NILES Union: Nurses could join
The health board had tabled a decision on the nurses' joining the union, seeking more information.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- A problem that kept nurses in the city's health department from joining a union six years ago shouldn't be an obstacle now, a union official said.
The two nurses in the city department want to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 506, the union that represents most nonsupervisory city workers.
Last week, the Niles Health Board tabled a request from the nurses to allow them to join the union, saying they wanted more information before deciding.
The board members expressed concerns about the effects of any nurses strike on city residents who rely on the nurses' services.
AFSCME is the city's largest union, representing about 100 workers.
The nurses cite benefits afforded to union members that they have to wait to get and job security as reasons they want to join the union.
Earlier decision: More than six years ago, the health board and Mayor Ralph A. Infante Jr. approved the nurses' membership in the union, but a representative of Ohio Council 8 of AFSCME at that time decided not to let the nurses join the local in Niles.
In December 1994, the union's regional office thought it would jeopardize the Niles local's status with the State Employment Relations Board if it allowed the nurses to join. That decision was based on an Ohio Supreme Court ruling regarding the Barberton City Health Department.
The court had ruled that a city board of health is a subdivision of the state, so its employees couldn't join a city workers' union.
But Bill VanZandt, regional director of Ohio Council 8, said the Barberton case is irrelevant in Niles if the health board and administration agree to allow the nurses to join the union and negotiate the contract for all of the employees.
VanZandt pointed to other cities with health departments, such as Youngstown.
"The city agrees to have all of the employees covered by the city contract," he said. "They're all under one umbrella rather than as individual entities."
That approach also improves efficiency for the city, VanZandt said.
Local 506 has a specific certification status because it existed before Ohio's collective bargaining laws were passed in 1976. The status allows all city service positions except police and firefighters to be automatically included in the bargaining union. Locals organized after 1976 must fight for newly created positions.