State of the Unions: Nurses make stand on the front lines of .. economy

[struggle4progress]

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

In 1998, Jen Henry, RN, was one of hundreds of nurses who took Fletcher Allen CEO Bill Boettcher at his word: Give him some time and he would improve working conditions for all nurses.

Hundreds of other nurses agreed, too, and Fletcher Allen remained union free; it was the second time that nurses had tried to unionize at the state’s largest hospital.

But, in 2000, as a mounting scandal swirled around Boettcher and other top hospital officials over the beleaguered Renaissance Project, along with a renewed sense from nurses that they had been lied to by management, the tide turned. Nurses at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington voted in the union overwhelmingly.

This time, Henry voted in favor of the union. She also became president of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5221. <snip>

http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/0105/NurseUnions.shtml