It had been five months since I saw my mom last. When I walked off the train and into her arms Tuesday evening, a nostalgic wave rolled through me – I couldn’t help but tear up when I saw her face.

When we arrived at the house I plopped down on the couch in our living room, nestled between two cats, and we discussed my new home away from home.

“You sound sick,” she interjected. I agreed that I was. She warned me (for about the 10th time since I moved to NYC) to “be careful of swine flu … especially in the city. It’s going around.”

Internally rolling my eyes, I answered, “I know Mom.”

From the day I was born, my mother has always worried about my health. Days when I had a fever (or even a slight tickle in my throat or stomach ache), she’d keep me home from school. I’d spend the day on the couch while she brought me clear, carbonated beverages, soup, crackers and occasionally put the back of her hand to my forehead.

Now, as I reminisce on these moments – 24 and truly on my own/away from her for the first time in my life – I realize how lucky I was.

I realize how lucky her patients are that her caring nature is extended to them (my mom has been a registered nurse (RN) for 33 years; she’s been a nurse at Lake Shore Hospital for 17 of those years).

“So how are things with you,” I asked the question I already knew the reply to.

“Oh you know, things at work are the same,” she said simply.

I needn’t ask her what she meant. Over the past few years, I have listened to my mother and her RN friends talk about the conditions at TLC Health Network. To reiterate their complaints plainly: nurses are expected to be compassionate and caring individuals, but many members of management show little compassion to them.

In 2004, my mother found out how a union-less system works: That year, while at work, she injured her right leg and went on Workers Compensation. She went through two surgeries and has subsequently suffered permanent partial loss of use of that leg. Instead of concern she experienced fear of job loss.

Through the years, over dinners with Mom’s friends, I have heard similar stories. To my surprise, once they use up time allotted through the Family Medical Leave Act, nurses were pressured to get back to work or risk being fired.

Whereas union nurses have extended leave so they do not lose their jobs in 12 weeks.

Those nonunion nurses who grieve such issues (like my mother) have risked retaliation of having their schedules/hours changed with little or no notice. Seniority and the physical strain of being a nurse are not taken into consideration. This puts older, more experienced nurses in jeopardy, especially when they are sick or injured.

All of this is possible because the nurses at Lake Shore are considered “employees at will,” which means they can be fired without cause; policies don’t have to be followed; nepotism goes unchecked. Without a contract, this makes many afraid to voice negative opinions about the care patients receive or the conditions under which they work.

For example: RNs cannot bring up concerns about heavy patient caseloads, which leaves nurses overwhelmed and at risk for medical errors. This can jeopardize the patient as well as the nurse’s license.

In the hopes of fighting for improved treatment and benefits, my mother and others have been attempting to organize a union with SEIU at TLC since 2006.

The first union drive attempted almost four years ago was initiated because of such poor treatment of nurses by management. However, even though 70 percent of the RNs signed cards that year, the vote was stopped when the Berger Commission proposed closing the hospital.

Trying to thwart the second union drive this year, many promises and improvements have resulted as the management attempts to assuage angry RNs: new equipment that had been in short supply or poor condition was bought, benefits that were canceled were once again granted, wages that had been frozen are now being promised to be reinstated/improved.

Many nurses fear that without a union, such promises will not be maintained or fulfilled.

In addition, administration officials, anti-union employees and hired union busters attempt to mentally and physically thwart union organizers like my mother by insulting, humiliating and playing mind games to place them under added stress.

RNs at TLC voted again on Nov. 5. There were 11 challenged votes and 15 labor charges against the hospital for improprieties during the campaign, with several RNs scheduled to testify on Dec. 14 and 15. But the hospital did not want these nurses heard at a public hearing.

A re-vote will take place Jan. 7.

“Quality healthcare where caring comes first,” is the TLC Health Network mission statement.

Caring for others has always come first for my mother and most RNs I’ve met at Lake Shore. But “quality healthcare” can only exist when nurses are allowed to work in a caring environment.

Originally published Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009