Contract Talks on Tuesday Between Brockton RNs and Management End Without Agreement, Both Sides Agree to Negotiate Again on May 24th. Last Chance for Settlement Before Nurses' Strike at 6 am on Friday

• Pre-Strike Rally For Nurses to Be Held at St. Margaret's Parish Center on May 24th from 7 – 10 p.m.

The talks ended on Tuesday with Brockton management scheduled to offer a final counter-proposal to the nurses on Thursday. Absent more significant movement at the table by the hospital to address the nurses key concerns over the issues of staffing, mandatory overtime, floating of nurses and salary, the nurses intend to strike on Friday.

At Tuesday's negotiations the hospital finally presented a comprehensive proposal to the nurses outlining their positions on all the outstanding issues in dispute. The proposal fell far short of the nurses' expectations, once again failing to include the nurses' call for language in the contract committing the hospital to staff appropriately to avoid mandatory overtime. The hospital also objected to granting the nurses satisfactory language granting them the right to refuse overtime if they feel too fatigued or ill to provide safe patient care. The hospital also refused to improve its salary proposal. They had previously been offering the nurses a 3% increase each year of a three-year contract. They came to the table on Tuesday with the same offer, with the addition of a fourth year to the deal, granting the nurses a 4% raise in the fourth year. The nurses had already rejected a four-year pact, and did so again on Tuesday.

Barring a settlement on Thursday, preparations for the strike are in full swing. The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have secured and begun organizing their new strike headquarters, to be located at 707a Centre St. in Brockton, which is directly across the street from the hospital's main entrance. Also today, the MNA will host a Pre-Strike Job Fair for the nurses. Hospital recruiters have been invited to the MNA headquarters to meet with nurses interested in signing up for work during the strike. And on Thursday, May 24, the MNA has scheduled a Pre-Strike Rally at St. Margaret's Parish Center, 891 Montello St. in Brockton, where the nurses will gather with local political, labor and community leaders, as well as nurses from surrounding hospitals for a rally on the eve of the strike.

Issues in Dispute:

Staffing/Mandatory Overtime

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 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 are seeking strict limits on mandatory overtime, the right to refuse overtime and a contractual commitment to address staffing conditions causing mandatory overtime, similar to provisions negotiated by the Massachusetts Nurses Association-represented nurses at St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center last year. The St. Vincent nurses conducted a highly publicized 49-day strike over the issue in 2000, and have won national recognition for their stand over this public health issue. Since that time, other MNA-represented hospitals have negotiated similar provisions, including the MNA-represented nurses at U.Mass Medical Center in Worcester and the MNA nurses at Providence Hospital in Holyoke.

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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