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03.27.2006
1001 Days without a Contract
Nurses and Health Care Professionals Picket Statewide
Massachusetts’ most vulnerable patients
are threatened by Romney/Healey disrespect of the state’s
RNs and health professionals
CANTON, MA—Yesterday, March
26th, marked day 1000 that state-employed registered nurses and
health professionals have gone without a contract, a situation that
is preventing the recruitment and retention of the professional
staff needed to adequately care for the state’s most vulnerable
residents, including the severely mentally ill, mentally retarded
and disabled veterans.
In response to this inglorious anniversary the 1,800
members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association Unit 7 today are
staging informational picketing across the state. According to Bill
Fyfe, RN, and president of the MNA’s Unit 7, they are picketing
today to show frustration over the lack of respect being shown to
his members and their patients, “While we continue to be amazed
at how long the Romney/Healey administration has dragged this out,
we are truly disheartened and angry by the negative effects it is
having on our patients. Every day we see experienced nurses leaving
and the problems our administrators are having in hiring new experienced
staff. This directly affects the quality of care.”
“After a thousand days of either no, or half
hearted negotiations, we have to wonder if the Romney Healey administration
is truly committed to providing care to the state’s most vulnerable
patients,” said Fyfe. It is clear to us that Governor Romney
is more interested in traveling the country to curry favor with
voters in his bid for the White House, and Lt. Governor Healey will
spend her time campaigning for the corner office rather than paying
attention to the care of the veterans, severely mentally ill and
retarded, the patients we care for every day.”
State-employed health professionals include registered
nurses, physicians, pharmacists, psychologists, occupational therapists,
physical therapists, dentists, speech and hearing therapists and
podiatrists. They work in soldiers’ homes for disabled veterans;
state hospitals for the mentally ill; residential facilities for
mentally retarded adults. They also work at centers for HIV and
drug-affected mothers and children; group homes for those cannot
live independently; and high-security wards for violent adolescents
or suicidal/homicidal residents, mentally ill prisoners, and clients
sent for pre-trial evaluations.
“We are the safety net for the state’s
most troubled and helpless citizens, we’re the last stop,
and without our care and services, many of these people would end
up homeless and many would die,” said Fyfe. “The Governor’s
treatment of the state’s caregivers represents the shredding
of the state’s safety net. We will not allow him to continue
his campaign for personal gain without waging our own campaign for
respect and decency for ourselves and for those truly in need.”
Negotiations between the Romney administration and
the health professionals began on July 23, 2004. The administration
came to the table with more than 100 proposals to cut benefits and
no pay increase. “The most recent proposal from the state
could be viewed as a step forward but we feel it was extremely problematic
in two ways. First, their plan divides out bargaining unit and the
proposed raise does not go far enough in addressing the problems
with retention and recruiting.. We go back to the table tomorrow
and hope to come away with an equitable contract,” said Fyfe.
Poor Care Statewide Due to Staffing Shortages
The MNA's claims of poor care are supported by hundreds of official
reports of unsafe staffing submitted by professionals at a number
of the state's facilities in recent years. This includes the results
of recent surveys of staff in a number of state facilities for the
mentally ill and mentally retarded. Surveys at two of the state’s
largest mental health hospitals, Taunton State Hospital (TSH) and
Worcester State Hospital (WSH) had the following alarming results:
- 97 percent of the professional staff at TSH
and 96 percent of the staff at WSH reported that their units were
dangerously understaffed some or most of the time.
- 95 percent of the staff at TSH and 89 percent
of the staff at WSH reported that staffing levels have been chronically
inadequate for the past two years.
- 89 percent of the TSH professionals and 77 percent
of the WSH staff believe current working conditions force them
to provide a level of care below their professional standards.
- 100 percent of the TSH professionals and 81
percent of the WSH professionals reported they lack the sufficient
time to prove the level of care their patients require.
Survey results were even more alarming for two residential
facilities that specialize in the care of the profoundly mentally
retarded?Wrentham Developmental Center and Templeton Developmental
Center.
- 100 percent of the registered nurses and professionals
at Templeton and 69 percent of registered nurses and professionals
at Wrentham believe their facility is dangerously understaffed
some or most of the time.
- 89 percent of the staff at Wrentham and 80 percent
of the staff at Templeton reported an increase in medical errors
due to understaffing.
- 89 percent of the Wrentham professionals and
75 percent of the Templeton professionals reported that current
working conditions force them to provide a level of care below
their professional standards.
- And in both surveys, nearly 75 percent of the
professionals report they are seriously considering leaving.
“We can no longer allow people with severe
mental illness and disability to continue to receive a diminished
level of care in an under-funded system,” Fyfe concluded.
“It is our ethical and professional obligation to advocate
for our patients and that is what we intend to do.”
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