VNA of Boston RNs To Leaflet Outside Hynes Convention Center Tomorrow (12-4-99) As Their Managers Host Private Christmas Party - After Demanding Nurses Slash Their Benefits and Threatening to Cut Services to Medicaid Patients

Nurses Set to Walk off Job on Dec. 10th

Registered nurses at the Visiting Nurses Association of Boston are outraged after learning today that VNAB management is hosting a private holiday party at the Hynes Convention Center on Saturday, Dec. 4, 1999 from 3 – 7 p.m. The nurses plan to leaflet outside the convention center during the party to raise public awareness of what they perceive to be the agency’s callous disregard for its employees and the citizens of Boston served by the agency.

The nurses, who are locked in a contentious contract dispute with the agency, are angered that the agency would spend money on such an event at the same time that they are asking the nurses to freeze their salary and cut their benefits by 5%, while increasing their workload by 40% over the last two years. The agency has also threatened to cut off services to Medicaid patients unless they receive more money for their care. The nurses have already issued a notice of their intention to strike on Dec. 10, 1999, if there is no change in the agency’s positions. The parties are scheduled to negotiate again on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999.

“Shame on this agency for holding a party when they are threatening the very livelihood of their employees and the very safety of their most vulnerable patients,” said Jo-Ann Fergus, vice chair of the nurses bargaining unit at VNAB. “For the nurses, our management’s actions in this instance, provide ample evidence of why nurses are so outraged by their stance in this dispute, and demonstrate why we are prepared to go out on strike before submitting to their demands.”

The 188 nurses of the VNA of Boston, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), have been negotiating their new contract since August of 1999. On Nov. 29, 1999, the nurses issued a required 10-day notice of their intention to strike. The existing contract expired on November 30th. The parties have met four times since that vote, with the last two negotiating sessions before a federal mediator. The VNAB nurses provide comprehensive home nursing care to some the city’s most vulnerable citizens, including service to some of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.”