Chair – Paige Yates RN
Paige Yates RN, has been a member of OPEIU Local 22 in Little Rock, Arkansas for more than 12 years. Yates has been employed at CHI St. Vincent Health Systems as a registered nurse for 19 years. She was on the first negotiations committee for Local 22 in 2000. Since that time she has been an active member and held various positions in the union leadership. In 2006, Yates was elected to be President Local 22, a seat she has held for the last 10 years.
In August 2011, she was elected to become the Vice Chair of the newly formed OPEIU Nurses Council (ONC). In May 2012, she was elected to serve as the ONC Chair and was reelected in July 2014.
Yates has worked in Labor and Delivery for over 16 years. Her first two years as a nurse were on a medical/surgical floor. Yates feels that nurse union leaders should continue working at the bedside. In addition to being a resource for the union issues, it is imperative that union leaders know what barriers and roadblocks, their brother and sisters are facing everyday at the bedside, while delivering quality patient care.
Vice Chair – Julie Murray RN
Julie Murray came up through the ranks as she pursued her dream to become a registered nurse. Her first position as a nursing assistant confirmed, in her mind, that this was the career path she was meant to follow. The next fourteen years were spent as a surgical tech, an EMT Specialist and finally reaching her goal as a registered nurse. The OR is where she has been since with her specialty being orthopedic surgery. She has been with the same hospital for thirty six years.
Along the way she came to understand just how much nurses need Union representation. When her local could not reach a TA during their 2005 negotiations they took their issues to the picket line. The nurses weren’t after more money, they wanted the formation of a staffing council comprised of
bargaining unit nurses and management and they wanted nurse patient ratios included in the contract.
After the hospital launched its smear campaign in the media calling the nurses greedy, the nurses fought back and told their community what they wanted. The strike was eventually settled and now those staffing ratios are a part of the contract. This was the moment the Murray decided she wanted to become involved in Union activities so she could also help her coworkers. She took Union training classes at the National Labor College and was voted into a Trustee position with the Executive Board for Local 459. She took a position as a steward and eventually was appointed Chief Steward.
When the Nurses Council was just starting to form during the National Convention in Washington DC, she was actively involved in the planning stages as she recognized the need for OPEIU Nurses to have a cohesive council to address the many professional issues facing nurses around the country. She is a member of the Nurses Honor Guard that recognizes and honors nurses at the time of their death. During the last ONC meeting she was elected to the position of Vice Chair where she hopes to be in a position to help grow the ONC and assist all OPEIU nurses around the country.
Secretary-Treasurer – Dina Carlisle RN
Dina Carlisle has been a member of RN Staff Council, Local 40 for 13 years. She has served Local 40 as a Steward and on the negotiating committee and as a Trustee on the Executive Board since 2005.
Carlisle currently is serving her second term as Secretary-Treasurer of the OPEIU Nurses Council (ONC). Licensed as a Registered Nurse in 1996, with experience in oncology and labor and delivery, she currently is a critical care nurse at McLaren Macomb, Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
Carlisle was a recipient of the Nightingale Nominee Nursing Award in 2003. She is the mother of two daughters, Kristen and Danielle, and proud grandmother of Elliana and Christiano.