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St. Vincent's Strike
Letters of Support From Across the Nation...
The Board of Directors of District 5 and many of the nurses in District
5 represented by the Board of Directors appreciate your convictions
and the courage to take a stand for safe patient care. Please accept
our support and our wishes for a successful and speedy resolution
to the strike. Sincerely, BOD District 5, Inc.
Dear Nurses at St. Vincent's Hospital,
On behalf on the Ohio Nurses Association Economic and General Welfare
Council I would like to extend our support to you during the strike
at St. Vincent's Hospital. The nurses in Ohio are proud of
your efforts to maintain safe staffing and patient care. We also
believe that what you are doing to protect your rights will also
protect the rights of nurses everywhere. I encourage each
nurse in the union to maintain solidarity and to continue to your
work toward improving your working conditions and the practice of
nursing. Remain united for patient care and the nursing profession.
You will prevail! Sincerely, ONA Economic and General
Welfare Council
Greetings and support from The Younstown General
Duty Nurses Association/Ohio Nurses Assoc. in Youngstown, Ohio
We wish you unity and strength and we understand your issues.
We are living them here and draw strength from your courage to fight
for what is right. Good luck to all of you. Stay strong. You
are getting great press here in Ohio and you are an inspiration
to us as we get ready for negotiation over the same issues.
Best Wishes from YGDNA, District#3,ONA
- I am a Bulgarian Nurse, working in Abu Dhabi
- across the globe from you. But even that far we have your problems
as well. Isn't it about time to let people know that we are highly
professional and we must be regarded as such. We are not doing
some kind of a menial job which doesn't require our attention.
Don't give up. RN from Abu Dhabi
- I wish to support the strike of the nurses for
the position taken against the mandatory overtime by staff because
of management's refusal to improve the level of staffing so that
quality care can be given to the patients. At present, I
am also engaged in industrial action with regards to the inadequate
staffing at my hospital in Trinidad. One nurse is forced
for take care of any number of patients from 25 - 60 on each shift.
Most times nurses are force to work double and triple shifts because
of this gross staff shortage. This is compromising patient
care as well as placing the nurse's license at risk, because if
any errors take place the nurse is held responsible. The
government is also threatening nurses with legal action because
of some scabs who have decided that they will not support the
action although they have been most vocal for a long time about
the situation. We do not intend to give up unless something
is done about the situation. So I am in support of your
action. RN in Trinidad
- I am sending my support as a nurse and member
of UNISON the U.K's largest union. I will try to raise support
in my branch and the wider Labour movement. Please send information
on the background to the dispute. In Solidarity, RN
from UK
- Dear Tenet Sirs,
- I work as a Registered Nurse in Queensland,
Australia. Our professional association will not cover us,
were we to work longer than 12 hours straight, because of the
increased risk of accident, error, and professional liability
for incompetent action. Mandating compulsory overtime, according
to professional standards here, is tending to incompetence, and
imperiling adequate and safe systems of care for our clients.
Please settle with your Nurses. The safe care of your clients
will be at risk unless you do.
- It has to stop, and we nurses have to stand
together on this, not just in relation to St. Vincent, or Massachusetts,
the USA, but across the world. Let's do it. Courage
in the struggle. Yours sincerely, RN from Australia
- I was part of the 1984 strike of 6,700 RN's
in Minneapolis/St. Paul, so I have a sense of what you all are
going through. It was the worse 6 weeks of my life.
We stood tall, banded together and eventually won. I now
live in New Mexico, but I am taking your news release to work
to let everyone know what is happening in other parts of the country.
Hang in there, our patients need and deserve to receive good care-working
longer hours or unrealistic assignments won't allow it. From
BSN. RN. CCRN in New Mexico
- Geographically it's a long way from the dusty
grain fields of western Saskatchewan that are my home to your
picket lines in Massachusetts, but believe me when I say I stand
shoulder to shoulder with your members "on the line". When
the nurses of our province went on strike about this time last
year to try improving the conditions faced by the patients and
nurses it really brought home to me the level of dissatisfaction
needed to take job action. Listening to the RN's made it
all too clear that they were trying to protect my interests, probably
more than their own, and that being out of the workplace
was difficult and personally devastating to many. That they
would take these actions spoke volumes about the conditions they
dealt with daily. I'm sure that you face similar challenges
professionally and emotionally. Please know with absolute
certainty that you have my unconditional support in the cause
you are fighting. Many of us are following you on the Internet
and are standing by your side on the "cyber picket line" .
Be strong and "give ‘em hell". RN from Canada
- A big Aloha to the St. Vincent's nurses.
The nurses of Hawaii want you to know we are behind you 100%.
The issue of mandatory overtime for staffing in non-emergent situations
is appalling. Thank you for standing up for all nurses.
Keep the faith. You will win! RNs from Hawaii
- Dear fellow Nurses,
- I have a message as told to me by a friend –
"During a Rosary Pray session the Angels asked the nurses on strike
pray to St Vincent who is a Patron Saint of both Hospitals and
Nurses." - Who better to intercede? - I send support and prayers
to your cause Blessings from, Massachusetts
nurse now in Nevada
- I am a member of the Queensland Nurses Union
here in Australia. I wish you well in your valiant endeavours
to maintain safe working conditions at your workplace. I
note you are having a candlelite vigil tonight, please add one
more from me and many of my collegues here in Australia.
You have a right to safe work practices and a safe work process.
It is your licence that is at risk and you are right to fight
with all the might you can muster. Again I wish you success
in you quest for justice, the dollar is not all powerful.
From RN in the Land Down Under
- I am an RN from Kansas City, Mo. and
am behind you 100%. I think what you are doing is wonderful, empowering
yourselves and demanding respect. It is not too much to ask!!!
Good Luck and I only wish I lived closer so I could help picket.
- My brother emailed me an article regarding the
nurses' strike...I read it, thinking that they were talking about
our nurses, the NYSNA nurses at nyack hospital, who have
been on strike for 113 days! It took a few minutes
to realize that this was a different state and a different hospital...because
the issues are the same. Our issues are staffing/patient
ratios, mandatory overtime, and "merit pay"...there is also the
issue of "paid time off" which would include the reduction of
sick time and utilization of vacation/personal leave time for
illnesses of 4 days or less. I have to tell you that our
membership is approximately 450 nurses and, as of last count,
only about 25 nurses have crossed the picket line. Many
of our nurses are head of households. I have to express
the pride I feel for my colleagues... I believe that we
(in New York and Massachusetts) are joined in our commitment to
quality (and safe) patient care . These are not strikes
with economic issues paramount; they address the need for adequate
nurse/patient ratios, & reasonable working conditions and
hours. Each and every patient who is admitted to the
hospital is entitled to safe, individualized care and this can
only be accomplished with adequate staffing. I will watch
your situation with interest and concern for you all. I
know how difficult this situation is for you and your families....I
can only applaud you for your courage and hope for your continued
resolve.
- I am a nurse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Many years ago our hospital was on strike for the same issue.
I am happy to say we were able to win on the issue of mandatory
overtime! I know how hard it is to walk out of a hospital,
to go on strike. There is strength in numbers! It
is so important to stick together. I pray that you too will be
successful in your strike. Nurses must learn we have the power
and we must use it if we are to provide a quality and safe working
environment. Nurse must have a voice and I am proud of you.
- Keep up the good work - we are all supporting
you and behind you. The nurses of Champaign, IL
- I have been an abused RN for 28 years. All I
can say is I am so proud of you all and grateful to you. I did
not think I would live long enough to see a group of nurses actually
finally stand together and fight for what is right. God bless
all of you. Thank you very much for what you are doing and know
that you have much support all around the country. RN in
New Orleans, LA.
- This is a monumental event. I personally thank
you for representing our profession. Stand proud and firm!
Way to go! Thinking about y'all in North Carolina
- Having participated in a strike at the start
of my nursing career, I know how difficult it is. But mandatory
overtime must be stopped! Hang in there. In
solidarity, RN,CPAN, Danbury, CT
- Just a quick note to say that the same stuff
happens here in Wisconsin too...mandatory overtime. St. Josephs
Hospital here in Milwaukee trys to pull the same shinola.
Not on your life (or your patients) would I put up with that.
Know that you are being thought about and supported here in Wisconsin
and we hope your endeavor pays off. Tell the hospitals to
get lost...
- I'm sorry to read the talks broke down on Friday,
but I'm proud of you for hanging in there! I work
in a Tenet facility and once we got contract language allowing
mandatory overtime, there was a significant increase in the use
of it. What I find really interesting is that occasionally
they will offer double time for people to commit to coming in,
and people come out of the woodwork. That is no more expensive
than a mandated double, and the nurse is certainly less tired.
However, they don't use it very often. I work part time
and yet rarely get called. (Admittedly I'm usually not willing
to come in.) I suspect it is easier for some supervisors,
particularly the relief, to mandate rather than spend the time
on the phone trying to find someone. We all know that nurses
do have lives and 16 hour shifts are not conducive to having much
of a life, much less the safety issues. With the work loads
we are often required to carry, 16 hours is a killer shift - no
pun intended. We then often have to come back the next day.
The median age of nurses is ~46,and I know I don't have the stamina
now (at 46) than I did at 21. Is having your schedule changed
after it's posted still an issue? That's another area I'd
be real wary of. Tenet RN in California
- Hang in there guys! If you let Tenet get
away with the mandatory overtime, they will abuse it. I
work for a Tenet hospital in California and they frequently
use mandatory overtime to staff - even for holes that were obvious
when the schedule was posted 4 weeks earlier. I won't even
volunteer to work a 12 because what often happens is "Gee we can't
find a nurse to replace you so you will have to stay 16.
Magically after 16, they find another nurse. Good luck!
- I'm a Tenet employee who works at a small facility
in Florida where staffing ratios are routinely 10-15:1
in med-surg and tele units and 3-4:1 in icu/ccu. No MO here
yet. We are all tired---exhausted!!!--but hold on for the
patients. I, and many of my co-workers support your action
and feel Tenet as an entity needs to be organized. Hang
in there!
- I support your position fully. I worked at Metrowest
Medical Center in Framingham. Staffing there was terrible.
I complained to my nurse manager that the department was not being
safely staffed and that it was unsafe for patients. No surprise
that Metrowest Medical Center in Framingham is also owned by Tenet.
It was not unusual for nurses on the night shift on the floors
to be caring for as many as 11 to 13 patients! How in the
world can any nurse, no matter how diligent and committed to good
care, be able to care for that many patients? I finally left Metrowest,
although it was a difficult decision to make. I went to another
hospital, where staffing is much better, and thanks to the MNA
we have a good contract. Hang in there! be tough! Demand the respect
and the working conditions that patients and you deserve.
If you don't look out for good patient care, who will?
- When I had Bacterial Endocarditis, my HMO doctor
wanted to send me home with a prescription of Penicillin? ...He
now works in administration! There is no doubt in my mind
he was doing that to save the company money. Lucky for me
there were others around who did not let him. Instead, I
was sent to St. Vincent's and a nurse there saved my life when
she noticed something very wrong with my heart monitor.
If she hadn't noticed, I would be dead!!
- You people became nurses because you wanted
to help others. Well, here's another chance. Fight Tenet,
I want quality care when I go to go to the hospital, I don't want
a pretty place do die!!!
Nurses are the nicest people around, but it's time
to get tough. DON'T LET TENET WIN!! You must get down
and picket and raise some hell, YOU MUST!! I'm not quitting
on you, DON'T YOU QUIT!!! If you haven't done anything yet,
there is plenty you can do and this goes for anybody. You don't
have to be a nurse to help, anybody and everybody can and should!!
Get vehicles to HONK as they ride by!! Get creative in making
Tenet and their Scabs feel like the sewer sucking scum that they
are. No nurse should be crossing your picket line! NOT
ONE!!! I really fear what TENET and other big businesses are
doing to health care.
- Last year the nurses at Providence Alaska
Medical Center found themselves in the same position you are in.
(However) When we went back to work we heard one horrible story
after the other about the care they (scabs) gave. They would
assign orthopeadic nurses to the critical care area!!
- The Women's Institute for Leadership Development
(WILD) supports your struggle and commends your courage and strength
in taking on the hospital on this issue. We are organizing
women to come out to support you on the 18th and April 26th, and
will ask women to contribute to you strike fund.
- I want you to know how much we in Illinois
support your hard work to attain safe working conditions and
quality patient care at St. Vincent's. I know it's tough right
now, standing up for what is right—but hang in there. What you
are doing will advance the cause of quality nursing care for all
patients.
Sincerely,
President, Illinois Nurses Association
- Dear Tenet,
- There's a saying "if you take care of the workers,
the workers will take care of the work". I have been a registered
nurse for over 25 years and I have been following with much sadness
your organization's failure to "take care" of the nurses.
Evidently a commitment to safe healthcare is not one of the elements
of your organization's mission statement. If it was, you
would not be allowing your negotiators to force contract demands
for 16 hours of mandatory overtime. I'm sure your
lifestyles allow you to strike a healthy work/family balance,
allow that for the St.Vincent's nurses. Please consider
having your organization join in the Nurse's Week Celebration
by negotiating a safe contract for the nurses and allowing them
to continue as "Nurses: Keeping the Care in Healthcare".
Avoid making your organization's name "Tenet Healthcare"
an oxymoron!
- Good Morning Fellow Professionals,
I whole heartedly support your actions... Mandatory overtime
is Slavery... Thanks for fighting for our Dignity and Respect...
very courageous.. I applaud your efforts...!
- I know how all of you are feeling right now,
scared nervous and afraid. But you all have to stay together and
stay out and do not go back in. This is what I think that all
CEO'S think of us…They think that we are stupid little women,
men don't get looked at like that. All nurses across the country
must take a stand for our patients, lack of staff, mandatory overtime
and anything else that is unfair and not safe. Hang in there,
do not let your management win, STAY OUT!
- I will be graduating from a School of Nursing
in a few weeks. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have
been like going to work for you every day not knowing what was
in store for you when you got there. I applaud your effort for
trying to deal with a terrible situation for 2 years. I think
it is fantastic that you are standing up for what you know is
right and you are setting a positive example for other nurses
and newly graduated nurses going out into the profession.
Hopefully your actions will pave the way for other health care
companies and hospitals to evaluate there employment practices
and patient safety issues. Keep your heads up and
don't lose sight of what you're fighting for, don't give up, you
are an inspiration for all future nurses.
- I am a manager of a 40 bed medical surgical/telementry
floor. I would never expect, or mandate my nurses to work
a 16 hour day unless they felt they could! I would work
myself, before I would MANDATE any of them to work! There
are many other avenues to explore before there is a need to mandate
overtime!
We need to remember if our family member were in the bed, or ourselves,
what kind of care would we expect form the nurse?
- KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, EVERYONE.
I AM PROUD OF YOU. AS A MOTHER OF ONE OF YOUR NURSES, I
KNOW IT'S BEEN HARD FINANCIALLY, BUT OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.
YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING YOU ARE ASKING FOR. GOOD LUCK From
the Mother of a Striking RN
- Last year the nurses at my hospital found themselves
in the same position you are in. We had a great experience
on the strike line. We supported one another out there.
I would encourage you to hang in there. We had excellent
physician support and the census was really down for the 3 ½
weeks we were on the line. Hang in there and don't give
up on this one. Your hospital will ruin themselves in the media.
Any human being who hears they want you to agree to Mandatory
OT with one hour notice will be on your side. If you agree
to that kind of language, believe me other hospital's will try
to get away with the same. You can do this, just stick together.
- I just wanted you folks to know that California's
RNs are strongly supportive of the strike St. Vincent's Hospital
by our RN sisters and brothers. Please communicate my support
- and many other RNS - to the striking nurses. Perhaps if
more of us hit the picket line and aggressively advocated for
ourselves and the nursing profession we would not be in the horrific
health care crisis that the USA is presently. Hang in there
for justice and for safe, ethical clinical practice! from
San Francisco California
- I am a member of the UFCW local 791.
We went through a strike in the summer of 1997 and we were successful
in great part because we had the public's support. I know
this will be the case with your fight. I would like to tell the
striking nurses at St. Vincent's that I support them 100%.
I am writing a letter to Tenet Healthcare Corp. in support of
these courageous people. Fraternally, UFCW local 791
- Well it's about time nurse's stood up for themselves!
Way to go guys! From @yahoo.com (nursing student)
- I am a member of UWUA Local 369.
I wish to express my full support for your campaign for better
working conditions. I have already called St. Vincent's
public relations and expressed how absurd they sounded complaining
about how inconvenienced they have been by all the horns beeping
in the hospital zone. I told them I am with withdrawing all my
support for the hospital and explained it is a REAL inconvenience
losing your paycheck and benefits and being required to work double
shifts with no notice. I was only able to get voice mail at this
line. Further I have left a similar message with the CEO's
office today. They answered the phone and wrote the message down.
I have been on the picket line and understand how hard this
is for your organization. Please keep up the solidarity and you
will be rewarded with a fair contract. As with the UPS strike
a couple of years ago, I firmly believe each and every working
Massachusetts citizen benefits from advances made by each local
member who walks the picket line. As you are well aware
the many dedicated labor unions help keep work standards higher
for ALL working citizens whether union represented or non-union.
From a member of local 369
- Hi, I was browsing the web, and found the article
about the strike. I am stunned that I hadn't heard about
this on national news, but then realizing the outreach of Tenet,
I am not so surprised. I am a neonatal nurse in Philadelphia.
I wish you great success in your endeavor. Maybe you can
get this onto the national broadcasts, and bring more pressure
on Tenet. Good luck, From Philadelphia
- WAY TO GO GUYS!!!...Let them have it!!!.....I'm
a BSN in San Diego and believe me, this kind of bull is going
on all over the country.....we ALL need to stand together and
send a message to the Bean Counters of America that WE take care
of the patients...please use the media to reach out to RN's across
the country...God Bless....From San Diego
- I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let
you know that I respect and support the nurses' strike.
If public opinion can help leverage Tenet Healthcare Corporation
to place more importance on patient care rather than on profits
and atriums, please feel free to add my name to a list of concerned
citizens. From Sterling, MA
- I am a MNA member in Worcester and would like
to know if there is any way that I can financially help, in my
small way, the courageous nurses at St. Vincent's. It is
time for all nurses to put their money where their mouths are
in support of these brave individuals that are fighting our common
battle! From an MNA member in Western, MA
- I am watching with interest (via the Internet)
what is going on in your state. I am a Registered Nurse,
employed by the Nurses Union in Saskatchewan, Canada. Nurses
in this province went on a illegal strike for eight days last
April in hopes to improve working conditions. In addition
to wage increases, nurses in this province were able to negotiate
a professional responsibility clause into the collective agreement
that states in part "The Employer shall provide working environment
consistent with nursing standards, practices and procedures."
I offer you my support and solidarity in the midst of the turmoil.
Keep together, maintain solidarity and you shall overcome. From
Saskatchewan Canada
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