For Immediate Release
November 24, 2010

With 68% Vote, Community Hospital Nurses, New Port Richey RNs Become Third HCA Hospital RNs in State to Vote for Union Voice

Registered nurses at Community Hospital in New Port Richey, Fla. Tuesday night became the latest Florida nurses to cast their votes for affiliation with National Nurses Organizing Committee-Florida.

Community RNs voted for NNOC-Florida, which is affiliated with National Nurses United, the nation’s largest RN union and professional association, by a vote of 155 to 73, or 68 percent. The National Labor Relations Board supervised the secret ballot election.

NNOC-Florida will represent 325 RNs at the Clearwater area hospital which joins Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford, Fla. and Osceola Regional Medical Center in Kissimmee, Fla. in choosing NNOC-Florida in the past week.

All three hospitals are a part of the HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) hospital system.

With Community, NNU has now won representation elections for close to 7,000 RNs this year, raising the number of NNU members to nearly 160,000.

 “This is a great victory for nurses and patients at Community Hospital,” said  Lydia Music, RN. “This brings us a step closer to realizing our vision of safe staffing ratios that will allow us to spend more time with our patients and give even better care.”

 “Nurses at Community Hospital are excited to be joining NNOC-Florida/NNU for a strong RN voice in Florida and nationally,” said Hugh Herman, RN.

Like their colleagues in other Florida hospitals, the Community RNs say they want a stronger, unified voice in key issues affecting patients and nurses, including RN-to-patient ratios based on patient need, improved procedures for floating (assignment of RNs beyond their areas of clinical expertise and experience), and improved economic standards, including better retirement security in pensions and medical coverage.

National Nurses United is the nation’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses with more than 155,000 members from coast to coast.