Wa State Nurses Assoc. v. NLRB

I. FACTS

Sacred Heart is an acute care hospital in Spokane, Wash- ington; WSNA is a union that represents approximately 1200 registered nurses employed there. In the fall of 2003, WSNA and Sacred Heart began negotiations for a new collective bar- gaining agreement (“CBA”) to replace the then-existing agreement, set to expire in January 2004. Negotiations contin- ued past the agreement’s expiration, well into 2004.

During the CBA negotiations that fall and winter, nurses at Sacred Heart wore a number of union buttons without inci- dent. The buttons read: “Together Everyone Achieves More”; “WSNA SHMC RNs Remember 98”; “Staffing Crisis — Nursing Shortage — Medical Errors — Real Solutions”; and “RNs Demand Safe Staffing.” See Sacred Heart Med. Ctr. and Washington State Nurses Ass’n, ___ N.L.R.B. ___, 347 NLRB No. 48, 2006 WL 1875747, at *1 (June 30, 2006). On February 27, 2004, Sacred Heart issued a memorandum ban- ning the nurses from wearing the “RNs Demand Safe Staff- ing” buttons “in any areas on our campus where they may encounter patients or family members.” Id. at *2.

The memorandum explained:

We know that staff have worn a variety of buttons over the years for different…