As you probably know now, SBMC has just issued a new no-smoking policy which, in a major departure from the past years, completely forbids smoking anywhere on their property, including the parking lot, the lawns, everything. And they did this without negotiating with the Union at all. So there you have it: why bother negotiating with the Union; just impose the policy.

While most of you are probably opposed to smoking, the fact is that many of our members do smoke. It is not easy to stop, and for them, going a 12-hour shift without smoking even once is difficult. But the point here is not whether you approve of smoking or not, but that the Hospital imposed this total ban, the enormous departure from a longstanding practice, this change in our working conditions, unilaterally.

We cannot sit idly by and allow them to impose one policy after another. First it was to charge us for a damaged Vocera equipment or to discipline us if we don't use it the way they want (this is pending in arbitration), and now it is the unilateral change in the smoking policy to completely ban it, as if we don't even exist here. So, to protect our rights as employees, as union members, and as a union, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board to contest this unilateral change in the terms and conditions of our employment.