Congressman Don Young Agrees

to Co-Sponsor Nurses' Respect Act

Alaska nurse leaders Kathleen Gettys and Donna Phillips visited the offices of Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, as part of the United American Nurses lobby effort, March 22, in Washington D.C.  Gettys and Phillips also met with the Congressman's wife Lou who took them as her guests to a D.C. Republican luncheon.

Congressman Young, at the request of the two Alaskan nurses, agreed to co-sponsor an important piece of national legislation:  The Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act.  Congressman Young introduced the bill along with Reps. Robert Andres (D-New Jersey) and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), making the bill a bi-partisan effort.

The bill (HR 1644 and SB 969) would reverse a recent National Labor Relations Board ruling that slashed long-time federal labor law protection of workers' freedom to form unions.  The ruling essentially enabled employers to designate as "supervisors" any worker-- including nurses -- who has the authority to assign or direct another and uses independent judgment.  This ruling, in many cases, would have applied to charge nurses.  Under federal labor law, supervisors are not protected against retaliation for forming unions.

The NLRB ruling has the potential of negatively impacting Alaska's 6,000 nurses and their patients.  During the meeting, Young agreed that the NLRB decision undermined workers' ability to form unions and was a form of "union-busting,"

With Congressman Young's support, the UAN and American Nurses Association are optimistic about the newly introduced legislation's chance of becoming law.

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