07.15.2008

Nurses to speak tonight about contract struggle

By ANITA FRITZ
Recorder Staff
Original Article

GREENFIELD -- Nurses will be back to the bargaining table next week, but not before they speak tonight to the public and a panel of the Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Workers' Rights Board about the sticking points of their negotiations with Baystate Franklin Medical Center.

Nurses, who are being represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have been in contract negotiations since last October.

'I'm looking forward to talking with the community about some of our issues,' said Ann Lewin, MNA senior chairwoman at the hospital. 'We want our community to know where we're at in negotiations. We're feeling a bit stuck. Maybe some community members will choose to say something for us.' The Workers' Rights Board is an independent national organization, which acts as 'the conscience of the community' regarding labor relations, in exposing what it considers employers' misconduct and in helping workers form unions and reach collective bargaining contracts. Its regional board consists of two dozen western Massachusetts residents. It plans to release a report after the hearing on collective bargaining at the hospital.

Lewin said the main issue nurses have in this year's contract negotiations is the language their employer, Baystate Health, wants to include in the new contracts.

'There are four points we've got problems with,' said Lewin. 'It doesn't really have to do all that much with money, it's more about having what we've always had taken away from us. That's what the hospital wants to do.'

Nurses will go back to the bargaining table with the hospital on Monday, almost a month since the last time they negotiated. Nurses do not want the hospital to send them home without notice when they are overstaffed on a particular day, which is what the hospital wants to be able to do. Lewin said when a nurse plans to work 24 or 40 hours in a week, he or she should be able to do so.

Nurses are also fighting an 'intent clause' the hospital wants to include involving sick time. Lewin said it wants to be able to discipline a nurse after four absences in one year and have the right to fire a nurse after eight absences in one year.

'That puts us under a lot of pressure. One nurse has already been fired because of sick time she took,' she said. 'We work in a hospital, taking care of sick patients. We get sick and we don't want to feel like we have to come to work and spread germs to other nurses and our patients to avoid being disciplined or fired.'

Amy Swisher, a hospital spokeswoman, said an 'unplanned occurrence' or absence may be more than one day, so for instance, if someone becomes ill and is out for a few days or a week or more, that is one occurrence. Swisher said after five such occurrences, the hospital would speak with that person.

Nurses accrue 12 sick days per year and may roll those sick days over each year, saving up to 75 sick days, said Swisher.

She said planned sick time, including the birth of a baby or planned surgery, does not count when the hospital considers the amount of time someone is out and may be disciplined for.

The other points nurses are concerned about include a cost-of-living raise, which they want to be retroactive to the first of the year. Their contracts expired Dec. 31, so current negotiations are for the contracts beginning Jan. 1, 2008. Nurses would also like to see something in their contracts addressing how the hospital will handle violence against nurses.

'We want good support for victims,' said Lewin. 'It's just a fact that nurses get attacked, either while working or when going to our vehicles late at night. We need to know we'll be provided the proper support by the hospital if anything like that happens to any of us.' Swisher said the hospital is concerned about what it deems inaccurate information from the MNA.

'And while we have no plans to negotiate the BFMC nurses' contract in public, we are prepared to settle the contract at our next meeting with the MNA on July 14,' said Swisher.

Lewin said those issues and whatever else nurses want to talk about will be brought up at tonight's hearing, which will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 43 Silver St. Attendees are asked to not wear any fragrance. The public is invited. The board is not connected to any government agencies.

Nurses tonight will speak before a local board consisting of the president of a Springfield health center, a former outreach director for the Community Health Center of Franklin County, a medical writer, a local pastor and a Greenfield town councilor.

Nurses also complain that Baystate Medical Center has hired what the nurses refer to as a 'union-busting' lawyer. The local hospital is the only Baystate hospital that has a union for its nurses. Baystate Health also operates Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware and Baystate Children's Hospital in Springfield.

The hospital hired Jackson Lewis law firm. On its Web site, the firm says its goal is preservation of management rights either prior to a union offensive, during a union-organizing campaign or in collective bargaining.

'We're not sure how much longer this will go on,' said Lewin. 'This is the first time the hospital has hired a firm that helps provide union-free workplaces and we're feeling that management this time is holding out on the things that are unacceptable to us.'