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Download NowWhat happened. St. John's Mercy Medical Center, a not-for-profit
corporation based in St. Louis County, Missouri, employs 1,400 RNs at an acute,
tertiary care hospital. On behalf of the RNs, the United Food & Commercial
Workers Union Local 655, AFL-CIO, CIC, entered into a CBA with St. John's
on October 23, 2001. The CBA was in effect until October 22, 2004.
Under the terms of the CBA, all RNs were required to become union members and
pay dues. The agreement also specified that St. John's was obligated to
discharge any RN who failed to pay dues.
The union sent written notification to 14 RNs that they had 2 weeks to pay
the required dues and, later, submitted a letter to St. John's, asking
that the RNs be discharged for failure to do so. Consistent with its responses
to similar requests in the past, St. John's refused. In fact, in April
2003 and April 2004, the organization sent letters to RNs who had failed to
pay dues stating that no one would be fired for not paying dues.
The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) and asked that the 14 RNs be discharged for failure to pay dues
for 4 months. An administrative law judge ordered that the RNs be discharged,
and the order was upheld by an NLRB panel. St. John's challenged the order
before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which covers North Dakota,
South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.
What the court said. St. John's argued that discharging the RNs
would violate Missouri public policy and that healthcare institutions should
be treated differently from other companies.
The appeals court affirmed the NLRB order, explaining "[t]here is no Missouri
statute that prohibits the enforcement of a union-security provision or the
discharge of nurses," and that while nursing shortages may make it more
difficult for St. John's to replace the nurses, the task was not impossible,
according to the court. In addition, the court found no evidence that Congress
intended to exempt hospitals from avoiding their duties under union-security
provisions in CBAs. St. John's Mercy Health Systems v. NLRB, No.
05-2306/2392, U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Cir. (2006).
What to remember. Just because you disagree with a contract provision
doesn't mean you can ignore it. Unless the union agrees to a change, you
are bound by the terms of the agreement until it expires.