St. Vincent's Strike

Strike could be first of many
Boston Herald Analysis/by Jennifer Heldt Powell
Saturday, April 1, 2000

The hundreds of nurses striking at a Worcester hospital may be the first of many to hit the picket lines this year, nursing advocates say.

At issue is whether management can force nurses to stay beyond their normal shifts and for how long.

That issue propelled nurses at St. Vincent's Hospital, owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp., to form a union two years ago, but they have yet to win their first contract.

They were joined on the picket line yesterday by nurses from across the state.

"It's a flash point because nurses are seeing this is a major problem and believe something needs to be done," said David Schildmeier, spokespeson for the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

St. Vincent's Chief Executive Robert E. Maher Jr. said he thinks the union is trying to make an example of the hospital.

"We do believe that MNA has targeted us as kind of a guinea pig to break the mandatory overtime clause, which has been for them a major issue," he said.

Forced overtime is necessary, say administrators, to protect patients during a time of nursing shortages.

"We cannot have staff leaving, being unwilling to stay to take care of patients," Maher said. "The alternative to having the staff stay is sending the patient out the door, and we're not going to do that."

Management will do whatever possible to avoid forcing staff to stay, but it needs the option, he said.

"We've also tried to convey to the nurses we understand at the end of an eight-hour shift they're tired and they want to go home to their families," Maher said. "But we're a hospital and, as such, we're very much akin to the police and fire. When there's a fire, you don't go home. If there's a bad accident, you don't say, if you're a police officer, 'It's the end of my shift.' "

Nurses say they believe the forced overtime jeopardizes patients. Because of cutbacks, they are already seeing more patients during their shift, an increasing number of whom require extra care.

"When staff are overworked - either when there are too few nurses or because they are forced to work beyond their normal shifts - there are errors, sometimes fatal," said Judy Schindul-Rothschild, a nurse and associate professor at Boston College.

Nationally, there were a record number of strikes last year, most of them by registered nurses.

"What's happening in Worcester is not an isolated event, it's a trend," Schindul-Rothschild said.

The Worcester nursing strike is the first in the Bay State in 14 years, but staffing issues have pushed nurses into voting to strike at nine institutions over the last two years including Boston Medical Center and Brigham and Women's hospital.

Those nurses settled their contracts before hitting the picket line, but the issue isn't going away.

Concern over staffing is one of the major reasons why nurses at five institutions, including St. Vincent's and Somerville Hospital, voted to form a union in the first place, Schildmeier said.

MNA, the state's major nursing union, represents 20,000 nurses at 85 facilities. Nurses at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth are considering unionizing.

Mandatory overtime is unnecessary, Schindul-Rothschild said.

"When management has to strong-arm any labor group into doing anything, it behooves management to look at its management style and not blame rank-and-file workers," said Schindul-Rothschild.

Doug Hanchett contributed to this report.
Copyright 2000 by the Boston Herald

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