[Antiracism] [Workers' Rights] Picket with Mercy Hospital Nurses 4/15

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

From: Diane Scherrer HYPERLINK
"mailto:dscherrer at mnarn.org"dscherrer at mnarn.org

Mercy Nurses Picket April 15

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE of Tuesday April 15 1-4:30pm for an informational
picket in support of Mercy nurses in Springfield. Details to come.

Other Nurses’ news below …

###

Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice RNs Call in Mediator

NORTHAMPTON -- The Registered Nurses who work for the Cooley Dickinson VNA
and Hospice have called for a Federal mediator to join their contract
negotiations. The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses
Association, have been in negotiations since August of 2007 and have now
called for the mediator to move the talks forward. 

“We provide services that range from highly skilled and technical nursing
care, to assisting patients with the essential activities of daily living.
We love the work we do, the patients and families we serve, and feel a sense
of great accomplishment about the quality of care we deliver,” said Sarah
Williams, RN who is Chairperson of the bargaining unit at the VNA and
Hospice. But, according to Williams there is a serious problem, “Many of us
don’t know how much longer we will be able to continue doing this work we
love. We are incredibly underpaid compared to nurses who work in the
hospital, and Management is seeking to have more control over our schedules,
forcing us into additional coverage beyond our regular shifts. We have
children, families, and bills and if we can make 30 percent more in the
hospital setting, and have defined hours of work, we owe it to our families
to give it serious consideration.” 

While treating patients in their homes, the visiting nurses see patients of
all ages and from all backgrounds. They are responsible not only for
treatments and dressing changes but also for constant overview and
assessment of the patient. The nurses are also teaching the patients and
their families about self care and healthy life styles. The Hospice nurses
provide emotional support and end-of-life care, including pain management,
to terminally ill patients and their families. 

While these nurses are required to have equal training and the same license
as RNs who work in a hospital setting such as Cooley Dickinson Hospital,
there is one area where they are not equal, pay and benefits. At the present
time a VNA nurse with equal experience makes 30 percent less than her
hospital counterpart.

The nurses who care for patients in Hampshire, Hampton, and Franklin
counties have seen many changes in recent years. “I’ve been with the agency
for ten years,” said Williams. “Over those years I have seen the acuity, or
seriousness, of the cases greatly increase. With managed care and health
care reform we continue to see pressure to move patients out of the hospital
sooner. While many of our patients ten years ago would have stayed in the
hospital, we are now out there providing hospital-level care and treatments
in the home. It seems what hasn’t changed is our pay and benefits. It is our
hope that the mediator may help move the process along so we can reach an
equitable solution and stay with the agency and our patients.”

# # # 

Nurses file labor complaint during contract talks 

GREENFIELD -- In the midst of heated negotiations, the Baystate Franklin
Medical Center registered nurses have filed an unfair labor practice charge
after they felt their freedom of speech was violated by the hospital. 

The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association,
filed the charge on March 21 with the National Labor Relations Board against
the hospital for ''their unlawful attempt to silence freedom of speech for
nurses and their union.'' 

According to a statement from the MNA, Baystate's director of human
resources Jay Brady removed information posted on MNA bulletin boards in the
hospital. The posters were put up in response to the heated negotiations
that the MNA bargaining unit in the hospital has been involved with the
Greenfield hospital's parent corporation, Baystate Health, since last
November. 

Amy Swisher, the hospital's director of public and community relations, said
copies of the one posting were removed from a bulletin board at the
hospital, ''as we believe the information is unlawful.'' 

The MNA attached a copy of their poster, which is a list of nine slogans,
including ''Talk about negotiations during break'' and ''Always know your
contract.'' 

The local hospital is the only Baystate hospital that has a union for its
nurses. Baystate Health also operates Baystate Medical Center in
Springfield, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware and Baystate Children's
Hospital in Springfield. 

Swisher said the hospital has been engaged in extensive negotiations with
the MNA and is prepared to settle this contract for the nurses. But, she
said, the MNA ''has repeatedly stalled the negotiating process by canceling
meetings and refusing to schedule any meetings as they did all last month,
creating unnecessary delays that seriously harm efforts to finalize the
contract.'' 

The MNA Monday cited some sticking points in the talks. 

According to the MNA, Baystate has put a proposal on the table that says
''the Association/unit representatives will not post, permit the posting of,
or condone the posting of material which is inflammatory or derogatory to
the hospital, its board, administration or any of its supervisors, managers
or employees.'' 

''We have told management since we first saw this proposal that we will
never give them the right to censor the material we post on our bulletin
boards,'' said Ann Lewin, registered nurse and bargaining unit chairwoman.
''We believe we, as all Americans, have the constitutional right to post our
union material on our boards. This is clearly a matter of freedom of speech
and we will not give in on this issue.'' 

Charles Rasmussen, MNA associate director of communications, said the
posters at issue were put up around the hospital about two weeks ago and
within days, they were being taken down. 

One of the lines of the poster read ''Call in sick or being on call is still
our option.'' 

The MNA said the Baystate management has translated the comment to mean the
nurses are threatening a sick-out. 

According to Mary Colleen MacDougal, registered nurse and negotiating
committee member, management's claim is unfounded and false -- and that the
line refers to two proposals Baystate has put on the table during
negotiations. According to the MNA statement, one would allow Baystate to
discipline or terminate a nurse who is sick too often, even if it is
documented and legitimate. The other ''demand on the table'' would give
Baystate the ''absolute unilateral right'' to cancel scheduled shifts and to
mandate overtime. 

Rasmussen said the new language proposed in the contract would make it
easier to discipline the nurses who take too many sick days. He said the
nurses feel that the language that exists now reflects that there are
extenuating circumstances why people have to take days and there is language
that says nurses aren't required to accept mandatory overtime.

An employee at the National Labor Relations Board in Boston said the board
will first investigate the claim to determine if there is any merit. 

# # # 

Diane Scherrer, RN 

Western MA Community Organizer

Division of Legislation

Massachusetts Nurses Association 

CELL: 781-363-3817

"Without good and careful nursing many must suffer greatly, and probably
perish, that might have been restored to health and comfort, and become
useful to themselves, their families, and the public, for many years after."
~Benjamin Franklin (1751)

 

TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to wmjwj at wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Unsub
Worker's Rights”.

Western Mass Jobs with Justice
640 Page Blvd #101
Springfield MA 01104
(413) 827-0301 


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG. 
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.1/1352 - Release Date: 3/31/2008
10:13 AM
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/antiracism/attachments/20080331/7945749d/attachment.htm>