Edith Asidao
Resurrection Medical Center
Chicago
Labor Board Ignores Nurse's Worksite Concerns
Edith Asidao was born in the Philippines and came to America 30 years ago, settling in Chicago. Coming from a family of nurses it was a natural career path for her. She has been an RN for 30 years and has worked at Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center for 13 years as a psychiatric and medical/surgical nurse.
“Nurses are over-worked and exhausted,” she says. “I’m often responsible for 10 to 12 patients on the shift and am constantly rushing around. This happens when your workload exceeds what you are humanly capable of.”
This is why Edith chose to join in the union organizing efforts of her co-workers. But she found that management had a different idea.
After a rally supporting Resurrection Health Care workers was held near the medical center, Asidao felt management’s wrath firsthand.
“They questioned me about it in front of my colleagues,” she says. “They asked me if I attended, and if I knew the names of other people who attended. It was clearly meant to intimidate me and, more so, my colleagues. People don’t realize how chilling it can be to have your boss confronting you that way.”
Asidao filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, but, as usual, the slow response and slap on the wrist did little.
“People may or may not notice those postings, but they definitely remember our manager questioning me like that. It just creates so much fear.”
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