WHAT: As the Brockton Hospital nurses' strike drags into its 13th week, with no negotiations scheduled and no end in sight, the Brockton City Council wants the opportunity question both parties in the dispute. Last month, the Brockton City Council passed a resolve proposed by Councilor Dennis DeNapoli to invite representatives from both the nurses' union and hospital management to appear before the Council's Standing Committee on Finance (all the city councilors sit on the finance committee) "to discuss outstanding issues relative to the nurses' strike."

The meeting is Monday, August 20, 2001, beginning at 7 p.m. at Brockton City Hall. Each side will be provided the opportunity to make a brief statement followed by questioning from the city councilors. This would mark the first time that both sides have appeared in a public forum together. The nurses welcome the opportunity to appear before the City Council to make their case and educate the local political leadership on their issues. Of late, the nurses have focused their activities on educating the public about the enormous cost of the strike, as the hospital spends millions of dollars each week on replacement nurses, police details and security guards to prolong the strike. The nurses believe that hospital management, in their efforts to break the nurses' union and avoid improvements in staffing, is placing the very financial future of the hospital in jeopardy. The nurses are also raising questions about where the funding is coming from to support the hospital's actions. The nurses believe the community has a right to know if Medicare and Medicaid funds are being used to underwrite the strike, or if the hospital's Board of Trustees has authorized the use of the hospital's charitable endowment to fund the strike.

The nurses have been negotiating their contract since October 2000. After months of negotiations, the nurses went out on strike at 6 a.m. on May 25th. The nurses have been fighting for improvements in staffing to alleviate the rampant use of mandatory overtime by the hospital as an alternative to hiring the nurses needed to provide safe care. The nurses have won widespread support from political leaders across the state. In the last several weeks, 137 state legislators signed onto a letter of support for the nurses, as did the entire Massachusetts Congressional Delegation and Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry. Senator President Thomas Birmingham has also issued his own letter of support for the nurses.

WHEN: Monday, August 20, 2001 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Council Chamber, Brockton City Hall, 45 School St., Brockton, MA

WHO: For the nurses, Linda McMahon, RN, co-chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit, and Barbara Cooke, RN, a member of the negotiating committee will appear. For the hospital, Brockton President and CEO Norman Goodman and Vice President Robert Hughes have been invited to appear.

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