Massachusetts Nurse | September 2004

Jeers for management at Harvard Vanguard! Cheers for MNA members there!
Nurses tire of employer’s arrogant disrespect

Until recently, the MNA bargaining unit at Harvard Vanguard had not been at the top of the list of the most active and assertive units. But recent positions and actions taken by Harvard Vanguard have led to a sort of metamorphosis.

The agreement MNA has with Harvard Vanguard had a wage re-opener for this year of the contract. The contract does not have the traditional experiential grid contained in all of our other MNA agreements, but rather a range with minimums and maximums. Annual increases for each nurse are based on “merit” as unilaterally determined by Harvard Vanguard through its evaluation system. For example a nurse with 25 years experience could be paid as little as $30.74 but not more than $37.96. The employer proposed to allow for merit increases this year of 0 percent, 3 percent or 4.75 percent dependant on each nurses’ annual evaluation. Based on past history, only a handful of nurses get an evaluation sufficient enough to provide the highest increase in salary.

At the same time, Harvard Vanguard proposed to increase its maximum rate by 20 percent to $45.35; however that rate would only be available to nurses in a new program Harvard Vanguard has established. Harvard Vanguard explained they needed the new maximum rate in order to be competitive and recruit and retain nurses in its new endoscopy program, most of whom were recruited from the Beth Israel program. The Harvard Vanguard membership voted down that proposal. Their concerns were that the Harvard Vanguard proposal was neither equitable for all the bargaining unit nurses nor in step with compensation for nurses in and around Boston.

Despite the bargaining unit’s rejection of Harvard Vanguard’s offer and in violation of the law, the employer proceeded to implement the increases of up to 20 percent for the nurses in the new program. Next, Harvard Vanguard started reprimanding unit activists and leaders for using Harvard Vanguard’s internal e-mail system to circulate union information about the contract negotiations. Harvard Vanguard’s actions again appear to be in violation of the law and in contravention of the National Labor Relations Act. The MNA has filed charges against Harvard Vanguard with regard to both of these issues.

In subsequent negotiations Harvard Vanguard said that its position of increasing the maximum salaries by up to 20 percent would be expanded to approximately another seven nurses and that its maximum increase allowed for all other bargaining unit members was revised downward from its initial proposal of 4.75 percent to 3.5 percent. It subsequently amended that proposal by 0.1 percent to 3.6 percent. Under that proposal, we estimate it would take any nurse at the current Harvard Vanguard maximum at least six more years to reach the newly proposed maximum of $45.35 ?and only then under ideal circumstances.

The response by the MNA members has been impressive. At the last negotiations session our negotiations team had grown to 30 members; turn out at unit meetings has been greater than ever; a number of grievances have been initiated because of Harvard Vanguard’s actions against members; and our e-mail communications network has mushroomed. The nurses at Harvard Vanguard are uniting like never before. They are realizing that the only way Harvard Vanguard can take advantage of the nurses is if they continue to let them.

The nurses at Harvard Vanguard know that the nurses in the new endoscopy program deserve all of the $45.35 per hour and, based on the current market for nurses, probably more. They know a nurse with over 25 years of experience merits an hourly rate significantly higher than the $30.74 that Harvard Vanguard could pay her/him.

They know that a similarly experienced nurse practitioner deserves more than the $38.51 she/he might be paid at Harvard Vanguard. They know that an increase of not more than 3.6 percent to an already uncompetitive salary is an insult and out of tune with the reality of this market, where double digit increases are common.

The nurses have explained to Harvard Vanguard that the reason it isn’t competitive with regard to salaries for endoscopy nurses is because its compensation system and salaries are not consistent with the health care industry norms in the greater Boston area. Harvard Vanguard and the MNA negotiations team will be back at the bargaining table, with the assistance of a federal mediator, on Sept. 21. Maybe by then Harvard Vanguard will realize that the MNA members who work for them are a very valuable asset that needs to be respected and that the members need to be compensated equitably and competitively? or else its ability to deliver quality health services with a quali- fied dedicated nursing force could be severely compromised.

After all, it would appear that Beth Israel learned that lesson the hard way with regards to its endoscopy program.