Question
Do the following actions constitute unfair labor practices during a union organizing campaign?
- The charge nurse destroys authorization cards that were lying around at the nursing station.
Destroying authorization cards constitutes an unfair labor practice during a union organization campaign. Authorization cards should not be destroyed under any circumstance. They give permission to the right personnel to access the designated areas. Destroying the cards is an unethical practice (Guido, 2010). The authorization cards also help the union members. If they are absent, then any person can access the areas. The consequences of this would be severe because lives are precious. Furthermore, without the authorization cards, no nurse can access the station. When a union is organizing a campaign, the activities should be devoid of unethical behavior that would spell dire consequences to the union’s members at a later stage. Destruction of authorization cards is one action that would do that.
- The nursing home administrator and the director of nursing eat their lunch in the staff cafeteria located in the nursing home.
The staff cafeteria is a place designated for eating by the personnel of a nursing home. Therefore, when the nursing home administrator and the director of nursing decide to take their lunch in it, it is not an unfair labor practice. It would be an unfair labor practice under some special conditions. For example, if the two nursing personnel have work and they decide to abscond and go to the cafeteria instead. Another unethical behavior from the two will come about if they take food in areas not designated for eating such as a laboratory or the patients’ wards. During the campaign, it is an unfair labor practice because the two professionals are supposed to engage in the campaigns.
- The facilities manager tells the housekeeping and laundry workers a story about this particular union’s involvement in alleged violent practices. In one situation, one employee’s house was found to be on fire. This employee was known to have campaigned against the union.
Telling third parties about the activities of the union is unethical (Guido, 2010). Therefore, if the facilities manager tells the laundry and housekeeping workers about the actions of the union, more so during the campaign by the union, it would constitute an unfair labor practice. The fact that the facilities manager campaigns against the union is unethical. The facilities manager may or may not be a nurse. In both cases, his or her actions are unethical.
References
Guido, G. W. (2010).Legal & ethical issues in nursing. Boston: Pearson.
Lachman, V. D. (2006).Applied ethics in nursing. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
