The Chaplain and Labor Relations

Chaplaincy Today • Volume 23 Number 1 • Spring/Summer 2007 AS A HOSPITAL CHAPLAIN, you recently noticed flyers in a break room cryptically urging employees to “unite.” Yesterday you overheard one nurse’s aide whisper to another about a “special meeting” after work. Today a nurse manager has asked if you’ve “heard anything” from employees about forming a union. How do you respond to her question? More generally, what is your appropriate role now that unionization appears to be on the horizon at your hospital? Few contingencies in healthcare are more polarizing than the possibility that employees might form a collective bargaining unit and choose to be represented by a union. Healthcare administrators and many managers have a particular aversion to the specter of third-party representation. Most have heard horror stories, and some may have witnessed first-hand the disruption caused by organizing campaigns or their aftermath. Staff members, for their part, may be deeply divided about unionization. Some will be skeptical about a union’s supposed benefits. Some will have reservations about the possibility that employees providing vital healthcare services may opt to strike. Some will have concerns or outright grievances that they believe a union can address. Some may come from families or have personal work histories in which union membership has been a way of life. Chaplains may be ill prepared by education or experience to respond to the pressures of an organizing campaign. They may feel reflexively that they should maintain a stance of pastoral neutrality. At the same time, they may find themselves sympathizing with one side or the other on the issues. Because the dominant voice chaplains will hear is often that of management, they may be influenced by The Chaplain and Labor Relations