Legislative committee hears complaints from nurses, hospitals
<http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/hosp05152001.htm>
Associated Press
May 15, 2001
SPRINGFIELD - Nurses told the Legislature's Health Care Committee that the state needs a law setting minimum staff levels, because they are being overwhelmed trying to take care of too many patients at once.
Hospitals said the problem is money. Craig Melin, president of Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton told legislators at a public hearing in Springfield yesterday that the proposed law ignores the financial problems hospitals face. Melin is chairman of the Massachusetts Hospital Association.
Copyright by the Boston Herald
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Patient-care legislation tied to minimum staffing levels
<http://www.masslive.com/newsindex/springfield/index.ssf?/news/pstories/ae515nus.html>
by John F. Lauerman, Springfield Union-News
May 15, 2001
SPRINGFIELD ‹ State Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, threatened yesterday to withdraw key support for the establishment of minimum staffing levels for patient care facilities unless the legislation provides the means to prevent unsafe mandatory overtime.
During hearings at Western New England College School of Law, the co-chairman of the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care said that raising staffing levels without a legal mechanism to prevent health care facilities from forcing workers to take on extra hours would not be safe.
"I'm trying to tell you that if you're going to have minimum staffing levels you have to have a prohibition against excessive reliance on overtime," Moore told health care workers, "and they won't be extra people; they'll be the same people."
The hearings drew health care officials and workers from all over the state to testify about a legislation package containing measures to recruit and retain nurses. Moore said he would continue to work with nursing leaders to improve the legislative package.
Nurses and nursing home workers believe inadequate staffing bears most of the responsibility for driving nurses out of their profession.
"Without the passage of safe staffing levels," said Massachusetts Nurses Association president Denise C. Garlick, "mandatory overtime legislation would be a farce, and it wouldn't fix the problem."
Citing a 1997 study showing that hospital patient health worsens as nurse staffing levels fall, nurses said they can't bear the responsibility of working in patient care environments that pose great danger to patients.
Boston Medical Center nurse Karen A. Higgins said that superiors constantly push her to take more patients in the intensive care unit where she works, to the point where she hates her job.
"I love being a nurse, and I'm a very good nurse," she said. "But you're in danger of losing me and hundreds of other nurses."
Higgins said that many acute care nurses now carry malpractice insurance because they fear not being able to provide adequate care.
"If I had to operate in an environment like that all the time, I'd be terrified," said Rep. Gale D. Candaras D-Wilbraham.
Nursing home workers also said they take care of too many people at one time.
"This weekend, I came into work and I was the only one on the schedule," said Patricia A. Warren of Wilbraham, a nursing home worker at Wingate at Wilbraham. "It's ridiculous. Luckily two of the girls stayed to help me feed the residents and get them into bed."
Jennifer L. Kendall of Springfield said that there are frequently only four people to care for 53 people on her floor at Wingate.
"I can't cut people's fingernails or give someone an extra shower if they want it," she said. "I have to get 12 people into bed between 6 and 9:30."
Hospital officials said the minimum staffing level legislation ignores hospitals' financial distress. Cooley-Dickinson Hospital president Craig N. Melin pointed out that hospitals already receive inadequate compensation for the free care they provide.
"The need for more staff is unassailable," said Melin, who is chairman of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, "but to face this issue head on we need to reconcile it with the economic challenges we're facing."
© 2001 UNION-NEWS
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Memorial Campus nurses seek union recognition
<http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/memnurses.html>
by Jim Bodor, Telegram & Gazette
May 16, 2001
WORCESTER-- Seventy percent of the roughly 800 nurses who work on the Memorial Campus of UMass Memorial Medical Center have signed cards agreeing to organize a union, said the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Today at 3:15 p.m. the nurses will rally outside the offices of UMass Memorial Chief Executive Officer Arthur R. Russo to ask that the nurses be immediately recognized as an independent bargaining unit, said David J. Schildmeier, spokesman for the MNA.
³The nurses will ask that an impartial third party in the community be given the cards and a list of eligible employees to certify the list, and that the hospital then give them voluntary recognition,² Mr. Schildmeier said.
By recognizing the bargaining unit in such a way, the hospital and the nurses would avoid a time-consuming union election, Mr. Schildmeier said.
³What the nurses are saying is, let's avoid the rancor of a union election, and proceed with contract negotiations,² he said.
The MNA, which represents Worcester Medical Center nurses who engaged in a 42-day strike last year, began organizing Memorial nurses in April. The nurses who work at the former Memorial Hospital on Belmont Street are the last large group of nonunionized registered nurses in the city, and one of the largest nonunionized groups of nurses in the state, according to the MNA.
Occasional efforts to organize them in the past failed. But the signing in March of a new contract with the 700 nurses at the hospital's University Campus off Plantation Street sparked interest in a union at Memorial, organizers said.
That contract includes limits on mandatory overtime, and raises of up to 25 percent for the most experienced full-time nurses. Memorial's nurses did not join UMass' existing nurses union when the two hospitals merged in March 1998.
The nurses are the only pool of unorganized workers in the hospital, said Jacqueline D. Brosnihan, an operating room nurse who has helped lead the organization effort. ³All of the other pieces in the hospital are unionized,² she said. ³We are the last group. By giving Dr. Russo the opportunity to recognize us immediately, it's a chance for him to be fair to us.² The hospital respects the right of employees to organize, said Mark L. Shelton, spokesman for UMass Memorial.
³We absolutely respect our workers and the choices our employees make,² he said yesterday. ³That's consistently been UMass Memorial's position.²
Under the contract for the 700 nurses who work at the University Campus, nurses received a 4 percent pay increase retroactive to April 1, 2000, and a second 4 percent increase as of April 1. They will receive a third 4 percent increase in October. Also under the contract, nurses with the most experience received an additional 6.8 percent raise on April 1, to be followed by another 6.8 percent hike next April 1. Those terms mean minimum raises of 12 percent for all nurses, and maximum raises of as much as 25 percent for the most experienced. In some cases, UMass nurses will see their salaries climb from $58,000 per year to $70,000 per year.
Memorial nurses earn $40,000 to $45,000 per year, Ms. Brosnihan said. Their top hourly rate is $28.84, while University Campus nurses can earn nearly $40 per hour, she said.
More important, she said, Memorial nurses have no right to refuse overtime. The University Campus nurses' contract contains strict limits on mandatory overtime.
University Campus nurses on eight-hour shifts may work no more than four hours of such overtime. Those on 10-hour shifts are limited to two hours of mandatory overtime, and those on 12-hour shifts cannot be required to work any overtime. The contract also allows nurses to refuse overtime if they feel too tired or too sick to work. ³It's extremely unsafe, and we have nurses leaving right, left and center over it,² Ms. Brosnihan said. ³How can we attract nurses to Memorial when they can go up the street and the whole tone is different?²
The Memorial bargaining unit, if created, also would include registered nurses who work at the hospital's Hahnemann Campus, and the hospital's home health care nurses.
©2001 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
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Nurses deserve safe environment
<http://209.15.141.8/fijilive/news/news.php3?art=15/15k.htmhttp://www.fijilive.com>
Fiji Daily Post
May 15, 2001
NURSES deserved a safe working environment to ensure that patients were provided with quality health care, said Assistant Director for Nursing Services in Fiji Lola Tuiloma. Ms Tuiloma made this remark when addressing nurses, members of the diplomatic corp and guests present at the International Nurses Day celebration in Suva on Saturday.
She described the celebration theme, "Nurses are always there for You, United Against violence," as very timely and appropriate because of the prevailing changes the country is currently going through. Ms Tuiloma said nurses as understood by the public were always at the receiving end as a result of abuse and violence that occurred in working environment and society.
She suggested that the Ministry of Health began working closely with the Fiji Nursing Association, particularly in safeguarding the welfare of nurses around the country. Therefore the Ministry of Health must also raise its concern and agreed that nurses were a category of works in the health work environment that were particularly vulnerable to violence and were always at risk, said Ms Tuiloma.
Ms Tuiloma said violence in the health workplace threatened the delivery of effective patient services and nursing personnel must be ensured a safe working environment for quality care to be provided. She said the Ministry was aware of some contributing factors which needed to be eradicated as they could be detrimental in providing the best for the nurses such as excessive workload, unsafe working conditions and inadequate support.
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Copyright © 2000 Webmasters Limited. All rights reserved
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Six nurses on Moloka'i strike
<http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/May/13/ln/ln24a.html>
by Scott Ishikawa, Honolulu Advertiser
May 13, 2001
As expected, the six registered nurses at Moloka'i's only hospital went on strike yesterday, although the hospital remains open for medical care.
The 30-bed Moloka'i General Hospital is the only clinic on the island that offers emergency care.
Mary Bonifacio, the hospital's director of nursing, said the facility's emergency room and urgent-care and long-care operations were running normally yesterday, using two nursing administrators who also are practicing nurses.
Negotiators for the nurses' union and the hospital, owned by the Queen's Health System, did not meet yesterday, Bonifacio said. The two sides were not scheduled to meet today.
"We're hopeful this will be resolved soon, but we're not expecting any talks (today), although we are available," Bonifacio said.
Caroldean Kahue, chief negotiator for the Hawai'i Nurses' Association, was on the island, but could not be reached for comment.
The nurses are asking for a package that includes a one-time bonus and a 1 percent wage increase that would total less than $5,000 a year for all six staff members. The nurses have not received a pay increase in more than three years, according to the union.
Bonifacio said hospital negotiators made a fair offer that included pay raises, but it was rejected. Hospital administrators say the hospital loses more than $2 million a year and relies on subsidies from the state and the Queen's Health System.
© COPYRIGHT 2001 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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Ryan nurses legislation
<http://www.tribune%2Dchronicle.com>
by Bob Bromley, Warren Tribune Chronicle
May 15, 2001
YOUNGSTOWN - The strike by registered nurses at Forum Health marks its second week today, with no new talks scheduled between the sides.
No negotiations are scheduled in Youngstown's other hospital work stoppage either, as the strike by about 850 maintenance and service workers at St. Elizabeth Health Center entered its third day on Monday.
Bonnie Lambert, head of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, the union representing the nurses, expressed frustration at the lack of discussion.
"It has not been good," she told the Tribune Chronicle while attending the Stand Up for Steel rally Monday in Warren. "We've been talking mainly to the mediator. I don't know how they expect to solve the problems if they will not talk to us face to face. They want us to take concessions all the way down the line."
The strike of more than 700 nurses began May 1, and affects Northside Medical Center, Tod Children's Hospital, Beeghly Emergency Room and Beeghly Surgical Center. Forum Health has called in temporary nurses from outside the area to fill in.
On Monday, state Sen. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Niles, met with the striking nurses and announced he would be introducing legislation in the Senate that would ban mandatory overtime for registered nurses. That issue has been the chief sticking point in the work stoppage.
There is a bill in the Ohio House of Representatives that would ban mandatory overtime, but it also deals with other issues and is stalled in committee, Ryan said. His Senate version would be much simpler, he said, dealing only with two issues: a ban on mandatory overtime and a ban on working any shift in excess of 18 hours.
"I think this has a much better chance than the one held up in the House," Ryan said.
Although Ryan threw his support behind the nurses Monday, he said he really was acting on behalf of patients.
"None of us would want to see a parent or a grandparent being cared for by someone who has been working 15 hours straight," he said.
But addressing the issue of mandatory overtime is only one part of a much larger issue - there is a critical shortage of nurses, Ryan said.
"The short-term is getting rid of mandatory overtime, but the longer term is to find incentives for more people to enter nursing," he said.
Ryan said he may take up that issue in the future, with incentives like tax credits for students loans or loan forgiveness being explored.
Like his counterpart with the nurses union, Ken Norris, chief negotiator for Teamsters Local 377, the union representing the striking workers at St. Elizabeth, expressed disappointment Monday that no talks have been scheduled.
...
Copyright © 2001 Tribune Chronicle
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Picket arrested at St. Elizabeth
by Joe Gorman, Warren Tribune Chronicle
May 16, 2001
YOUNGSTOWN -- Officials for Humility of Mary Health Partners late Tuesday afternoon asked a Mahoning County Common Pleas judge to issue an injunction limiting the amount of pickets in front of St. Elizabeth Health Center.
The request came on the heels of an incident earlier in the morning when a picket was arrested by HMHP police following an altercation on the picket line as a truck tried to make a delivery.
The picket, whose name was not released, was jailed briefly before posting bail.
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Around 900 maintenance, janitorial and dietary workers walked off their jobs Saturday afternoon. The main sticking points are wages and benefits. No talks between Teamsters Local 377, which represents the workers, and management, have been scheduled.
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The statement said that for the most part, striking workers have been respectful on the picket line but that isolated incidents have been dealt with by hospital police and security.
In the other hospital strike, no new talks have been scheduled between Forum Health and members of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association. Around 700 nurses from Northside Medical Center, Tod Children's Hospital, the Beeghly Emergency Room and the Beeghly Surgical Center went on strike May 1.
The main issue in the nurses dispute is mandatory overtime.
The two sides last met at the bargaining table with a federal mediator Friday. Officials from both Forum Health and the union said Tuesday that no new talks have been scheduled.
www.tribune-chronicle.com
Copyright © 2001 Tribune Chronicle
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Nurse contract talks enter final week
<http://www.startribune.com/st/qview.cgi?template=metro_a_cache&slug=nurs1news>
by Glenn Howatt, Star Tribune
May 14, 2001
After nearly three months of contract talks, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and 13 metro-area hospitals are scheduled to wrap up negotiations by tonight on the key issues of salary and health insurance.
But after Friday's negotiating session on those and other economic issues, MNA officials said they were less certain that an acceptable agreement will be reached by the deadline.
"I can't reveal details," said MNA spokeswoman Jan Rabbers. "But I'm not as optimistic. Both sides are still far apart."
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All of this comes before a membership vote scheduled for Thursday, where 9,000 registered nurses will choose to accept or reject the proposed contract.
If more than two-thirds of the voters reject the contract, a strike authorization would automatically kick in.
A strike, however, could be averted if both sides return to the bargaining table and reach agreement before the contract expires May 31.
Otherwise, registered nurses at 13 Twin Cities hospitals might be on the picket line for the first time since 1984 -- a strike that marked the beginning of the managed-care era in the metro area.
At the forefront
At the time, the Twin Cities area was at the forefront of managed care, with one-third of its residents in an HMO. Hospitals were forced to downsize, cut patient stays in the hospital and provide more care on an outpatient basis.
The 1984 strike, which affected 16 hospitals, was not an attempt by the MNA to stop layoffs, but to keep the hospitals from firing nurses with the most seniority.
On Day 39 of the strike, the MNA won, and the hospitals agreed to provide seniority-based job security.
Now, the MNA says that the downsizing has gone too far, and that hospitals are not staffing properly, despite a recent increase in patient demand.
"We are so understaffed we can't adequately assess patients," said Jean Ross, a registered nurse at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina. "The public doesn't know what is going on inside" hospitals.
Many nurses say hospitals are so understaffed that mistakes are becoming common.
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Hospitals are not required to report nurse-patient ratios to government officials, nor are staffing minimums set by law.
Hours worked fell
But it is known that the number of hours worked by all registered nurses at the 13 hospitals involved in contract talks fell 4 percent between 1992 and 1999, according to data filed by the hospitals with state regulators.
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The hospitals say that they are doing as much as they can to ensure adequate staffing, but that job openings often go unfilled because there aren't enough nurses looking for work.
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-- Glenn Howatt is at howatt@startribune.com .
© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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Nurses dissatisfied; talks resume today
<http://www.startribune.com/st/qview.cgi?template=biz_a_cache&slug=nurs15>
by Glenn Howatt, Star Tribune
May 15, 2001
Contract negotiations between the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and 13 metro area hospitals broke off late Monday night with nurses expressing dissatisfaction with the salary and benefit proposals offered by management.
Some negotiations between individual hospitals and their nurses will continue today and Wednesday on issues like scheduling and safety, but the MNA was not optimistic that the overall packages would be satisfactory.
Both sides said it was unlikely that there would be any additional negotiations on the major economic issues before Thursday's scheduled contract vote.
Union officials stopped short of saying they would recommend that the 9,000 nurses vote against the contract and authorize a strike.
The registered nurses are scheduled to vote on the proposed contract Thursday. It would be a vote on the hospitals' final wage offer as well as any accords that were reached during the three months of talks.
The union will give its rank-and-file a recommendation on whether to approve or defeat the contract just before the contract vote.
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However, should the nurses vote down the proposal on Thursday, both sides could come together before the contract expires May 31. If a strike occurs, nurses would not walk out before the contract expiration date.
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-- Glenn Howatt is at howatt@startribune.com .
© Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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