Tuesday, May 9, 2000
By Jim Bodor
Telegram & Gazette Staff 

WORCESTER, Mass.—Joining a growing chorus of local politicians, Mayor Raymond V. Mariano yesterday called on the Tenet Healthcare Corp. chairman to get directly involved in the contract talks with the Worcester Medical Center nurses. 

At a late afternoon press conference, the mayor said he believed Robert E. Maher Jr., chief executive  officer of the medical center, lacks the authority to negotiate a contract with the hospital's nurses, who  have been on strike since March 31. Tenet, of Santa Barbara, Calif., owns the medical center. 

Mr. Maher "doesn't have the authority to settle the contract," Mr. Mariano said. "If he was able to settle the contract, it'd be settled." 

Jeffrey Barbakow, chairman of the corporation, might be more eager to see a contract if he came to  Worcester to see the effect the strike has had on residents, the mayor said. 

"We need him to spend time here and to understand what's happening," Mr. Mariano said. 

Mr. Maher laughed at the suggestion that he lacks authority over the contract talks. "I didn't know that he was researching my authority level," he said. 

It is unlikely Tenet's chairman will come to Worcester to get directly involved in the contract talks, Mr. Maher said. 

"Mr. Barbakow has a job to do within Tenet, and he relies on many divisional, regional and local people to implement the policies and practices of the company," he said. "I don't think he'd see fit to come here." 

Tenet's divisional and regional managers confer with Mr. Maher regularly about the negotiations, Mr. Maher said. Mr. Barbakow is aware of all that is happening with the talks, he said. 

The striking nurses believe Mr. Barbakow's presence in Worcester could help move the talks forward. 

"They've admitted that they are in constant communication with California, so it's obvious to us anyway that Bob is not in total control," said David J. Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents the roughly 500 striking nurses. "We think they should come here and face the people they're dealing with." 

 The mayor is not the first politician to appeal to Mr. Barbakow. Last week, the Massachusetts delegation to Congress and the Senate, including Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Sen. John F. Kerry, sent him a letter asking he conduct face-to-face negotiations. 

 Also yesterday, the mayor announced hearings on the medical center's tax increment financing agreement will begin the week of May 22 before the City Council's Commerce and Development Committee. 

 Under the TIF, the hospital is paying $40.6 million to the city in taxes over 18 years, $40.5 million less than it would have paid without the agreement. City councilors have raised questions about whether the hospital is meeting the terms of the agreement. 

Among the issues to be considered are the inclusion of laid off and outsourced employees in total employment counts, and the total number of jobs created by the hospital. Mr. Maher insists the hospital is in compliance with the tax deal. 

 "We welcome the city administration to come in and look at all of the books, and to look at the data before you have your public hearings," he said. 

Mr. Maher said he would not attend the hearings unless the city makes some effort to obtain accurate information before the hearings begin. 

 "I don't have any interest in attending a bunch of public hearings until they come and look at the books," he said. "If this is just an attempt to drag us in and say bad things about Tenet and myself, I won't attend the hearings." 

 The mayor's press conference yesterday also was attended by several of Worcester state legislators, who announced that today at 11 a.m. they will file two bills related to the strike. 

One would require that the state Board of Registration in Nursing perform work history and criminal history checks on all replacement nurses coming into the state. The board does check the work backgrounds of replacement nurses, but the legislators say this bill would expand those checks. The board's executive director was not immediately available for comment yesterday. 
                
The second bill would allow patients who do not wish to cross a picket line at a hospital to use their medical insurance coverage at another hospital nearby. 

"We need legislation that makes it easier for consumers to survive during this kind of crisis," said Rep. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester. "Both of these items of legislation do that." 

 The primary contract issue is mandatory overtime. The hospital wants the right to require nurses to work up to eight hours of overtime, paid at double-time. During talks last week, the nurses offered to work up to four hours of overtime, a move from their previous offer of two hours of overtime, plus two more hours under certain circumstances. 

 The hospital declined that offer, and asked instead to go to binding arbitration over the issues of mandatory overtime and flex time, in which the hospital can send nurses home on less busy days. The nurses refused, saying they cannot place the outcome of the strike in the hands of a third party.

               © 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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