For Immediate Release
March 30, 2001
MNA Lauds Introduction of Federal Bill to Ban Mandatory Overtime
Legislation Is Designed to Assure Quality of Patient Care
The Massachusetts Nurses Association yesterday participated in a press
conference announcing the introduction of federal legislation to prohibit
mandatory overtime for licensed health care employees (excluding physicians).
Sponsors of the legislation said it would crack down on the increasing trend
of hospitals to require nurses to work overtime shifts, and this will help
improve the quality of patient care because nurse fatigue resulting from
forced overtime work is a serious threat to patient safety.
The bill, entitled The Registered Nurses and Patients Protection Act, was
unveiled at a Washington D.C. press conference held on March 29 attended by
Members of Congress Tom Lantos (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), and Hilda Solis
(D-CA) and representatives of the Massachusetts Nurses Association,
California Nurses Associations and the Pennsylvania Association of Staff
Nurses and Allied Professionals, three groups that consulted with the
Congressmen on the language for the bill.
MNA's Sandy Ellis, co-chair of the MNA's Congress on Health Policy and
Legislation as well as a leader of the landmark St. Vincent
Hospital/Worcester Medical Center nurses' 49-day strike over the issue,
represented the MNA and addressed the media concerning the bill. The complete
text of her remarks, along with those of Congressman James McGovern can be
found at the end of this email message.
"The use of mandatory overtime for nurses has caused a public health crisis
in this country. It is unconscionable that, in this healthcare environment
when nurses must care for more patients and hospitalized patients are sicker
than ever before, it is demanded we work forced 12, 14, and even 16-hour
shifts," Ellis told the national press corps. "Would any person want his own
mother or child cared for by a bleary-eyed, exhausted nurse who is forced to
be at work against her will? Cared for by a nurse who because of her
exhaustion, because she has already worked her scheduled shift didn't notice
that Mom's breathing is a bit more labored than it was an hour ago? If the
nurse weren't so exhausted, she may have picked up that cue and maybe Mom's
congestive heart failure might have been prevented."
"Too often, our health care system is based on the bottom line, on profits
rather than patients. Health care companies can save money by forcing people
to work brutal hours. But those savings come with a real and disturbing cost:
the increased likelihood of medical errors. Quite simply, that is just too
high a price to pay," said Congressman McGovern, who played a pivotal role in
supporting the St. Vincent nurses throughout their strike.
"Recently, my hometown of Worcester experienced a very difficult strike by
the nurses at St. Vincent's hospital. Over 600 nurses stood firm and stood
together against mandatory overtime. In the end, they won. But more
importantly, their patients won. Their patients won the right to treatment
from a nurse who hasn't been on his or her feet for 16 hours. Their patients
won the right to safe, effective health care. That was the real victory in
Worcester, and that is our goal with this legislation.
The Lantos-McGovern-Solis bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to bar
mandatory overtime beyond 8 hours in a single work day or 80 hours in any 14
day work period, except in the case of a natural disaster or in the event of
a declaration of emergency by federal, state or local government officials.
Voluntary overtime is also exempted.
"This legislation is not just a labor law, but even more importantly, a
patient safety issue," Ellis said. "It will also help to protect the
liability of nurses who put their licenses to practice in jeopardy, every
time they are forced to work when they feel too tired to do so safely. Truck
drivers, pilots, and postal workers have limits on the amount of hours that
they can work. But nurses who bear the responsibility of caring for patients
whose lives are in their hands do not. This legislation will change that."
"We need to give nurses more power to decide when overtime hours hurt their
job performance," said Lantos. "A nurse knows better than anyone - better
than his or her supervisor and certainly better than a profit-driven hospital
administrator - when he or she is so exhausted that continuing to work could
jeopardize the safety of patients. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to
know that forcing nurses to work 12 or 16 hours at a time is a prescription
for bad health care."
Contacts: For MNA, David Schildmeier, 781-830-5717.
For Rep. McGovern, Michael Mershon (202) 225-6101.
For Sandy Ellis, 508-752-6979.
Remarks By Sandy Ellis, RN
Press Conference Announcing Bill to Ban Mandatory Overtime
The use of mandatory overtime for nurses has caused a public health crisis in
this country. It is unconscionable that, in this healthcare environment when
nurses must care for more patients and hospitalized patients are sicker than
ever before, it is demanded we work forced 12, 14, and even 16-hour shifts.
Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry. It is the nurse who
patients and their families rely on to make clinical observations and
decisions on a dime, because their own lives depend on it. Would any person
want his own mother or child cared for by a bleary-eyed, exhausted nurse who
is forced to be at work against her will? Cared for by a nurse who because of
her exhaustion, because she has already worked her scheduled shift didn't
notice that Mom's breathing is a bit more labored than it was an hour ago? If
the nurse weren't so exhausted, she may have picked up that cue and maybe
Mom's congestive heart failure might have been prevented.
Mandatory overtime has no regard for family values. Nursing is predominantly
a profession of women, women with children or parents to care for at home.
Many of those women are single mothers. Imagine being told near the end of
your shift that you must stay for another 8 hours and will be threatened with
discipline or termination if you refuse. Imagine that your child stands
terrified, waiting for you at the school bus stop because you were forced to
stay at work and couldn't be there to pick him up. Or imagine that nurses are
left with no option but to bring their children onto a hospital unit while
they work, because there is no one else to take care of them. No nurse should
ever have to choose between her license and the safety of her children.
No nurse should ever have to go on strike over mandatory overtime. That's
just what happened 1 year ago to me and the nurses that I work with at St.
Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. Our bargaining unit was so
fortunate that Congressman McGovern and Senator Kennedy helped to end our
49-day strike and that we got the contract language that allows nurses to
refuse overtime if they feel too tired to practice safely. But thousands of
nurses in Massachusetts and millions of nurses around this country don't have
a union and even if they do, don't have contract language preventing the use
of mandatory overtime at their facility.
This legislation is not just a labor law, but even more importantly, a
patient safety issue. It will also help to protect the liability of nurses
who put their licenses to practice in jeopardy, every time they are forced to
work when they feel too tired to do so safely. Truck drivers, pilots, and
postal workers have limits on the amount of hours that they can work. But
nurses who bear the responsibility of caring for patients whose lives are in
their hands do not. This legislation will change that.
Hospitals that mandate overtime from their direct care professionals should
place a warning label at the entrance which says "We cannot guarantee that
the care that you receive here will be safe, because we force our nurses to
work mandatory overtime." It should not just be the responsibility of policy
makers, but of society and the healthcare industry, who must demand that
nursing care is safe and that nurses are respected. It is a crime to make the
patient the fall guy for the system's failure to provide safe care.
Statement of US Representative Jim McGovern on
the Registered Nurses and Patients’ Protection Act
I'm very proud to be here this afternoon as we introduce this critical
legislation. I want to thank my friend Tom Lantos for his leadership on this
issue, as well as Congresswoman Solis, whose voice is a welcome and important
addition to this debate.
I especially want to thank Sandy Ellis and her colleagues from the
Massachusetts Nurses Association for being here. Sandy and I have fought in
the trenches together, and she's an extraordinary advocate for her colleagues.
We are here this morning in an effort to protect not just the rights of
health care workers, but the safety of their patients. If this country is to
truly have the finest health care system in the world, that system must be
staffed by qualified professionals who are treated like qualified
professionals. Our bill would help us meet that goal.
Recently, my hometown of Worcester experienced a very difficult strike by the
nurses at St. Vincent's hospital. Over 600 nurses stood firm and stood
together against mandatory overtime. In the end, they won. But more
importantly, their patients won. Their patients won the right to treatment
from a nurse who hasn't been on his or her feet for 16 hours. Their patients
won the right to safe, effective health care. That was the real victory in
Worcester, and that is our goal with this legislation.
Our bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit most mandatory
overtime beyond 8 hours in a workday or 80 hours in any 14-day work period.
The legislation would not prohibit voluntary overtime.
Too often, our health care system is based on the bottom line, on profits
rather than patients. Health care companies can save money by forcing people
to work brutal hours. But those savings come with a real and disturbing cost:
the increased likelihood of medical errors. Quite simply, that is just too
high a price to pay.
Again, I want to thank my colleagues and the health care professionals who
have joined us here today.
David Schildmeier
Director of Public Communications
Massachusetts Nurses Association
800-882-2056 x717 (Within Mass. only)
781-830-5717
781-821-4445 (fax)
781-249-0430 (cell phone)
508-426-1655 (pager)
----------------------
For Immediate Release March 29, 2001
CNA Welcomes Federal Bill to Ban Mandatory Overtime
Legislation Is Designed to Assure Quality of Patient Care
The California Nurses Association today hailed the introduction of federal
legislation to prohibit mandatory overtime for licensed health care employees
(excluding physicians). Sponsors of the legislation said it would crack down
on the increasing trend of hospitals to require nurses to work overtime
shifts, and this will help improve the quality of patient care because nurse
fatigue resulting from forced overtime work is a serious threat to patient
safety.
The bill was unveiled at a Washington D.C. press conference today attended by
Members of Congress Tom Lantos (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), and Hilda Solis
(D-CA) and representatives of CNA, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and
the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.
"Nurses all across our nation are being forced to work overtime when they are
exhausted, when they have already worked a full shift. This legislation will
give nurses essential protection from forced overtime," Lantos said. "This is
a public health issue as much as it is an issue of exploiting workers.
Exhausted health care workers can inadvertently and unintentionally put
patients' safety at risk. America's nurses put their hearts into caring for
individuals, and it is inhumane the way hospitals are permitted to treat
their nurses."
The Lantos-McGovern-Solis bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to bar
mandatory overtime beyond 8 hours in a single work day or 80 hours in any 14
day work period, except in the case of a natural disaster or in the event of
a declaration of emergency by federal, state or local government officials.
Voluntary overtime is also exempted.
In a statement praising the bill, CNA President Kay McVay, RN, said, "an end
to forced overtime is a central component of restoring the patient safety
net, and a key ingredient in tackling the nursing shortage. Throughout the
country too many hospitals are requiring forced overtime as a substitute for
regular scheduled staffing. Nurses find that at the end of a long shift, they
are being mandated to work another eight hours or more, when they no longer
have the stamina and mental alertness to provide the quality care their
patients need."
"We need to give nurses more power to decide when overtime hours hurt their
job performance," said Lantos. "A nurse knows better than anyone - better
than his or her supervisor and certainly better than a profit-driven hospital
administrator - when he or she is so exhausted that continuing to work could
jeopardize the safety of patients. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to
know that forcing nurses to work 12 or 16 hours at a time is a prescription
for bad health care."
Contacts: For CNA, Charles Idelson, 510-273-2246.
For Rep. Lantos, Bob King (202) 225-3531.
--------------------
Bill would let nurses say no to overtime
by Tania Anderson, States News Service
March 30, 2001
WASHINGTON-- One year ago, a group of 600 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in
Worcester began a strike when the hospital administration contract proposals
included a requirement that nurses work overtime.
One victorious year later, lawmakers are trying to create a federal rule
allowing nurses to refuse to work beyond their eight-hour shifts. Rep. James
P. McGovern, D-Worcester, and two California House Democrats introduced
legislation yesterday that amends the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Besides limiting the number of hours a nurse works in a day, the legislation
would stop mandatory overtime beyond 80 hours in a 14-day work period.
Lawmakers said studies show when a worker exceeds 12 hours of work, the
likelihood that that person will make an error increases.
"Too often, our health care system is based on the bottom line, on profits
rather than patients," Mr. McGovern said. "Health care companies can save
money by forcing people to work brutal hours. But those savings come with a
real and disturbing cost: the increased likelihood of medical errors."
But the hospital industry, which suffers from a nationwide shortage of
nurses, says that mandatory overtime is rarely used, and health care
professionals usually go through several other steps before requiring nurses
to work beyond their eight hours.
"It is a tool we feel is essential for managers to have," said Carla
Luggero, senior associate director of federal relations for the American
Hospital Association. "If the choice is between no nurse or a tired nurse,
it's going to be the tired nurse that we ought to have."
But Sandy A. Ellis, a St. Vincent Hospital nurse who was in Washington
yesterday in support of the legislation, said a tired nurse can mean death
for a patient. She said nurses at St. Vincent and the University of
Massachusetts hospitals have always had language in their contracts to
restrict mandatory overtime.
"This legislation becomes exceedingly important because it will protect all
health care professionals and ultimately our patients," Ms. Ellis said.
"Having tired, exhausted nurses at the bedside is no safety net."
Reps. Tom Lantos and Hilda Solis, both Democrats from California,
co-sponsored the legislation.
©2001 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
------------------------------
Brockton nurses: End mandatory OT
by Sean Flynn, Brockton (Massachusetts) Enterprise
March 30, 2001
BROCKTON - Michelle Sullivan, a nurse in the emergency room at Brockton
Hospital, had just finished an