Events Calendar
Join the Morton Hospital Nurses & Health Professionals at an Informational Picket
03.17.2010, 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Join the Morton Hospital Nurses & Health Professionals at an Informational Picket for a Fair Contract to Include Safe Staffing, No Mandatory Overtime and Protection of the Nurses’ Defined Benefit Pension
When: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 from 2 – 4:30 p.m.
Where: Morton Hospital, 88 Washington St., Taunton, Mass.
The registered nurses and health professionals of Morton Hospital, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, presented hospital management with the required ten-day notice of their intent to conduct informational picketing outside the entrance to the hospital. The picket will be held on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) from 2 – 4:30 p.m.
The notice was delivered at the end of contract talks on March 2, where little movement was made on the key issues in dispute — including a proposal by the nurses to control the increased use of mandatory overtime as an alternative to providing appropriate staffing for patient units and clinical services and to maintain a stable defined benefit pension plan.
“We continue to be disappointed by the hospital’s refusal to respect and listen to the serious concerns its front-line staff have about the conditions at this hospital and our desire to improve them,”said Joyce Wilkins, RN and chairperson of the nurses’ local bargaining unit. “Our efforts to reach out to and educate the public about these issues will continue, as they have the most to lose if the hospital continues in its uncompromising stance. The bottom line is that an exhausted nurse cannot provide safe patient care.”
According to the nurses and health professionals, the hospital has failed to provide enough staff to give patients the care they deserve. Instead, it is forcing clinical staff to work extra hours and double shifts, regardless of the impact this may have on the quality and safety of patient care. Studies show that nurses working forced overtime are more likely to make medical errors and experts say the practice should be prohibited.
The nurses are seeking changes to their contract language that will require the hospital to provide full staffing to avoid the need for forced overtime while also providing strict limits on the number of times it can be used. The nurses are also seeking a ban on any nurse being required to work more than 12 hours straight, which is recommended by the Institute of Medicine.
Morton management has also come to the negotiating table demanding the right to dismantle the nurses’ and health care professionals’ pension benefit, unilaterally changing it from a defined benefit to a defined contribution (401k-type) plan.
According to an analysis of the proposal by one of the nation’s leading pension consulting firms, for most of the professionals at Morton Hospital a change to a defined contribution pension plan would result in a 36 to 50 percent cut in the employees’ retirement benefit. The demand to take away the pension follows the hospital’s posting of a $5 million profit and its awarding of a $3 million bonus to its outgoing CEO.
