Celebrate International Women¹s Day
International Women's Day
March is observed as Women¹s History Month because March 8 is International Women¹s Day. The holiday had its origins in the struggles of working women in the United States. On March 8, 1908, the underpaid and badly treated women workers in New York¹s needle trades demonstrated for better conditions. Work in New York¹s garment shops a century ago was seasonal. Workers were either pushed for up to 60 hours a week, or thrown out on the street without income of any kind. Most workers were employed by small shops, which constantly tried to bid down prices and wages. Workers were charged for the use of sewing machines, needle and thread, fined for coming in late or spoiling cloth. Most workers were young women, who were paid a pittance; men were either skilled workers or subcontractors. ...
International Women's Day 2002
<http://www.anf.org.au/news_briefs/brief_IWD.html>
Australian Nurses Federation, March, 2002
The first International Women's Day (IWD) was held on March 19, 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and other European nations. The date was chosen by German women because on that date in 1848 the Prussian king, faced with an armed uprising, had promised many reforms including one subsequently not honoured, of giving women the vote. During International Women's Year in 1975 IWD was given official recognition by the United Nations and was taken up by many governments who had not previously known of its existence. The first Australian IWD rally took place in the Sydney Domain on 25 March 1928. It called for equal pay for equal work; an 8-hour day for female shop assistants; no piece work; the basic wage for the unemployed; and, annual holidays on full pay. ...
Survey 2001: Jobs @ ICFTU Spotlight on unions and women
<http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Language=EN&Index=991214855>
Amanda Villatoro, ICFTU/ORIT, March, 2002
The problems facing women differ immensely from country to country and from continent to continent, and the ICFTU and its Global Unions partners have affiliates in well over 200 countries; with their work touching upon sectors ranging from chemicals to catering. On 7 March 2002, the ICFTU launches its global campaign for the unionisation of women entitled, Œtrade unions for women, women for trade unions.¹ To give an idea of the successes achieved, the challenges to be surmounted and the priorities for the future, the ICFTU is launching a week of interviews of prominent trade union women from around the world and from a cross section of industries. ...
Hazards and Workers' Health International Newsletter
<http://www.hazards.org/women>
Hazards and Workers' Health International Newsletter
PO Box 199, Sheffield S1 4YL, England
Women's work: Lot's of risks and little protection at work
International Women's Day 2002: Celebrate March 8 by Organizing!
<http://www.iuf.org.uk/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=206&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1>
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers¹ Associations, March 4, 2002
Women make up at least 40 percent of the global IUF membership but their number could be much higher, according to the results of a membership survey carried out by the secretariat. The survey results are not unique to the IUF sectors. Among the main reasons women give for not joining a union three stand out:
* Lack of understanding of how unions can help them
* Fear of employer reprisals
* Conflicting family responsibilities
Organizing women workers and strengthening women's representation and leadership in member unions and in society generally has long been a priority for the IUF. The survey results - and the persistence and even widening of gender pay gaps - show how much remains to be done for unions to realize their full potential as vehicles for equality between men and women. ...
An effort to attract minorities to nursing
Aiming to boost Rhode Island's nursing ranks and bring more minorities into the profession, Salve Regina University has launched a $2-million program to recruit nursing students of color and support them with scholarships, mentors, and hospital jobs. Nurses are in short supply across the nation, with young women opting for better-paying, less strenuous jobs even as the need for nursing grows with an aging population. Demographic changes have also built up demand for minority nurses, especially Hispanics who can break through language and culture barriers. But while the US population is now 30 percent minority -- including 12.5 percent Hispanic -- less than 14 percent of registered nurses are minorities, and only 2 percent Hispanic. ...
Glenys Kinnock MEP joins Senior Trade Unionists in Wales to marks International Womens¹ Day
<http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-4531-f0.cfm>
Trade Union Confederation, March 5, 2002
Glenys Kinnock MEP will be the guest speaker at a lunch to mark International Womens¹ Day in Wales. The lunch will be held at Churchills Hotel, in Cardiff at 12.30pm on March 8th 2002 where Senior Trade Unionists in Wales will come together to celebrate this important day. Felicity Williams, Assistant General Secretary of the Wales TUC said 'Women throughout the world share a common history of discrimination and exploitation. Here in Wales, trade unionists have achieved much but as the equal pay campaign, launched yesterday, shows, we have much to do. ...
Honouring Caregivers On International Women¹s Day
<http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0203/S00026.htm>
New Zealand Nurses Organisation, March 6, 2002
The working lives of thousands of New Zealand women caregivers will be honoured on International Women¹s Day tomorrow (March 8). NZNO and the Service and Food Workers¹ Union (SFWU) are using the day to acknowledge the enormous contribution of caregivers to the care of the nation¹s elderly who live in rest-homes and hospitals. The unions want to use International Women¹s Day to raise public awareness of the exploitation of thousands of women workers in the aged-care sector. Pay rates for caregivers range from between $8 to $12 an hour. ...
March 8: A day to reflect on the lot of women worldwide
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/60908_women06.shtml>
Thomas Hargrove, Scripps Howard News Service, March 6, 2002
Women laboring in New York City's sweatshops began a strike on March 8, 1857, to protest bad wages, 12-hour workdays and the unhealthy, even dangerous, conditions in garment and textile factories. The protest -- which historians cite as the first documented labor action taken by women specifically to improve their working conditions -- ended violently when police physically dispersed the march. The Women's Socialist International meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1910 proclaimed the date as International Women's Day, a commemoration adopted in 1975 by the UN General Assembly. Women have made considerable strides in the 145 years since the sweatshop strike. Yet women's groups will mark Friday with demonstrations throughout the world in hopes of improving their social and economic status. ...
Students rethink approach to Israel
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_israel03072002.htm>
Shanley Stern, Daily News Tribune, March 7, 2002
WALTHAM - Two Brandeis University students who spent the summer in their native country of Israel promoting peaceful coexistence have been forced to rethink the strategy. Maisa Khshaibon and Marina Pevzner know what they would do differently the next time around. They spent the summer working with both Palestinians and Jews to teach coexistence as a part of a Karpf Peace Project awarded through Brandeis. "If I was asked to do it again, I would refuse," Khshaibon said. "I would rather do something worth my time. The Israel that I left is not the Israel of today. I kept getting shocked again and again." The students spoke of their experience before an audience at the university Tuesday night. ...
Women¹s Day events planned
<http://www.gazettenet.com/03072002/news/12207.htm>
Alicia Upano, Daily Hampshire Gazette, March 7, 2002
With the theme "Invest in Caring Not Killing," local organizers of International Women's Day on Friday have expanded events around the Valley this year, from handing out leaflets to vigils. International Women's Day is a century-old celebration recognized in nearly 60 countries that seeks to honor, educate and unite women. Local sponsors are encouraging women to participate. "It's a celebration of the strength of women ... of women's voices as we articulate what are concerns are," said Jo Comerford, program director of the American Friends Service Committee, one of the event's local sponsors. ...
Union lead
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4369337,00.html>
Louise Silverton Deputy general secretary, Royal College of Midwives, Guardian, March 7, 2002
I agree with Margaret Prosser (Letters, February 25) that we need more diversity among trade union officers. On his retirement, Bill Morris will be a sad loss to the trade union movement for his commitment to a more equal society in the workplace. But there are other black trade union leaders in this country. The Royal College of Midwives' general secretary, Karlene Davis, is the first black woman trade union leader in the UK. And within the last year the Royal College of Nursing appointed Beverley Malone. ...
Global action marks International Women's Day
<http://www.itf.org.uk/media/releases/070302.htm>
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, March 7, 2002
The ITF, its affiliated trade unions and their hundreds of thousands of women members will celebrate International Women's Day tomorrow by organising activities all over the world. Unions in 31 countries will hold events promoting equality and women's role in trade unions. These are just a few examples ...
Statement by the women's committee of Workers Left Unity Iran
<http://www.etehadchap.com/8mar.html>
Women's' Committee - Workers Left Unity - Iran, March 8, 2002
In the 21st century, in our country Iran, women are flogged for showing their fringe, the medieval punishment of stoning to death persists, Iran's clerical rulers who enforce the wearing of the veil on all Iranian women, including women from religious minorities (Christians, Jews ... ) are presiding over a country where prostitution, drug abuse is on the rise, where fundamentalism has only lead to unprecedented levels of moral and social decadence. Poverty and rising unemployment have lead to an increase in the number of street children, some 25,000, many of them young girls. Iranian women are victims of violence in the home as well as violence by strangers. ...
Landmark ruling in pregnancy job case
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=1190523&thesection=news&thesubsection=general>
Amie Richardson, New Zealand Herald, March 8, 2002
A woman made redundant within hours of telling her employer she was pregnant has been awarded $8000 for discrimination in a landmark employment case. The Complaints Review Tribunal has ruled that Chrissie Anderson, an Auckland legal executive, was indirectly discriminated against because she was pregnant - the first such ruling in New Zealand. Indirect discrimination occurs when an employer imposes a condition of employment that is not discriminatory in itself, but has the effect to discriminate against the employee. ...
Women Tired Of A Decade Of Discrimination
<http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/ED0203/S00024.htm>
New Zealand University Student's Association, March 8, 2002
Tomorrow is International Working Women¹s Day, and female students around the country will be using the opportunity to show the way the student loan scheme is especially unfair to women. University and polytechnic students¹ associations will be using speakers, lunches, performances, fliers and music to encourage female students to act against the discriminatory loan scheme. ³Women take longer to pay back our student loans because we earn less than men and take time out to have babies. The longer you take to repay your debt, the more you pay in interest. On average, a basic degree costs $4500 more for a woman than a man,² said New Zealand University Students¹ Association (NZUSA) National Women¹s Rights Officer, Anna McMartin. ...
Let Us Struggle Against War and Fundamentalism and for Peace and Democracy!
Partisans of freedom, sisters and brothers,
When celebrating March 8th last year, RAWA expressed the fond hope that in the coming year, ie 2002, we will be celebrating International Women's Day inside a free and liberated Afghanistan. During the course of the past year the world community was shocked by events emanating from Afghanistan and contemporary history has been drastically changed by them. Many things have come to pass in Afghanistan - not the least of which is the fumigation of the Taliban pestilence and their al-Qaeda carriers - but it is with bitter disappointment that despite all these momentous changes our unhappy land is still far from enjoying freedom and liberty. ...
Raise Your Woman's Voice on March 8, 2002
<http://www.coalitionofwomen4peace.org>
Bat Shalom, March 8, 2002
March 8th IN ISRAEL - 17 foreign consulates and embassies have responded to our request to receive delegations of women bearing Bat Shalom's demands for international intervention and assistance in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and international protection for the Palestinian people. Meetings with Ambassadors and Consul Generals from Australia, Bosnia, the Ivory Coast, El Salvador, France, Georgia, Germany, Honduras, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka and the United States are already scheduled for the morning of March 8th. ...
Health Care Reform: Structure
Single Payer Universal Health Care Alert
<http://www.mainenurse.org>
Maine will lead the nation with single payor universal health care if ...
* The feasibility study gets funded. (Maine recently passed a law that directs a Security Board to implement a single payor universal health care system for the State of Maine.)
* The report is published ASAP. (The State of Maine has appropriated $10,000 for the Security Board and it will cost $40,000 plus to fund the feasibility study and produce the report.
Send your check to:
MSNA
PO Box 2240
Augusta, ME 04338-2240
Government submits bill to further increase workers' burden of medical treatment
<http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2275/submit.html>
Japan Press Service, February 27 - March 5, 2002
The government on March 1 approved a draft bill to increase salaried workers share of payment of medical costs to 30 percent from the present 20 percent, to commence in April 2003. Under the new system, two hospital visits for treatment of flu will cost the patient 1,500 yen or more instead of 1,000 yen at present, and an operation for appendicitis with seven-day hospitalization will cost 79,220 yen. ...
This makes health care puzzle hard
<http://www.portland.com/viewpoints/porter/020303jwp.shtml>
John W. Porter, Portland Press Herald, March 3, 2002
Do me a favor. Stick with this column, even though it might get a little dry. Behind the topic up for discussion today - how "adverse selection" affects health care policy in Maine and America - are real issues for you and your family. You see, what I'm about to try to explain has a lot to do with those outrageous hospital bills where Tylenol costs $6 a pop. It sends health insurance premiums through the roof year after year. It leaves thousands of Mainers and millions of Americans without health insurance. ...
Plan would hike Medicaid costs
Lawmaker wants counties to pay more
<http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/030502/met_8786423.html>
Jim Saunders, Florida Times-Union staff, March 5, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- Rep. Sandra Murman likens Medicaid to the old video game Pac-Man. With the number of poor people and senior citizens growing in Florida, the health care program gobbles up more and more of the state's budget each year. "If you can imagine a little Pac-Man eating into general revenue, that's what Medicaid is," said Murman, a Tampa Republican who oversees health spending in the House. Now, Murman is pushing a plan that could lead to Medicaid chewing into the budgets of Jacksonville and other local governments. ...
Health care forum rehashes past concerns
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=9EEA65CD-1AD1-4925-AD60-60A369A4C9AC>
Canadian Press, March 5, 2002
REGINA -- The second, more private, phase of public hearings into Canada's health-care system continued in Regina on Tuesday. Close to 20 people, representing everything from nurses, native groups and unions to the provincial government are meeting behind closed doors. Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Rosalee Longmoore emerged to say she had heard nothing new. ...
Money alone not enough to save medicare, Romanow commission hears in Regina
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=E5A61D00-3A71-4AEC-BE40-FA5D70A2BDC6>
Craig Wong, Canadian Press, March 5, 2002
REGINA (CP) - Deborah Zerr, a chronic patient with multiple illnesses who survives on disability payments, says every time she's in the hospital the system is worse. "The nurses, the doctors and other medical staff are overworked and so stressed that mistakes are commonplace," the Regina woman told Roy Romanow and his commission into the future of health care on Monday. ...
Health care that Maine can live with
<http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.html?ID=52285&town=&byline=&cname=OpEd§ion=&tt=5PM>
Dennis L. Shubert, MD, Bangor News, March 7, 2002
We could fill this entire newspaper with the pros and cons of different health care systems throughout the world. Unfortunately, no country has yet been successful in combining universal access, quality and timely care. Maine, given its stable population and relatively homogenous health care needs, presents an excellent laboratory for a new model health care system. Maine desperately needs an efficient health care system considering our challenges of rural distances, limited financial resources and worsening shortages of health care professionals. ...
Panel: Health care reform is needed
<http://www.captimes.com/news/local/21725.php>
Pat Schneider, Madison Capital Times, March 7, 2002
Wisconsin citizens must organize to demand reform of a health care system whose costs are galloping out of control, a labor leader and a policy analyst told health care advocates Wednesday. David Newby, president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, said that the time has come to abandon the current mess and adopt a Canadian-style national health care program. "The system is beginning to fracture and self-destruct," said Newby. To accomplish the fundamental change that is needed, policy-makers "have got to be willing to put aside the ideological bias that health care has to be a private, profit-driven system." ...
Health care fund boost falls short
The state could face a $57.5 million shortfall in state money for programs that provide health insurance to low-income families even with the extra taxpayer money just approved by the Legislature's budget committee. The Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday approved Gov. Scott McCallum's recommendation to allocate an additional $74.4 million for medical assistance benefits. The committee approved no extra money for BadgerCare, the state's insurance program for people who don't qualify for Medicaid but can't afford private health insurance. ...
Message to Romanow: Watch Denzel's new movie
Suzanne Gordon & Steve Early, Toronto Globe & Mail, March 7, 2002
It was bound to happen: a Hollywood revenge/action movie about the US health-care system. John Q stars Denzel Washington as a factory worker whose loss of full-time work and decent medical coverage results in his son's being denied a heart transplant. Too poor to pay for the operation, but not poor enough to qualify for public assistance, John Q enters a hospital emergency room and takes a cardiologist hostage in a bid to get the life-saving operation his boy needs.
Critics have panned the film's cartoonish view of US health care. But audiences have been cheering. It's one more sign that many Americans feel they're being held hostage to the priorities of private employers, insurers, and for-profit health-care providers.
As the Romanow commission launches its hearings into what Canada wants from medicare, some observations from south of the border may be useful.
Our employment-based system doesn't ration care by forcing patients to wait in line for needed treatments. We ration according to people's ability to pay or their employer's willingness to provide group coverage. Many of the 39 million Americans who have no health insurance are fully employed, but their employers don't offer health insurance as a benefit -- and it's too expensive for these people to pay for their own.
Even those with employer-provided coverage suffer from management cost-cutting and shifting of costs to employees who must pay more for medicines, doctor visits and hospitalizations. It's estimated that nearly half of the 600,000 bankruptcies declared each year in the US stem from out-of-pocket, unreimbursed medical bills.
In a land where the consumer is supposed to be king, it is employers, not the actual consumers of health care, who decide which health plan is offered. And there's little range: 91 per cent of all companies with fewer than 10 employees and 47 per cent of large firms offer only a single choice. Millions of Americans report they are reluctant to change jobs for fear of losing medical benefits.
Canadians feel trapped in a system that fails to deliver the services they've paid for. So do Americans. Even patients who get the okay from their health plans for costly, high-tech treatments may not receive the accompanying nursing care to make those treatments safe. After a decade of hospital cost-cutting, thousands of U.S. registered nurses will no longer accept inadequate pay and poor working conditions and have quit. With 126,000 vacant nursing positions reported nationwide, many US hospital emergency rooms, operating theatres, intensive-care units and other hospital wards face temporary or permanent shutdowns due to understaffing. One recent study found that two out of 10 major emergency rooms were closed on any given day in greater Boston.
Here's what that can mean: In December of 2000, in Cambridge, Mass., one woman who had just undergone major heart surgery suffered post-operative complications (a common problem when patients are discharged, per "managed care" rules, too soon). The ambulance took her to a Cambridge hospital only to find that its emergency facilities were "under diversion" (and not because a gunman had taken over). Rerouted twice, the patient died.
Many of these "diversions" are due to overcrowding -- the result of hospital closings and nurse shortages. Investor-owned institutions have the worst record in this regard. According to a study by David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, two associate professors of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Sidney Wolfe, co-founder (with Ralph Nader) of the Public Citizen Health Research Group, for-profit hospitals spend 11 per cent less on clinical care, particularly nursing care, than other hospitals. Three other recent studies show that for-profits have higher death rates -- roughly 7 per cent higher than not-for-profits.
Last month, the US Department of Health and Human Services found that nine out of 10 US nursing homes lack adequate staff. The result, reports the HSS, is that elderly patients suffer from preventable bedsores, pneumonia, malnutrition and dehydration. To remedy the problem, the for-profit-dominated nursing-home industry would have to boost its spending by 8 per cent. It refuses to do so.
Canadian advocates of private health care insist they want a kinder, gentler version of the US model that will somehow shield Canadians from the abuses of the market. This ignores the privatized system's central tenet: maximizing return on shareholders' investment. The fictional John Q discovered that there is sometimes a conflict between profitability and quality patient care. If Canadians embrace privatization, they'll eventually join Americans as health-care hostages.
Suzanne Gordon is the author of Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines.
Steve Early negotiates health-care issues on behalf of the Communications Workers of America.
© 2002 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Georgetti on Health Care: "We can't afford to pay for it privately!"
<http://action.web.ca/home/clcadmin/alerts.shtml?AA_SL_Session=76c3728d64d79c55854c0b289a659512&sh_itm=e3b202aa514721236bb58425198a5ee4>
Canadian Labour Congress, March 7, 2002
Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti reaffirmed for the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology the commitment of Canadian labour to a national system of public health care. The Committee headed by Senator Michael Kirby is studying the state of the health care system in Canada. In his presentation Ken Georgetti reminds the Senators of the economic, social and democratic advantages and values that drive the Canadian system and concludes: ŒThe Canadian Labour Congress believes that if we can¹t afford to pay for health care publicly, we can¹t afford to pay for it privately.¹ And that Œthe share of public resources devoted to health care is primarily a matter of political choice.¹ ...
Health Care Reform: Content
Hundreds of RNs meet on new nurse-ratio law in Sacramento March 11-12
Several hundred Registered Nurses from across California will gather in Sacramento Monday and Tuesday, March 11-12, to discuss implementation and enforcement of California's groundbreaking nurse-to-patient ratio law. The meeting, hosted by the California Nurses Association, the state's largest organization of nurses with some 44,000 members, will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center. At the two-day conference, the RNs will also discuss legislative, nursing practice and collective bargaining priorities for the coming year. Additionally, the nurses will meet with legislators, and rally at the Capitol on Tuesday morning to press for changes in the unfair arbitration system used by Kaiser Permanente and other HMO giants to restrict the ability of patients to challenge managed care abuses. ...
United Steel Workers President to Address Hundreds
of RNs In Sacramento Conference Monday, March 11
Leo Gerard, the dynamic President of the United Steel Workers of America, one of the nation's most influential trade unions, will address hundreds of Registered Nurses from across California Monday, March 11 in Sacramento. The RNs are meeting in Sacramento Monday and Tuesday to discuss implementation and enforcement of California's groundbreaking nurse-to-patient ratio law and other legislative, nursing practice and collective bargaining priorities for the coming year. The event is hosted by the California Nurses Association, the state's largest organization of nurses with 44,000 RNs. Additionally, the nurses will meet with legislators, and rally at the Capitol on Tuesday morning to press for changes in the unfair arbitration system used by Kaiser Permanente and other HMO giants to restrict the ability of patients to challenge managed care abuses. ...
New accusations fly at Saint Joseph
<http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1002,2896%257E450556,00.html>
Jennifer Morey, The Times-Standard, March 8, 2002
EUREKA -- One week before they are scheduled to hold an election for representation by the California Nurses Association, St. Joseph Hospital's registered nurses and CNA have charged that the hospital administration's anti-union campaign tactics potentially compromise the nurses' ability to deliver safe patient care. Nurses cited a number of incidents they say are now occurring on a daily basis where they are pulled away from the bedside to attend mandatory anti-union meetings. They say being forced to attend these meetings has left their units understaffed at times. ...
Nurses could use pilots' regulations
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=065419C4-8212-41A1-B6CB-030DE0D08D4A>
Gary Menten, St. Laurent, Montreal Gazette, March 4, 2002
Our provincial health minister, François Legault, is proposing to impose regulations on nurses (but not doctors, apparently) that would limit when they could take vacations (Gazette, Feb. 28), claiming that it would help alleviate shortages. Of course, so, too, would hiring more nurses, but apparently that would be asking too much. Mr. Legault has drawn his inspiration from his days as president of Air Transat, where pilots were limited to taking their holidays in off-peak months. Mr. Legault seems to have forgotten, however, that airline pilots also have very strict safety regulations imposed upon them, restricting how many hours they can be on duty, lest they grow over-tired, make a mistake and crash their airplanes. This in turn forces airlines to hire an adequate number of crews to meet their flight needs. Overworked nurses and doctors can make fatal mistakes also, and if Mr. Legault wants to apply regulations in the health-care sector that are similar to those in the airline sector, he should start by creating rules that limit the number of hours per shift that health-care workers may be forced to work and place severe restrictions on how many hours per month they can work and hiring more people to fill the need.
Union president confident majority of nurses will support strike
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=DAF90CFC-D752-43E4-9F5F-537118E04509>
Canadian Press, March 4, 2002
WINNIPEG -- Eleven-thousand nurses in Manitoba will take a strike vote March 18th. Manitoba Nurses Union President Maureen Hancharyk says she is confident an overwhelming majority will support a strike. The government has offered a 15 per cent wage increase over three years but the union is demanding 29 per cent over two years. Hancharyk says the wage offer put forward by the government won't keep nurses in the province. Manitoba is short 1,500 nurses and another 1,500 are eligible to retire. ...
Nurses could be on strike April 1, says union president
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=9D85B3B5-7B05-4C1A-935E-AC6BE114A6D0>
Canadian Press, March 5, 2002
WINNIPEG -- Manitoba's nurses have upped the ante in their contract negotiations by setting a strike vote date for March 18th. A strike mandate would give the Manitoba Nurses' Union a number of options, including a full-blown provincial strike, rotating strikes or an overtime ban. Union president Maureen Hancharyk says the nurses could be hitting the bricks on April 1. ...
Nurses find yet another threat to health care in secret document
While shocked by the government¹s secret plan to attack the rights of the people of BC to receive the health care they need, nurses were also surprised to find evidence of an end to nursing strategy funding in the document leaked on Monday. Included in the seven point list of Œbudget management strategies¹ found in the plan that will cause increased wait lists for surgeries and massive lay-offs through privatization, is a line called Œeliminate one-time initiatives¹. The bulk of this budget line is $4.3 million for Œnursing recruitment.¹ ...
Sask. losing nurses
<http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=C360F1E5-9423-4420-8614-60BFADDA98DF>
Neil Scott, Regina Leader Post, March 7, 2002
Saskatchewan is losing its fight to retain nurses, according to the president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN), who released new information Monday to support that claim. That information, released by Rosalee Longmoore, indicated that only one nurse moved into Saskatchewan last year for every 4.4 nurses who left. The information, based on year-end registration information provided by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses' Association and the Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Saskatchewan, shows 467 nurse left the province last year and only 106 moved into the province. When the impact of retirements is added to the total, Longmoore calculates that Saskatchewan lost a net total of 551 registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses last year. ...
Theatre Nurses in Waterford Regional Hospital Commence Industrial Action
<http://www.ino.ie/news_detail.php3?nNewsId=2694&nCatId=170>
Irish Nurses Organisation, March 4, 2002
Eighty-five members of the Irish Nurses Organisation who work in theatre at Waterford Regional Hospital commenced industrial action this morning in protest at the increased workloads and time commitments to on-call out of hours¹ services. The nurses have to work in excess of 50 hours each week to keep the operating theatre staffed, 12 hours of which are on call, for which nurses receive 17.82 euros as a once off payment (1.48 euro per hour approximately). They receive a case fee when called in of 34.25 euros regardless of the duration of the operation. ...
How things work at NARH emergency room
<http://search.newschoice.com/ArchiveDisplay.asp?story=d:\index\newsarchives\ne\netrp\ltr\20020304\1392714_el_haskins.txt&source=www%2Ethetranscript%2Ecom&puid=&paper=North+Adams+Transcript>
Michele Haskins, RN, North Adams Transcript, March 4, 2002
Hospitals nationwide are being affected by staffing cuts, decreased insurance reimbursements, and a higher volume of people visiting emergency rooms for medical care. NARH is no exception, and as a nurse in the department, I would like to take the opportunity to share situations that the public will encounter with the higher number of people seeking care in the emergency department. This has never been truer than now in the season of flu and fevers. ...
Waltham Hospital on the Verge of a New Life
Late last night representatives from CareGroup and the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital released a joint statement that includes a commitment by the parties to reach an agreement by the end of this week to keep the hospital open. The Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital, with significant financial support from Waltham real estate developer Roy McDowell, has been negotiating with CareGroup over the last three days, to develop a plan that would allow the transfer of the facility from CareGrou to the Coalition. Despite the negative findings of the Hunter Group, a consultant paid for by CareGroup to evaluate the future prospects of the hospital, the statement by CareGroup acknowledges the "determination" of the coalition to keep this hospital open and viable.
Keeping the 116-year-old Waltam Hospital open has been a community-wide effort involving thousands of citizens, employees, nurses and physicians, with support from health care advocacy groups and policy makers.
The Department of Public Health, after a jam-packed public hearing on Feb. 11 at Waltham High School, has issued a ruling that every service at Waltham Hospital is "essential" to the health and safety of the community. Closng the facility would result in servere hardship on the Waltham community, while causing severe problems for emergency rooms in surrounding hospitals, while further crippling the mental health system which depends on Waltham Hospital 43 pyschiatric beds. If the Coalition can complete an agreement with CareGroup, it will develop a six-month business plan and make arrangements for the transfer of the hospital from CareGroup to the Coalition in the coming months.
Coalition cancels vigil plan: Group optimistic after meeting with CareGroup
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospital03042002.htm>
Patrick Golden, Daily News Tribune, March 4, 2002
WALTHAM - The Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital released a brief but optimistic statement late last night, stating yesterday's negotiation session with CareGroup was "very encouraging" and "highly productive." "We're very, very encouraged about how the weekend meetings have turned out," said Dianne Koch, a coalition member and Deaconess-Waltham worker. The optimism following the negotiations led the coalition to cancel a candlelight rally it had planned tonight outside the hospital. ...
Consultant doubts hospital can survive
In a highly negative report released yesterday, a hospital consulting firm gave slim odds to a proposed rescue plan for Deaconess-Waltham Hospital, concluding that the hurdles could be insurmountable for the hospital. The Hunter Group said a complete image makeover, a solid partnership with New England Medical Center, and attracting more than 70,000 new patients over three years would be necessary to keep the hospital open and independent of its parent, CareGroup Healthcare System. The consultants said attracting that many patients would be ''nearly impossible in this competitive market.'' ...
CareGroup issues bleak report on hospital's future
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospital03052002.htm>
DeAnna Putnam, Daily News Tribune, March 5, 2002
WALTHAM - CareGroup last night released a bleak report regarding the viability of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital should developer Roy MacDowell and the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital take over. But, CareGroup has said it will still negotiate with the coalition. "We don't have an agreement yet, but we do expect to come to one by the end of the week," said hospital board of trustees Chairman Harold Hestnes. ...
Editorial: Hospitals' costly fight for market share
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/opinion/edithospitals03052002.htm>
Daily News Tribune, March 5, 2002
We in Massachusetts like to say we have the best health care in the country, a claim other states may dispute. What's indisputable is that we have the most expensive health care in the country. A large part of that expense comes from Boston's highly-regarded teaching hospitals. ...
MIA in Waltham
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/065/business/MIA_in_Waltham+.shtml>
Steve Bailey, Boston Globe, March 6, 2002
If ever there were an example of why we need a plan for the state's hospitals, it is the circus that is going on in Waltham right now. Consider Monday afternoon's sideshow: Meeting in the office of the developer leading the effort to save the Deaconess-Waltham Hospital, CareGroup's top executives had come to review the findings of a critical report on the prospects of the 116-year-old hospital. Their consultant, the Hunter Group, gave a very downbeat assessment of the future of the hospital to the new Waltham board of directors and the community group trying to rescue the hospital. ...
Hospital submits plan to close: Interim president's report says services can be absorbed
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospitalb03062002.htm>
Patrick Golden, Daily News Tribune, March 6, 2002
WALTHAM - Deaconess-Waltham Hospital said all of its services can be absorbed by other area hospitals and providers in the "Facility Closure Plan" it filed with the state yesterday. While pledging to continue its negotiations with Roy MacDowell and the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital, the hospital yesterday presented its plan in response to the state Department of Public Health's Feb. 18 ruling that deemed all of Deaconess-Waltham's core services "essential." ...
Potential partner thinks hospital can survive
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospital03062002.htm>
DeAnna Putnam, Daily News Tribune, March 6, 2002
WALTHAM - Tufts New England Medical Center representatives said they are undaunted by the Hunter Group report's prediction that Deaconess-Waltham Hospital could not survive. The hospital can survive, although it might not be easy, and layoffs are inevitable, according to TNEMC President and CEO Dr. Thomas F. O'Donnell Jr. last night. ...
New deal wins time to revive hospital
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospital03072002.htm>
Patrick Golden, Daily News Tribune, March 7, 2002
WALTHAM - After two months at death's door, Deaconess-Waltham Hospital appears to be poised for life. CareGroup officials are scheduled today to recommend to their board of trustees to extend the April 11 deadline which they had set to close the hospital, according to some who attended an afternoon meeting yesterday. Members of the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital say if Caregroup approves the deadline extension, which it is expected to, the hospital will have until June 1 to find a way to remain open. ...
Rescue mission in Waltham
<http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/066/editorials/Rescue_mission_in_Waltham+.shtml>
A Boston Globe Editorial, March 7, 2002
NEGOTIATIONS OVER the fate of Deaconess Waltham Hospital hinge on the hope that demand for rental housing in the western suburbs will spin off enough money to save this institution. CareGroup, the current owner of the hospital, is not in a position to link housing and hospital, but developer Roy MacDowell is. His involvement means the deal ought to go forward, even if the long-term prospects are dim. ...
Editorial: It's Waltham's hospital again
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/opinion/edit03072002.htm>
Daily News Tribune, March 7, 2002
It's up to us, now, Waltham. The reason, sweat, endless meetings, sleepless nights, prayers, tears, honor, and good faith of so many appear to have prevailed in keeping our hospital open. As of the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Coalition to Save the Hospital and CareGroup, the hospital will change gears from shutdown mode to turnaround. That agreement is scheduled to be signed today. ...
Letter: No clue at the top
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/opinion/letfoley03072002.htm>
Jim Foley, Waltham, Daily News Tribune, March 7, 2002
People in Waltham need not worry about a report (Hunter Group) paid for by CareGroup. I have worked at the hospital for 71/2 years. I positively know that for the past 3 years this hospital has been managed by CareGroup, who haven't a clue on how to run a hospital. Just look at its so-called main hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess. It has lost tens of millions in the past 7-8 years and it will only get worse. ...
Waltham hospital's fate remains in limbo
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospital03082002.htm>
Patrick Golden, Daily News Tribune, March 8, 2002
WALTHAM - An agreement to keep Deaconess-Waltham Hospital open past April 11 failed to materialize yesterday as CareGroup, developer Roy MacDowell and the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital tried to hammer out a deal. A battle for control of the facility's prized cancer center was the sticking point, coalition members said. Coalition members had hoped the deal would be signed yesterday. CareGroup confirmed that the future of the cancer center remains an issue, but a spokesperson declined to discuss specifics. ...
Timeline of events surrounding Deaconess-Waltham Hospital
<http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_hospital203082002.htm>
Daily News Tribune, March 8, 2002
June. 28, 2001: In one of the first publicly tangible signs Deaconess-Waltham Hospital is experiencing significant financial trouble, then-hospital President Dana Ramish issues a letter to staff that warns the facility will lose $7 million for the year in operating costs. Ramish details a program to try and stabilize finances. Later in the year, CareGroup hires brokerage Solomon Smith Barney to solicit potential buyers for the hospital. The endeavor fails to generate any offers. CareGroup also begins selling off its hospital-related properties in the city, including the hospice center on Main Street. ...
Mass. Nurses and Seniors Converge on State House on March 12th
To Call for Legislation to Ensure Safe Nurse-to-Patient Ratios
Editor's Note: Contact the MNA to locate nurses attending from your coverage area at 781-249-0430
Hundreds of nurses and senior citizens from all across the Commonwealth will converge on the State House for a "Nurse Lobby Day" event sponsored by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which will be held on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 from 9:30 am to noon in the Great Hall. The nurses of Massachusetts, with the endorsement and support from the Mass. Senior Action Council, are mobilizing for passage of landmark legislation that is designed to guarantee the public access to appropriate levels of nursing care and to prevent the unwarranted use of unlicensed personnel in place of qualified professionals. According to the MNA, inadequate nurse staffing levels and unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios in all health care settings are the principle cause of the nursing shortage, the rise in emergency room diversions, an increase in medical errors, mandatory overtime, decreased satisfaction of nurses with their practice, a dramatic rise in injuries among nurses, and a dramatic decline in the quality of patient care. In response to the current crisis, Sen. Robert Creedon and Rep. Christine Canavan, co-chairs of a special legislative Nursing Commission, have filed HB 1186, An Act Relative to Sufficient Nurse Staffing to Ensure Safe Care, which would mandate the creation, posting and monitoring of appropriate nurse staffing ratios in all health care settings that are sufficient to care for the planned and unplanned needs of patients. ...
WHEN: MNA Safe Staffing Lobby Day: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 from 9:30 am to noon.
WHERE: State House (Great Hall)
WHO: Nurses and seniors from all parts of the state will attend the event, as will legislators with an interest in health care issues. To arrange interviews before the event, call the MNA for sources in your area.
It's Our Turn Now
Flanked by two St. Anthony employee/organizers, UHCW President Sharon Penrod walked into the National Labor Relations Board headquarters in St. Louis January 23 with three boxes of union authorization cards. Sharon, along with Sherry Andrews and Elaine Bennett, witnessed the NLRB official counting the cards and the petition for a new UHCW representation election at St. Anthony's Medical Center was filed. This action marks the beginning of the long-awaited union election for some 2,500 health care workers at the big South County hospital. ...
Nurse Attacked in Hospital
<http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/newyork/ny-nynurs032608204mar03.story>
Newsday, March 3, 2002
A nurse was savagely beaten inside Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center yesterday by a robber who stuck his fingers down her throat, rupturing her tonsils, police said. The suspect, Jerry Miles, 28, was caught trying to flee the hospital. The victim, Charina Adamos, 32, underwent surgery for her injury and late yesterday was listed in serious but stable condition. ...
Nurse recovering from Bronx hospital attack
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--nurseattack0303mar03.story>
Associated Press, March 3, 2002
NEW YORK (AP) - A nurse who was beaten during a robbery in a Bronx hospital was recovering Sunday following surgery for wounds suffered when her attacker jammed his fingers down her throat. Police said they arrested Jerry Miles, 28, of the Mount Eden section of the Bronx, as he was trying to leave Bronx-Lebanon Hospital shortly after the assault occurred around 6 am Saturday. The attack occurred in a closet near the emergency room. ...
Hellish Attack in ER Closet Injures Nurse at Bx. Hospital
<http://www.nydn.com/2002-03-03/News_and_Views/Crime_File/a-143225.asp?last6days=1>
Warren Woodberry Jr. & Patrice O'Shaughnessy, New York Daily News, March 3, 2002
A nurse was viciously attacked in Bronx-Lebanon Hospital yesterday by a robber who shoved his hand down her throat to silence her screams, police said. The victim, Charina Adamos, a 32-year-old nurse, was in serious but stable condition after surgery on her tonsils, police said. Her alleged attacker was caught as he tried to flee the hospital, on the Grand Concourse and E. 173rd St. ...
Assault Leaves Hospital Shaken
The staff at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center remained jittery yesterday and unwilling to talk about the nurse who was attacked and injured in an emergency room linen closet on Saturday. "I want to talk, but I might not have a job tomorrow," said one emergency room worker who refused to give her name. She said the administration had warned her and other staff not to give out any information or opinions about the attack. ...
Nurse Hurt Due to Lax Hosp Security ‹ Union
<http://www.nydn.com/2002-03-04/News_and_Views/Crime_File/a-143310.asp>
Amy Sacks & Nicole Bode, New York Daily News, March 4, 2002
As an emergency room nurse at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital recovers from wounds she received when attacked while on duty, a nurses union yesterday charged that poor security at the facility is to blame. "This is another example of what happens when nurses are left to fend for themselves without proper staffing and proper security," said Mark Genovese, spokesman for the New York State Nurses Association. "Had there been [proper] measures in place, this would not have happened," he said. ...
Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center Strike
<http://www.nysna.org/NEWS/current/stcath.htm>
Settlement in Nurses Strike
<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-nurse0304.story?coll=ny%2Dhomepage%2Dmore%2Dbreaking%2Dnews>
Barbara J. Durkin, Newsday, March 4, 2002
A tentative agreement was reached in the 100-day-old nurses¹ strike at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown early this morning after an overnight bargaining session. Nurses are scheduled to vote on the proposed contract on Friday and Saturday. Details of the contract weren¹t being released pending a meeting with the nurses Thursday to give them the details of the deal. But Barbara Crane, the registered nurse who heads the bargaining unit at St. Catherine¹s, said she expected the nurses would be pleased with the final contract. ³We got what we were hoping for,² she said. ...
Tentative Deal for Nurses
It took 99 days and a final bargaining session that stretched through the early morning hours yesterday, but a tentative agreement finally has been reached in the nurses' strike at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown. The hospital's nurses are scheduled to vote on the proposed contract Friday and Saturday, which the New York State Nurses' Association union is recommending they approve. Neither side would discuss details of the contract yesterday, pending a meeting with the nurses Thursday to outline the deal. ...
Nurses and hospital reach tentative deal
<http://www.tbrnewspapers.com/news/ssn1.html#Anchor>
Anna Demian, The Times of Smithtown, Saint James & Nesconset, March 6, 2002
After an overnight session that lasted from 1 pm on Sunday until 8 am on Monday, the 475 registered nurses (RNs) of St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center and hospital administration came to a tentative agreement on the major issues that led nurses to strike and on the return-to-work agreement. The RNs, all members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), will vote on the proposed contract on Friday and Saturday perhaps ending the strike, now over 100 days long. Barbara Crane, a St. Catherine¹s RN and leader of the hospital¹s union chapter, was front and center at all of the negotiation sessions. According to Crane, the proposed contract meets the nurses¹ demands on almost every point. ³When I say we got everything we went out for, I am not exaggerating.² The four main issues that brought the nurses out to strike on November 26, 2001, were staffing guidelines, health insurance, flex-time and mandatory overtime. ...
Nurses agree on pact
<http://www.licatholic.org/Stories.htm#nurses>
Chris Caputo, Long Island Catholic, March 6, 2002
Nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, Smithtown, have been on strike for more three months, but a tentative agreement on a new contract reached early in the morning March 4 could have the nurses back to work on March 17. The 474 nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) union will learn about the agreement at a March 7 informational meeting, and vote on the package Friday and Saturday, March 8 and 9. A majority vote is needed to pass the contract. ...
End In Sight For Nurses' Strike?
Nurses would see raises that average 15 percent to 19 percent over three years, stricter limits on mandatory overtime and a retirement benefit of $2,500 a year to buy health insurance under a tentative contract, according to union officials representing striking nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown. Those are just some of the provisions outlined in packets yesterday for nurses from St. Catherine's, who must decide whether the terms are enough to end a strike that is in its fourth month. Nurses are to vote on the contract today and tomorrow and will begin returning to work March 17 if it is approved. ...
Smithtown hospital contract voted on
<http://www.news12.com/CDA/Articles/View/0,2049,5-5-35453-20,00.html>
Associated Press, March 8, 2002
SMITHTOWN (AP) - Striking nurses at Saint Catherine of Sienna Medical Center are voting on a new contract today and tomorrow. Back in November, nurses went on strike in a dispute over staffing, forced overtime and salaries. Newsday reports that the contract is for three years and would raise salaries between 15 and 19-percent. ...
Board orders OHSU to pay strike penalty
<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/business/101550577330622165.xml>
Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, March 7, 2002
Oregon Health & Science University must pay union nurses more than $300,000 to make up for unfair labor practices during a recent strike, the state Employment Relations Board ordered Wednesday. The decision follows a board ruling in January that OHSU broke the law by paying an extra $7.50 an hour to hundreds of nurses who crossed the picket line. Union nurses ended the strike last month after picketing for 58 days. ...
Warding off sick practices
As many as 12% of deaths in hospital could be prevented by improving the management of staff, according to new research. Poor organisation of workers in acute hospitals was found to have a direct link to rates of patient mortality. The study is among the first for the NHS service delivery and organisation (SDO) research and development programme, which is looking at ways of improving health and social care through better evidence-based organisational change. ...
Nurses say 'no' to forced overtime
OLYMPIA -- When registered nurse Dawn Morrell walks into work, she's not sure when she will go home. That's because at the end of a 12-hour shift at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, she may be required to pick up four additional hours or more if there is no nurse to take her place on the ward. Such extended hours were easier to handle 17 years ago when she started nursing. But the 50-year-old critical-care nurse says the demands may force her out of a job she says she loves and is very good at doing. "Mandatory overtime is the first issue that is really going to drive me away from the bedside," she said. "I can't keep up the kind of pace that nurses have to keep up in today's world." ...
Burnout and Self-Reported Patient Care in an Internal Medicine Residency Program
<http://www.annals.org/issues/v136n5/abs/200203050-00008.html>
Tait D. Shanafelt, MD, Katharine A. Bradley, MD, MPH, Joyce E. Wipf, MD, & Anthony L. Back, MD, Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 136 Number 5, March 5, 2002
... Results: Of 115 (76%) responding residents, 87 (76%) met the criteria for burnout. Compared with nonburned-out residents, burned-out residents were significantly more likely to self-report providing at least one type of suboptimal patient care at least monthly (53% vs. 21%; P = 0.004). In multivariate analyses, burnoutbut not sex, depression, or at-risk alcohol usewas strongly associated with self-report of one or more suboptimal patient care practices at least monthly (odds ratio, 8.3 [95% CI, 2.6 to 26.5]). When each domain of burnout was evaluated separately, only a high score for depersonalization was associated with self-reported suboptimal patient care practices (in a doseresponse relationship). Conclusion: Burnout was common among resident physicians and was associated with self-reported suboptimal patient care practices. ...
A Message from Michael Moore
<http://www.michaelmoore.com/diaries/book_diary_2002_0306.html>
March 6, 2002
Dear friends,
This is just a quick note of thanks for the support all of you have given my book. "Stupid White Men" debuted at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list this week, and at #1 on the Publisher's Weekly nonfiction bestseller list for independent bookstores. It's still #1 for all books on Amazon, and, my personal favorite for a good laugh, #4 on the bestseller list for the Wall Street Journal. By the fifth day of release, the book had gone into its 9th printing. More copies have been sold in one week than "Downsize This" sold in a whole year. Pundits and publishers are stunned. "But the president has an 80% approval rating!" There's something going on here, and they don't know what it is ...
<http://www.freedomroad.org/fr/01/boondocks.gif>
Please be aware that this book can be ordered at a union bookstore, Powells, in Portland, OR. The store is organized by Local 5, International Longshore and Warehouse Union. To order go to <http://www.ilwulocal5.com> and then to the Powells site. Ordering through the union website earns the union workers at Powell's an extra commission. - Ken Morgan