union committee who may have their own agenda.

For example, contracts often provide “superseniority” to union stewards and union committee members that would give them special protection in the event of a layoff. The NNU-Medstar Washington Hospital contract says this:

“Superseniority. Shop stewards and officers of the Union shall be the last Nurses affected by a reduction in force where they possess the necessary and requisite skills and ability to perform required patient care. The Union shall be limited to no more than thirty (30) persons who shall be permitted to exercise such superseniority in the order designated by the Union.” (Article 10.3, Clinical Service Areas, Reductions in Force, Severance and Recall)

The union may also seek other benefits for union representatives in the contract. One example is the provision in the contract between United American Nurses (part of NNU) and U.S. Veterans Administration hospitals that provides free, reserved parking for the union representative – a benefit not extended to union-represented nurses.

“The Employer will maintain a designated spot in Parking Lot L for the sole use of the Union Representative whose car will have a UAN ID displayed.” Source: Article 44.4 Facilities and Services for Union Use.

A:  No one can predict the outcome of collective bargaining. It’s a give-and-take process and ultimately, the hospital can provide only what it is able to give. Unions often highlight particular things from collective bargaining agreements, but it is difficult to compare the value of total pay and benefits at different hospitals in different regions of the country. In fact, in many cases, hospitals without union contracts provide compensation that is equal to or better than hospitals with union contracts, but the union won’t tell you about those.

Strikes and Pickets

NNU has a history of using strikes and strike threats to exert pressure on management during contract negotiations. The table below outlines the number of NNU strikes and other related data over the past decade. On the East Coast, NNU has taken nurses out on strikes at Washington Hospital Center during contract negotiations in 2011 and 2014, and at Providence Hospital during its first contract negotiation in late 2014.

MSNA/NNU held a strike authorization vote and threatened a two-day strike at Calais Regional Hospital in November 2020 at the peak of COVID, and threatened a strike at EMMC in 2015 after taking nurses out on strike and threatening a second strike in 2011.

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Key NNU/CNA Strikes 2010-2021

When Where RNs
July 2021 Keck Medicine of University of Southern California 1,400
June 2021 Cook County Health 900
Dec 2020 Kaiser Permanente California 1,100
Sept 2019 University of Chicago Medical Center 2,200
Sept 2019 Tenet hospitals in Arizona, Florida, California 6,500
June 2016 Strike at five Allina Health hospitals in Minneapolis, MN 5,000
April 2015 Strike at five Sutter Health hospitals in California 2,500
April 2015 Strike Notice issued at University of Chicago Medical Center 6,400
April 2015 Strike Notices issued at Los Angeles Medical Center and Providence Health (Santa Monica ad Torrance) 1,700
Dec 2014 Strike at MedStar Washington Hospital Center 1,800
July 2012 Strike at seven Sutter Health hospitals in California 3,500
Sept 2011 Strike at 24 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in California 21,000
June 2010 Strike at 14 Minneapolis-St. Paul area hospitals affiliated with Health East, Allina, Methodist, Children’s, North Memorial, Fairview) 12,000

Questions About Strikes

A:  SHH cannot predict whether, or under what conditions, NNU would ever lead SHH nurses out on strike.  However, a strike is one possible outcome of collective bargaining. NNU and CNA both have a long history of strikes and threatened strikes.  SHH encourages nurses to review that track record as part of making an informed decision about whether or not to support the union.

A:  No, nurses would not be forced to strike. Under the National Labor Relations Act, an employee has the right to take part, or not to take part, in any legal collective action.

The NNU/CNA often puts pressure on nurses to join the picket line as a show of unity, and union members who cross the picket line could be subject to union discipline. NNU/CNA does not detail what that discipline could entail. CNA bylaws give the union “the authority to take appropriate corrective action to remedy the misconduct and prevent future misconduct.” Source: California Nurses Association 2017-2020 Philosophy, Mission Statement, Bylaws and Standing Rules, Section 2(D).

A:  When healthcare unions call one-day strikes at large hospitals, the reality is usually very different. A large, highly-specialized medical center can’t shut down for a single day, nor be without a full complement of nurses. In the event of a strike notice, a hospital must arrange for replacement RNs, often on short notice, with agencies that usually require a commitment to provide more than a single day of work.

For example, in December 2014, the NNU called a strike at Medstar Washington Hospital Center over the holidays when it is difficult to secure replacement nurses. To bring in a sufficient number of nurses, the hospital had to guarantee them 10 days of work. So, while NNU called a “one-day” strike, striking nurses were actually out of work for 10 days.