| |
St. Vincent's Strike
Hurray for the nurses of St. Vincent's
Hospital and Worcester Medical Center who won a victory today, not
only for themselves and their patients, but for every nurse and
every patient in America.
St. Vincent's Hospital RNs Reach Tentative
Agreement With Tenet in Talks Hosted By Sen. Kennedy and Congressman
McGovern in Washington D.C., Pact Includes Limits on Mandatory Overtime
the Nurses Sought
- The Nurses Praise Settlement as Victory
for Nurses, Patients, the Worcester Community, as well as for
Nurses from Throughout the Nation
- Pact Will Now Go Before Rank and File
Membership for a Ratification Vote
WORCESTER, Mass.—In a historic
ending to a historic 42-day strike, registered nurses represented
by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) at St. Vincent's Hospital/Worcester
Medical Center in Worcester today reached a tentative agreement of
their first contract with Tenet Health Care. The pact, which
still needs to be presented to the rank and file membership for a
ratification vote, includes key provisions the nurses had sought through
the strike. Specifically, the contract places strict limits
on the amount of mandatory overtime, calls for the phase out of a
controversial flex time policy, and provides the nurses with a protected
voice and binding arbitration regarding issues related with their
move into the new Worcester Medical Center facility. The talks
progressed quickly once Tenet agreed to back off its demand for the
right to mandate up to eight hours of overtime, a practice the nurses
opposed because of its negative impact on patient care.
The agreement was reached today in talks hosted
by Sen. Edward Kennedy and Congressman James McGovern in the
offices of Sen. Kennedy in Washington. D.C. After discussions
with the Sen. Kennedy's office late last night, the decision was
made by the nurses to fly to Washington to resume talks toward a
settlement. The talks began at 10:30 a.m. and ended after
5 p.m.. A press conference was held at Sen. Kennedy's office
to announce the result of the negotiations.
"This is a true victory for all involved, for the
nurses, for the community, and most important of all, for the patients
of Worcester Medical Center, who will now be guaranteed care provided
by nurses who are rested, alert and prepared to deliver the safe
patient care they so rightfully deserve," said Sandy Ellis, a member
of the nurses' bargaining committee. "This is also a victory
for the nursing profession and our colleagues from all over the
nation who have been watching this strike, and supporting our stand
for safe staffing and limits on mandatory overtime.
The hospital, which had been insisting on the need
for the right to be able to mandate 16-hour shifts since the strike
began on March 31, 2000, came to the table with a proposal that
mirrored the nurse's last proposal, issued at the last negotiating
session on May 4, 2000. The overtime language agreed upon
today limits the amount of mandatory overtime assigned to a nurse
to no more than 4 hours, and limits the amount of times a nurse
can be assigned overt time to 8 times per year (twice each quarter).
However, every nurse has the right to refuse a mandatory over time
assignment if he or she feels to fatigued or ill to work safely.
The language calls upon the hospital to exercise its best effort
to maintain full staffing in order to prevent the need for mandatory
overtime, and it requires the hospital to carefully document each
and every instance of mandatory overtime, and to review those occurrences
with a staffing committee made up of unionized nurses and management.
The goal of this process is to limit the use of mandatory overtime
and develop solutions to correct conditions, such as inadequate
staffing, that contribute to it. If the two sides cannot agree
on problems that arise, the language calls for the issues to be
presented for expedited arbitration.
"Our biggest concern was that this hospital would
use mandatory overtime as a mechanism to staff the facility," Ellis
said. "This language not only provides strict limits on the
amount of overtime assigned, but also provides a rigorous process
for ensuring that management address underlying staffing issues
that cause mandatory overtime."
Protection on Issues Related to Move to Worcester
Medical Center
As the nurses were preparing to strike, the hospital
was making plans to move most of its patient care services from
the St. Vincent's Hospital facility to the newly built $215 million
Worcester Medical Center. The hospital actually moved its
operations two days after the strike began on April 3, 2000.
Throughout the two-year process of negotiating their contract, the
nurses had been seeking information from Tenet concerning the working
conditions for the nurses in the new facility. Tenet's failure
to provide that information was the subject of unfair labor practice
charges filed by the union, and developing a process to resolve
issues related to the move has remained a sticking point to the
negotiations.
Today's agreement provides both sides with a 60-day
period to negotiate these issues, after the nurses have returned
to work. In the event that the nurses and management fail
to reach agreement on any issues in that period, the unresolved
issues shall be submitted to binding arbitration.
Back-to-Work Agreement
Finally, the new agreement provides a process to
govern the return to work of the striking nurses. Under the
agreement, the parties agree to begin immediate negotiations over
issues concerning the nurses' return to work, with the goal of returning
all the striking nurses back to their positions on or before June
1, 2000.
The hospital also agreed to pay the nurses' costs
for health and dental insurance benefits, which had been cut once
the strike began.
The nurses have been attempting to negotiate their
first contract with Tenet, the nation's second largest for-profit
hospital chain, for more than two years. The 615 nurses have organized
a union and been using the collective bargaining process to address
their primary concerns about inadequate staffing levels and deplorable
working conditions under Tenet management. Tenet's staffing
levels are the worst of the 85 facilities where the Massachusetts
Nurses Association represents nurses in the state. St. Vincent's nurses
on the day shift are regularly assigned between 8 – 10 patients
on days, and between 12 – 14 patients on nights. A safe assignment
is no more than six patients on days, and 8 patients on nights.
The nurses have filed more than 450 official reports of unsafe staffing
assignments that "jeopardize patient care."
Tenet purchased St. Vincent's Hospital in 1997, and
has also built the new $215 million Worcester Medical Center in
downtown Worcester. Tenet was scheduled to open the
new facility and move the patients into it on April 1, 2000.
The move was postponed for two days because of problems with care
being delivered by more than 120 replacement "scab" nurses provided
by U.S. Nursing Corps, a Denver-based firm that specializes in providing
strike breaking nurses to hospitals involved in labor disputes.
The nurses are paid more than $4,000 per week as well as food and
lodging.
Back to Strike Page |
|
