St. Vincent's Strike

Kennedy stands with nurses
Senator raps Tenet Corp. over stance

Saturday, May 6, 2000
By Lisa Eckelbecker
Telegram & Gazette Staff 

WORCESTER, Mass.—Sen. Edward M. Kennedy yesterday chastised Tenet Healthcare Corp. over its handling of the local nurses strike and called on the California company to work out an equitable contract with the people who form the backbone of the nation's health care system.

"They're part of our heart, part of our community, part of our soul, and we insist that they be treated fairly -- no required, forced overtime," Mr. Kennedy said during a mid-day rally in front of Tenet's downtown hospital complex, the Worcester Medical Center.

About 250 people attended the event at the corner of Worcester Center Boulevard and Foster Street, including delegates from the Massachusetts Teachers Association, who were meeting inside the Worcester Centrum Centre. Late yesterday afternoon, hundreds of teachers left the Centrum to join nurses on the picket line outside the medical center.

Mr. Kennedy, a longtime advocate of health care legislation, criticized Tenet's stance at a time of national economic prosperity.

"What's intolerable, what's unacceptable, what's unworthy of any American company is not to treat those nurses with the dignity and respect that they deserve," Mr. Kennedy said.

The nurses have been loyal to their patients, the hospital and the community, Mr. Kennedy said. Tenet should bear in mind that when it sits down to negotiate, it deals with people the community admires and respects, he said.

"I believe in your cause," Mr. Kennedy told the nurses. "Your cause is right. I will stand with you every step of the way."

The nurses' rally came one day after talks between Tenet and the nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, broke down again over the issue of mandatory overtime. The hospital wants the right to require nurses to work up to eight hours of overtime per shift. Nurses say that endangers patient care.

On Thursday, both sides met for nine hours but reached no agreement. No further talks are scheduled.

Sandy A. Ellis, a nurse and member of the negotiating team, said the striking nurses remain committed to the strike, which is ending its fifth week.

"Our nursing body has never been so solid. We have not wavered," she said.

Other nurses said Mr. Kennedy's support was welcome validation of their position.

"It's always nice to know you made the right choice and you have people out here supporting you," said Patricia A. Gentile, a post-anesthesia nurse.

The strike began March 31 when most of the 535 full-time and 80 per diem registered nurses employed at St. Vincent's Hospital on Vernon Hill walked off their jobs. The hospital later relocated downtown to the Worcester Medical Center.

About 125 hospital nurses have crossed the picket line since the strike began. Another 125 nurses supplied by U.S. Nursing Corp. of Denver are helping care for patients.

Yesterday, patients and nurses in the new medical center looked out of windows at the rally.

Robert E. Maher Jr., chief executive of the medical center, said that Tenet would have sent someone from the West Coast to negotiate with nurses if company officials had believed it would change the outcome of the talks.

But the nurses have balked at an overtime demand that other Massachusetts nurses have accepted and they refuse to submit the stalemate to binding arbitration, a process often used in settling fire and police contracts, Mr. Maher said.

"It seems the real reason they don't want to go to binding arbitration is because they know, as we know, that the standard for hospital care in the commonwealth is the hospital has the right to require overtime," Mr. Maher said. "We believe that they're afraid that if they submit it to binding arbitration, they would lose. So our position hasn't really changed."

The nurses say they declined arbitration because they were unwilling to place the matter of mandatory overtime in a third party's hands.

Mayor Raymond V. Mariano, who spoke before Mr. Kennedy, also urged Tenet, particularly Chief Executive Jeffrey C. Barbakow, to get involved in negotiations with the striking nurses.

"I've got a message for Jeffrey Barbakow and the folks at Tenet," Mr. Mariano said. "You're not just fighting our nurses, you're fighting our whole community, and we're not going to lose." 

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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