Brockton Nurses' Contract Talks End With No Movement
Hospital Fails to Alter Its Positions, Strike Continues

Contract talks between Brockton Hospital nurses and management ended today with no movement towards a settlement to end a strike that is into its third week. The talks, which were arranged by a federal mediator, were the first since the nurses went out on strike at 6 a.m. on May 25, 2001.

The nurses, who have been negotiating their contract since October of 2000, took a strike vote on April 23 and began holding sessions with a federal mediator. Rounds of talks following the strike vote failed to address the nurses' key concerns and both parties last negotiated on May 24, 2001. Those talks failed to reach a settlement as Brockton management was unable to agree to terms the nurses sought to address their concerns related to the issues of staffing, mandatory overtime, floating of nurses and salary.

The hospital came to the talks today with no change in their position. They refused to meet face-to-face with the nurses' negotiating team, and the day ended with the hospital informing the nurses through a mediator that they were standing by their last on-the-record proposal of May 22, 2001.

"We are deeply disappointed by the hospital's refusal to negotiate with us today to try and resolve this strike," said Linda McMahon, co-chair of the nurses' bargaining unit. "The ball has been in their court since May 22nd, and they continue to refuse to agree to be held accountable for staffing this hospital safely. We remain committed to this strike and to our stand for our patients and our community."

Nurses at Brockton Hospital have a long history of problems with management over the issue of mandatory overtime, i.e. forcing a nurse against her/his will to work extra hours or shifts to compensate for a lack of appropriate staffing. It was the principle issue of concern in their last contract negotiation of 1998. While the hospital had promised to eliminate the problem, the practice continued at an even higher rate. The underlying cause of mandatory overtime is a shortage of staff. The hospital has refused to recruit and retain enough staff to safely operate the facility, while it has dramatically increased its census (patient volume) in recent years. There simply aren't enough nurses hired by the hospital to cover the shifts required to care for the patients being admitted to the facility.

Issues in Dispute

Staffing/Mandatory Overtime

The nurses are not alone in their concerns about poor staffing/mandatory overtime and the impact on the safety of patients. The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a study showing a direct link between low nurse staffing levels and poor patient outcomes. The study's authors contend that thousands of patients die every year because of poor staffing conditions. The Chicago Tribune reported in a three-day series last September that a majority of hospitals nationally have significantly reduced registered nurse staffs. Since 1995, at least 1,720 patients have died and 9,584 others were injured in cases linked to overwhelmed nurses, poor staffing, excessive overtime and inadequate training.

The nurses have been seeking the same language to address staffing and mandatory overtime concerns that was negotiated by the nurses at St. Vincent Hospital last year, which ended the nurses 49-day strike. This same language has been accepted by two other Massachusetts hospitals in the last four months. The language calls upon the hospital to fully staff the facility to prevent the need for mandatory overtime, to give nurses the unrestricted right to refuse mandatory overtime if he or she feels too fatigued to provide safe patient care, limits the number of times a nurse can be forced to work overtime to 8 times per year, and limits the number of hours of mandatory overtime to no more than 4 hours for a nurse working an 8-hour shift.

The hospital is refusing to grant the nurses any language that obligates them to adequately staff the hospital. Instead, they are seeking commitments in the contract that the nurses will volunteer to work overtime as a means of staffing the facility to avoid mandatory overtime.

Inappropriate "Floating" of Nurses

In addition to forcing nurses to use mandatory overtime to compensate for inadequate staffing, the hospital also engages in a practice known as "floating." Floating refers to the process of moving a nurse from his or her regular area of practice to another area of the hospital where there is a need for increased nursing care. At Brockton Hospital nurses are regularly floated to areas where they are inexperienced or have little or no orientation to that unit. This type of floating is inappropriate and oftentimes dangerous for the patient. Nurses, like physicians are specialized in their area of expertise and can't and shouldn't be expected to provide care in an area for which they are not prepared to practice effectively or competently.

For example, medical/surgical nurses, who are nurses who work on a typical hospital floor, should not be expected to work in an intensive care unit or an emergency department, unless they have had the specialized training required and extensive experience in working in these environments. At Brockton Hospital, medical/surgical nurses are often asked to float to intensive care units and the emergency department simply because the hospital has failed to hire enough nurses in these specialized areas.

To address this problem, the nurses are seeking contract language, which has been included in a number of MNA contracts, which prohibits the hospital from floating a nurse to another unit unless and until that nurse has been properly oriented to that unit. The hospital has refused to grant that right.

Salary

The issue of salary is also a sticking point. The hospital is offering the nurses a 3% raise each year for a three-year contract. The nurses are asking for 6%, pointing to the fact that they have not had a cost of living increase since 1999. They also point to the fact that Brockton Hospital has been in the black for six years running, and is currently engaged in a $6 million capitol improvement campaign, and has given its CE0 a 27% raise to his half million dollar salary. The nurses can't understand why the hospital is willing to invest millions on bricks and mortar, and its CEO, while not investing and rewarding those who provide 90% of the care delivered at the hospital. They can't understand why the hospital will spend millions to expand the emergency department and to obtain the right to open a heart surgery program, but refuses to hire and retain the nursing staff to run those departments safely.

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