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Taunton Education Association, Inc.
PO Box 827
Taunton, Massachusetts 02780
May 26, 2001
Brockton Hospital Nurses Association
410 Belmont Street
Brockton, Massachusetts 02321
Dear Members,
On behalf of the over 500 members Taunton Education Association,
I extend to you, my striking brother and sister Brockton nurses,
the strongest vote of confidence and support regarding your decision
to strike. Being a teacher from the Southeast part of our state,
the home of the Fall River Educators Association, the Attleboro
Teachers Association, the Seekonk Teachers Association, the Norton
Teachers Association, the Education Association of Freetown-Lakeville
and of course the Brockton Education Association, we well know
the hardship of STRIKE.
I am writing to let you know that we are with you in this trying
time and are proud of the difficult stand that you have taken.
Our best wishes and sincere support is with you in your efforts
to gain a fair and equitable settlement.
Be assured that we are walking along in spirit with all of you
in Brockton. Whether in the Northeast, Southeast, or anywhere in
our state, whether teacher, laborer or nurse, our cause is the
same, that of respect and dignity and we strike for that cause
together.
Please call on us if the need arises. We will provide any assistance
possible that you feel is necessary. I've walked before and will
proudly do so again.
Remember, you cause is just and you will triumph.
Yours in solidarity,
Jacqueline Gorrie
President, Taunton Education Association
Subj: QEA Support for Brockton Nurses
Date: 5/30/01 –
From: Paulunion
To: Bassoci327
Dear Joe:
Please communicate to your friends among the Brockton Hospital
nurses that the 880 members of the Quincy Education Association
support their efforts to earn a fair contract from the Hospital
managers.
As one of our Representative Council members said, "I don't like
the idea of having nurse giving me medications at the end of another
forced 16-hour shift." The "concessions" reported in the press
don't ensure that this can't happen, and we agree with the nurses
that this is an issue of good practice, fair treatment, and above
all, respect for the nursing profession.
We encourage the incredible solidarity shown by the BH nurses.
Like the St. Vincent nurses from Worcester, the strength of these
caring professionals is a beacon for the rest of in the helping
professions. Show us what a united membership can achieve!
Paul J. Phillips, President
Rx for Nurses
by AFT President Sandra Feldman
May 2001
Poor working conditions for nurses endanger their patients
Recently, I spent a day in a large urban teaching hospital watching
nurses and other health professionals save lives. In a neonatal
intensive care unit with 28 struggling premature newborns, I saw
miraculous modern technology and nurses doing miraculous work.
But wherever I went, I heard stories of understaffing, low pay,
exhausting hours and mandatory overtime, and most alarmingly, nurses
who love their profession but are planning to leave it.
That we have a shortage of nurses isn't news anymore. Our critical
need will rise to almost half a million by 2008. Like teachers,
nurses are opting for other professions previously unavailable
to women. But disturbing new numbers highlight even greater threats
to the nursing profession and the overall quality of our nation's
health care.
A new poll commissioned by AFT's health care division and conducted
by Peter Hart Associates shows that fully one fifth of the nation's
nurses are ready to leave right now because they're fed up with
their horrendous working conditions and the lack of support and
training they receive. Equally alarming, the study found that more
than half of current nurses age 18-39 have thought about leaving.
Imagine the crisis we would face if this came to pass.
Nursing has always been a demanding profession.
Those who go into it—like those who go into teaching—do so out
of commitment. That's why these new poll numbers are especially
dismaying. Harsh decisions
by the health care industry have made it virtually impossible for
nurses to fulfill that commitment and so they are leaving in droves
to pursue other careers.
Cutting costs has led to cutbacks in staffing, which has led to
the hiring of unqualified new workers and mandatory overtime for
nurses. The bottom line of this shortsighted approach is that the
burdens on nurses are increased and patient care is compromised.
It's frustrating to a nurse who wants to do her job and dangerous
to her patients.
Competence suffers
Here's how one nurse describes what she faces at
work: "At 42
years old, I ache all over after a 16-hour shift, I go home tired,
and then I'm up again in 4-1/2 hours to do another 8- or 16-hour
shift. How competent can a nurse be in these conditions?" The current
system has also cut back on support for new nurses as well. As
a result, one veteran nurse says she can no longer recommend nursing. "They
plop you on a floor and don't give you the training anymore. It's
terrifying for someone new." I've heard this from teachers, too,
who are "plopped" into overcrowded classrooms without adequate
support.
These stories are not aberrations—they are the
result of business as usual. When dedication is exploited, you
get the kind of blind
exhaustion that leads to horrific stories like one about the nurse
who was forced to work the night shift, fell asleep at the wheel
of her car on the way home, and hit a telephone pole.
But there is a silver lining. According to our
poll, nearly three fourths of the nurses thinking about leaving
would stay if improvements
were made. And we know what needs to be done. First, ban mandatory
overtime—for the good of patients and those professionals who care
for them. Second, raise salaries and improve benefits. Third, enact
federal standards for health care staffing levels. Fourth, encourage
more people to enter the profession, particularly minorities and
men, by adopting student-loan forgiveness programs and encouraging
health care systems to offer tuition and stipends to employees
who return to school. We need more nurses to increase the attention
care-givers can provide patients. Just as a lower teacher-to-student
ratio improves learning, so too does a lower nurse-to-patient ratio
improve health care.
Ending a vicious cycle
Acting responsibly now can end the vicious cycle in which increasingly
unattractive jobs become more difficult to fill, causing more understaffing
and even less personalized patient care, and leaving nurses feeling
more used up, worn down, and burned out. One nurse I recently learned
about would go out to the parking lot and get sick after finishing
her shift each night because of the stressful conditions. You won't
be surprised to hear that she has since left nursing.
It is ludicrous to recruit people into a profession,
prepare them to uphold its standards, and then make their work
environment so
poor it sends them running from that profession at high speed.
Yet that is what's happening in nursing today. If you've ever been
hospitalized, or worried about someone who was, you know what a
difference quality nursing care can make. It's time to make sure
that hard-working nurses get the support they deserve—so they can
provide us and our loved ones with the care we need.
American Federation of Teachers,
AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW -
Washington, DC 20001
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