One would think that workers depend on their unions to negotiate wages and benefits. Unions also represent workers involved in disputes about terminations and other disciplinary procedures.
One would also think that nurses, as professional health care workers, would not only want to protect their own health, but also the health of their patients.
Not necessarily so!
Nurses at a medical center in Washington, who refused to get flu shots, objected to having to wear face masks!
Why would nurses not want to protect themselves against the flu? Why would those who did not get flu shots want to expose their patients to possible infection?
An administrative law judge has now sensibly ruled that the medical center did not have to bargain with the nurses union, before imposing a requirement that all nurses who refused to be inoculated against the flu must wear face masks.
Is it any wonder that union membership has been declining?
