Professional nurses in unions: working together pays off

Professionalism versus unionization of nurses is often posited as a dichotomy of mutually exclusive choices. Many US nurses are alienated from militancy and activism because they are viewed as unprofessional. This stance weakens nurses' ability to organize coalitions, to increase their power bases, and to advocate for both nurses and clients. This article examines how nurses worked together in a labor union to realize professional gains. Ethnography, including participant observation and ethnographic interviews, was the method used to study unionized registered nurses (RNs) in a 60-bed, private, not-for-profit psychiatric hospital in rural southern New England. The union nurses' position as workers in a gendered profession was analyzed. Nurses' union involvement, solidarity, and working conditions were considered in the context of a patriarchal and authoritarian hospital setting. Collaborative decision making and an innovative conflict resolution strategy allowed nurses to voice professional concerns. Unionization allowed RNs to collectively mobilize as a legitimate ideological force in the hospital culture and to enhance their professional status. Their ability to resolve conflicts and to implement change within this context were evaluated.