Linda Merfeld

TH: How did it happen that you got into this position after certification occurred?
LM: You know, I don't know. It's kind of strange because I never thought I'd be here. When we were going to form the union, I thought we'd do that, get a contract and go on about our business. I never dreamt.

Linda Merfeld Age: 40. Occupation: Registered nurse at The Finley Hospital since 1992. President of Finley Chapter of Service Employees International Union Local 199. Family: Wife of Jay. Mother of Nick and Rachel. Daughter of Dick and Dorothy Heber, of Dubuque. Granddaughter of Clara Heri, of Dubuque. Sister of Suzanne Heber and Dan Heber, of Dubuque; and Joan Schurbon, Maquoketa. Hometown: Dubuque. Education: Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Clarke College, 1988. Wahlert High School Class of 1984. Professional associations: Involvement in workers' rights issues. Hobbies: Drag racing, gardening and running.

TH: How did your election come about? Were you absent at a particular meeting and they voted you in?
LM: Really (laughs). No, I guess I had taken up a leadership role during the campaign to vote the union in and to get our first contract. I actually wasn't planning on being president and kind of got talked into it.

TH: How long is your term? Or is that set by your bylaws?
LM: I would imagine that once we get another contract, we'll revote on officers. I haven't had too many people knocking on the door to take my place. I'm hoping that they're just waiting for the next contract.

TH: In terms of the campaign, then this ongoing period of negotiations and a couple of strikes, how do you balance all that stress with the job you were actually trained for?
LM: Well, I work part-time at Finley. I won't say "only" part-time. Because actually, I work part-time, but in the recovery room, we also have to take "call." Each of us averages about 1,300 hours of "call" in addition to our worked hours. So if you add that with what I'm actually working, I'm indebted to the hospital more than a full-time position. Luckily, my family has been very supportive to help balance all of this, but it's difficult.

TH: You are scheduled part-time at the hospital, but then if they're busy with surgeries or that sort of thing, then they call you up and say, "We need more staffing"?
LM: Actually, in the recovery room, when you take call, your call day, you may be there for six, eight, 10, 14 hours -however long you're needed. If during the night, if cases happen, then you get called back in. That's what call is. You're responsible that if there is a surgical case, it needs to be recovered. You're there.

TH: So all told, you end up the equivalent of full-time in terms of actual hours worked.
LM: Oh, yeah.

TH: Do you find that it's difficult to keep your work schedule and then have your schedule here at the local union office?
LM: I think it's been difficult. There are so many of us, though, who are doing all that, who have taken on this cause, not just myself. It's something I believe in. I believe in workers' rights, now more than I ever have. As a matter of fact, I am sure there were many years I never even thought about workers' rights. I believe that you have to stand by your convictions, so it's something that not only myself but the other officers and the other bargaining team members have taken on.

TH: You had mentioned earlier that a byproduct of this position is the publicity. Your picture is in the paper. You're interviewed on TV. That, in effect, draws in others - your family, for example. How is this playing out at home?
LM: During the strike it worked out actually good because at least my husband could see me. He just had to open the paper, turn on the TV. My husband's fine with it. I guess we've eased into it. I don't particularly like it. I never, I don't know that I would have wanted it if somebody would have said, "These are the things you're going to be doing." I probably would have said, "OK, let's find somebody else." I mean, there's very few people who actually like public speaking and all those things, and I'm one of them.

TH: As we were getting set up here this afternoon, you told me that you had second thoughts about even sitting down for this type of interview.
LM: It's difficult to, as a nurse, as a caregiver - you know, you get your education and you do your job and then to get the outside. There's so many people on the outside trying to think they know what you do and how you should do it. So I think that's been very difficult. Having everybody weigh their opinion in.

TH: What do you know now that you didn't know then when you came into this particular role?
LM: I think it's been about three years since the nurses have started their organizing campaign. I think in those three years, I have gained a much deeper respect for nurses in general. Working in what's considered a critical care area, I do short-term nursing care for people coming out of surgery. It's been a few years since I started in a very small hospital (DeWitt Community) where we did everything. I really didn't have an idea of what each nurse did. So I have gained so much more respect for every nurse because we all do an important job, we all just do different jobs and have different skill levels.

TH: After you were elected to your leadership role, did the union's national office give you some training, or is there a crash course for new presidents of a local. Or were you pretty much trial by fire?
LM: There's been quite a few of us who have done worksite leader training, where you are taught how, if somebody needs a union steward or worksite leader, what to do and those types of processes.

TH: Then I imagine you keep in pretty close communication with - what would be the state or the national...? You have a liaison higher up the food chain?
LM: We're associated with the local, our main office is in Coralville. But SEIU International is also close at hand, too, if there's issues or concerns or whatever. We have somebody from International working with us right now. It depends on what you need at the time.

TH: So I would imagine you're probably getting a lot of attention right now, since you've got the strike issue going.
LM: The woman who is in charge of the whole health care division across the country is actually going to be here on Thursday evening (Aug. 17). She's very interested in what's happening here and in the state.

TH: More than 21/2 years ago, in December '03, was the certification vote. At that time, it passed - I want to say 60-40 (percent) or so.
LM: 169 to 115, something like that.

TH: In the three years subsequent to that, I'm sure you've had either members or non-members who left the employ of Finley. You've had others who've come in and so on.
LM: Right. And actually, we've only had non-members since last June. You don't join until you actually get a contract.

TH: OK, so you join after you get the contract.
LM: Correct.

TH: So, what is your membership number?
LM: You know I can't give you that.

TH: You can't?
LM: No.

TH: All right, why not?
LM: That was something we wanted. We requested in our first contract to have union dues withdrawn out of our paychecks, because it would be very, very easy to do it that way.

TH: And relatively painless.
LM: Right. The hospital absolutely refused. So had they done that, they'd know the membership numbers, you'd know the membership numbers, everybody would know the membership numbers. Since they chose not to, those numbers are numbers that we're keeping.

TH: We're not going to dwell on all the specifics, but as an outsider, I was surprised that the first contract was a one-year package. It seemed like a lot of effort for one year, and here we are again in another contract. Was that one-year pretty much standard for the first time out of the box or was that something that ...
LM: We would have preferred to have a longer contract than one year, just because after you spend well, it was June, so it was almost 18 months after our vote. That's a long time and a lot of effort to only have a year. My personal feelings are that a year was offered to us so that in another year, they could attempt to get rid of us.

TH: How would you describe the atmosphere, the working situation, among the employees in the hospital right now? And, again, we're visiting in mid-August and we're a few days before the second strike is scheduled.
LM: I think the working atmosphere right now, since the first strike, is not very good. It's coming from both sides. I mean, there's people who didn't go out on strike because they're not nurses, who are very angry at nurses who went out on strike; some who are very angry at people who didn't go out on strike. It's just caused a whole lot of turmoil. It's very sad.

TH: Why only three-day strikes? That's atypical from what we see in a labor dispute. Usually, if you go out on strike, then you stay out until things get resolved. Why a three-day strike?
LM: I was asked that at the UAW (United Auto Workers) meeting today. When John Deere went out on strike, they could essentially shut the plant down and things just ceased to be produced. But in health care, you can't stop. Especially with our union being new and striking is essentially unheard of for nurses, at least in this area. It's very difficult, as a nurse, to put your hands around even going out on strike, nevertheless going out for an unknown period of time. So that's why we decided to just file for the three day.

TH: So it was just a way to make it a little more palatable to people who, for personal or professional reasons, might be skittish about this idea?
LM: Right.

TH: One of the things that we've heard over a period of time - from the management side and from your organization - is that the first priority is patient care. That we aren't going to let this labor issue interfere with how the patients are cared for. How has that played out?
LM: I don't see that it's trickling down to the patients as of yet. And I hope that continues. But I know that it's very difficult sometimes. It has affected every department. It has affected every employee. This isn't a union nurse versus non-union nurse effort. This is everybody involved to housekeeping and maintenance and admitting. It's drawn a lot of very deep lines among a lot of employees.

TH: Have you heard from members who admit they feel sort of ... "distracted" might be the right word. Do they find that it's difficult to not have that in some way affect how they interact with patients?
LM: I don't think it's affecting how they interact with patients. I think it may be interfering how they interact with co-workers. To my knowledge, I don't know that there's been anything near patients and I'm hoping that there's not. But you know, I work in a department that everybody's union and everybody went out on strike. Just the other day, I had a patient who asked me if I was going out on strike. I said our strike is scheduled to start next Wednesday. And he said, "Well, did you go out on strike?"

TH: Must not be a subscriber of the TH, is all I can say.
LM: Actually, he lives further away. That's funny, because you're not the only person who's said that. Yeah, he hasn't seen me. I said, "Yes, I did." And he said, "Well, good for you." If I were not a union member and have somebody say, "Well, shame on you," I might think differently. So, I don't know.

TH: What have you heard from the John Deere retirees and others who are covered by the health care package that sends them to Finley?
LM: Well, it's funny, because I was up talking to them this afternoon. We have very many, very loyal supporters. It's difficult, because like so many people, their insurance dictates where they go. My parents are some of those UAW people who would rather go somewhere else at this point with the way that they're treating the nurses. But they're not allowed to.

TH: I don't want to put words in your mouth, but you wouldn't think ill of someone because their insurance dictates that they have to go to Finley and end up going to Finley. Their other option is they have to pay it out of pocket.
LM: Correct. You know, our feeling is that if people need medical care or they need emergency care, that they need to get the care they need because we are about patients. We're just asking if people have elective things or things that can be rescheduled during a strike, we're asking them to change those. (Note: Several days after the interview, local labor leaders encouraged patients to not use Finley until resolution of the contract impasse.)

TH: We talked earlier about the publicity and getting your picture taken and some of that. But in a lot of ways, whether it's union leader or newspaper editor or a politician, people tend to form an idea of who somebody is or what somebody is about just by what they read in the paper or how they're smiling in their picture or whatever it might be. What's your sense of what the various segments of the community see Linda Merfeld being about?
LM: I think it's very similar to your job or to a politician. I think people either love you or hate you. There's probably nothing in between. I don't consider myself a union leader. Somebody from the UAW referred to me as a labor leader this spring and I thought, who in the heck is he talking about? I mean, I see myself as a nurse who's trying to be treated fairly. So that term "union leader" is odd.

TH: Sort of foreign to you.
LM: Yeah. I mean, I thought we'd form a union, get a contract and continue to work, but be working under a contract.

TH: You have some administrative things to do or whatever.
LM: Right. But never dreamt of any of this and not...

TH: I'm thinking of an old movie title - what was it? - "The Accidental Tourist"? Are you the "Accidental Labor Leader"?
LM: Maybe.

TH: What would you like people to know about you that doesn't come through in the TV interviews or the newspaper stories or that sort of thing? What else do you think would be helpful for people to know about you?
LM: If I believe in something, I fight firmly for it. What you see is what you get. I'm usually a jeans-and-a-T -shirt type of person, but that's who I am. I don't try to be something I'm not. In three years, I've worked with a lot of people who have worn very expensive clothing and driven very expensive vehicles and they're very ignorant people, even though they want to come off as something hugely professional, higher in society. To me, that doesn't mean anything. I do think that everybody has to be very careful, myself included, on what your judgment is on first impressions that you make of people because whether you see in that wonderful business suit or in a pair of jeans and a biker T-shirt, you have to be careful to see who that person truly is inside. We take care of so many people in the hospital and we take care of people who are in gowns, so everybody has that stripped away. I don't look to see what street people live on or where they work or insurance they have. None of that matters to a nurs e. That's one of my firm beliefs, is that you just need to be careful with how you judge people.

TH: How has this affected you, or taken a toll on you personally? How much sleep do you get at night?
LM: Not much.

TH: How has this played out for you? Has it really changed your routine in how you spend your day?
LM: Well, my garden has a lot more weeds in it. Actually, I think the vast majority of it is weeds. But I do have some vegetables that I'm picking. My house isn't very clean these days. My kids don't do all that great of a job. But they have to do some things. I do feel very strongly in what we're doing, so I've decided to make those sacrifices of plenty of weeds and a fair amount of dust because I do think it's a long-term benefit. It's not an immediate change in health care, but I think that something has to be done or it's going to continue to spiral downward. I do try to take some days away from it, though.

TH: Were you able to take any vacation this summer?
LM: Yep. We take a family vacation every summer. Family, I guess that's one reason why I work part-time, because family is very important to me. I believe my biggest job is to raise kids that have some sort of responsibility to their community and to themselves and the people they care about. Family vacations - to me, I believe that you need to get away and do fun stuff and do different things than the normal routine at home.

TH: Where was the vacation this year?
LM: We went to Denver for three days and then we drove to the mountains and to Winter Park for a couple of days and then went down to Colorado Springs. We drag race as our pasttime, so we actually went out there for a national event because my daughter hadn't been to any national events. My son has gone to a couple with us out by Chicago.

TH: You are the first person I have interviewed for one of these Newsmakers that has listed drag racing as an area of interest. Where did this interest come from?
LM: Well, you know, all Merfelds are born with wrenches in their hand, including, I'll say, both my kids. My husband's been a car nut his whole life. Many of his cousins stock car race. But we drag race out at Earlville. You know anything about drag racing?

TH: Very little, except that they go really fast.
LM: And you don't turn. If you turn, you're in trouble.

TH: The little parachute at the end.
LM: You only need your chute if you're fast, really, really fast.

TH: You ever get behind the wheel?
LM: I have.

TH: How did that go?
LM: With our other car, I did drive a few times. We set up this car, we have a '70 Chevelle that we race. It'll be two years ago that we built this one. This goes a little bit faster than I'd like.

TH: The one you're racing now is the '70 Chevelle or the previous?
LM: And the one we raced was a '70 Chevelle. We have a '70 Chevelle that my husband's had since high school, that we've restored and we've raced a few times. Now we have one that we just ... we've restored a few cars together. We used to have a '37 Chevy Coupe, but we sold that and bought another '70 Chevelle and made it into a drag car.

TH: I forgot to ask you. What line of work is your husband (Jay) in?
LM: He works in maintenance.

TH: Where?
LM: He works down at Quebecor.

TH: Anyway, it's been a couple of years since you raced?
LM: Yeah. When we built this car, my husband built his own motor and didn't realize it was going quite as fast as it was and put it up on the back bumper a ways down the track. It's got a lot of power. But it's a great sport. It's a great family activity. Great group of people out there at Earlville.

TH: Interesting. You also mentioned gardening, which I know nothing about, and running, which I know a little bit about. Let's talk about gardening. Is that just a backyard type of thing?
LM: Yeah. Just to have your own vegetables to eat and maybe can a few things.

TH: What about the running?
LM: Not as often as I should these days. I think once this next strike is over, then I'll be back into it.

TH: Do you enter any competitions?
LM: No. Just for fitness. Keeping off that lowering metabolism and all that stuff.

TH: Well, you're over 40 now; you've got to get ready for that. As we wrap up this afternoon, we're publishing this interview Labor Day weekend of '06. If you could get out the crystal ball, what do you foresee the situation will be with the union and hospital a year from now - in Labor Day of '07?
LM: What I'd like to see is that we'd have a contract both sides could live with; that nurses are respected as much as we should be; and that all of these nurses, myself and all my friends who are spending all this energy to get a decent contract, that we would be working and spending that energy in promoting Finley as the best place to work; finding more efficient ways for us to work by not cutting nurses but by using our knowledge and our resources to make things the best for the nurses and for the patients.

TH: And another vacation, maybe?
LM: Maybe two.