This is way more interesting because (if true at scale) it's an example of a union working to protect their members in real, practical, day to day ways.
> union working to protect their members in real, practical, day to day ways.
Unions are normally really good at this.
One of the standard responses to managers asking for something stupid in a steel mill was "Get the book". "The book" defined the procedures, equipment, and training required for most tasks. This is fairly normal for most union shops.
It's a lot easier to tell a manager to pound sand when he asks you to do something stupid when you know the union will back you up.
Collective wage and benefit bargaining tends to be the main focus of many unions. I'd say in the instance of this particular Nurses Union the union also advocated well and often for the safety of their nurses. So yes they do ensure worker safety but I don't think it's thought of as much as collective bargaining.
Worker deaths have halved since workplace safety came into play in 1970, this wouldn't have been enacted if left up to companies as it is much cheaper to find an uninjured worker than it is to implement safe working conditions (I'm generalising obviously but I think it holds). It would have been heavy collective bargaining from unions that made this happen.
Also thank you for sharing the original story it was a really interesting anecdote.
I mean... I'm not sure why that would be surprising? That's been a thing since the dawn of unions; for early industrial unions it would have been one of the biggest concerns.
Unions are normally really good at this.
One of the standard responses to managers asking for something stupid in a steel mill was "Get the book". "The book" defined the procedures, equipment, and training required for most tasks. This is fairly normal for most union shops.
It's a lot easier to tell a manager to pound sand when he asks you to do something stupid when you know the union will back you up.