The California Nurses Association alleges that members of the Service Employees International Union “have threatened nurses at their homes and workplaces,” according to an article in The New York Times.
A judge in Oakland, California has issued a court order barring the members of the SEIU from harassing members of the Nurses Association. The SEIU has said it will file a motion for the dismissal of the restraining order.
What to make of this? Both unions want to organize nurses in Ohio, and so are indulging in a turf battle. And though John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO seeks to mediate an agreement between the two sides, such an outcome is not inevitable. After all, the SEIU withdrew from the AFL-CIO in 2005, and the Nurses Association is a member of the AFL-CIO.
This is what happens when the union movement has outgrown its purpose and has to battle with its allies over recruiting potential members. The union movement is not only anachronistic; it has become desperate and perhaps self-destructive.
