Does VNA represent nurses for collective bargaining?
A.VNA decertified as a collective bargaining unit many years ago when the ANA adopted a federation structure and each state nurses association had to declare their status with the department of labor. Prior to this, VNA had not organized any facilities or groups of nurses although the ability existed in law. The decision to decertify was based on the fact that Virginia is a right to work state and it also reflects the political climate in Virginia. In a right to work state, employees cannot be required to support collective agreements. Further, an employee may be dismissed for any cause in a right to work state, and the existence of a collective bargaining agreement would not prevent that from happening. The ANA bylaws state that a function of ANA is to “ensure a collective bargaining program for nurses” for those requesting such a service. To that end, VNA has developed a shared services document which would enable the association to work collaboratively with another SNA to provide th
