Spread the word to all nurses and friends of nurses. Celebrate National
Nurses Week by joining the St. Vincent Nurses on the picket line, May 7, 2000
from noon to 4 p.m.

Attention all Nurses

Join the National Nurses Week Nurse Day Picket
To Support the St. Vincent Hospital Nurses

Sunday, May 7, 2000
12 noon - 4 p.m.
Worcester Medical Center

May 6 - 12 is National Nurses Week. The MNA has designated May 7, 2000 as a
day for all nurses to join our colleagues at St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester
Medical Center, who are still on strike against Tenet Health Care.

We hope that hundreds of nurses from hospitals and health care facilities
throughout the Commonwealth will have representatives at this picketing,
displaying signs identifying their respective facilities.

Join us in showing these courageous nurses and the community they serve that
their cause is just and that they are not alone in decrying Tenet's demand to
use mandatory 16-hour shifts as a means of staffing a hospital.

Their Fight is Our Fight!
Help Send the Message -
Exhausted Nurses = Unsafe Care


David Schildmeier
Director of Public Communications
Massachusetts Nurses Association
800-882-2056 x717
508-426-1655 (pager)
dschildmeier@mnarn.org <mailto:dschildmeier@mnarn.org>

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Message from Jim Moura to Tenet/St. Vincent CEO Bob Maher:

From: JMOURA
To: robert.maher@tenethealth.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 3:00 PM

Dear Bob,

The nurses on the line outside of the hospital are directing the action
against Tenet. It is not a "third party". What you never have understood is
that it your own employees which reject your outrageous and unsafe demand for
mandatory overtime. Do you think they are stupid enough to be seduced with a
1.50$/hr payraise as you pay 4000$/wk to scabs! Great move Bob. You insured
their anger and hardening of their resolve. Keep up the good work.

James Moura
Vice-Chair
Quincy Med Center MNA

PS We work without mandatory ot except in unforseen circumstances not
encountered in normal hospital operations. Our employer came to the
conclusion that patient safety was more important and follows the Institute
of Medicines guidelines in decreasing provider fatigue. You should also. Take
the 1.2 million you have spent on scabs and post positions.

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Message from ANA's Constituent Assembly:

ANA's Constituent Assembly Supports Striking Nurses
Constituent Assembly Letter of Support for the Striking Nurses of St. Vincent
Hospital

April 18, 2000

Dear St. Vincent's Nurses,

On April 7-8, 2000 the constituent members (Presidents and Executive
Directors of the state nurses associations and the newly formed Federal
Nurses Association) of the American Nurses Association met for a special
Constituent Assembly meeting in Washington DC. During this meeting we
discussed your strike and the courageous step you have taken on behalf of
patients and nurses. Know that nurses across this country support you!

Unreasonable mandatory overtime is a serious threat to patient care and to
nurses across the country. In setting this important precedent, you are
making clear that mandatory overtime is foremost a safety and quality issue.
The constituent members are concerned for you and your families and the
patients who are without your services. We know that you are on the line on
behalf of your bargaining unit, Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), the
ANA, and all registered nurses to advocate for safe patient care and
appropriate working conditions.

We offer you support and admiration for showing that nurses will protect
their practice and patients. We respect your determination and commitment to
high quality nursing care.

We are eager to help you in helping our patients.

In unity for our patients,

Pat Yoder-Wise RN
Chairperson, Constituent Assembly

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ANA Press Release on Unsafe Staffing:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2000

CONTACT:
Hope Hall, 202-651-7027
Joan Meehan-Hurwitz, 202-651-7020
rn=realnews@ana.org
www.nursingworld.org/rnrealnews


ANA Calls Hospital Staffing Practices Unsafe
Nurses Being Forced to Regularly Work Excessive Over Time

Washington, D.C. - American Nurses Association (ANA) President Mary Foley,
MS, RN, today issued an alert to all consumers regarding an alarming trend in
many hospitals across the country.

"More and more hospitals are forcing registered nurses (RNs) to work
mandatory overtime, placing both patients and nurses at increased risk," said
Foley. "Nurses should never be forced to work excessive overtime, especially
when they are tired, overworked, and have others depending on their arrival
at home. Likewise, patients need nurses who are able to execute the
sophisticated thinking, decision making, and technical skills required in
delivering quality patient care. Forcing RNs to regularly work 16 hours or
more at a stretch is dangerous, and the American public needs to know about
this practice and the risk it presents to patients. Of course, real
emergencies happen and nurses can always be counted on to respond, but using
excessive mandatory overtime as a way to deal with on-going staffing
shortages is wrong."

"These staffing issues come on the heels of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM)
report on medical errors, which found that in the U.S., up to 100,000 deaths
per year are due to medical errors. The IOM recommends that part of the
solution rests in developing safe health care systems that address work
hours, work loads, sufficient staffing and personnel support, shift
assignments as well as the impact on patient care when nurses work beyond
their ability to provide safe and quality services. It is absolutely
derelict, in light of the IOM's findings and recommendations, that hospitals
are still willing to jeopardize patient care."

"Many hospitals claim a nursing shortage as the reason to mandate overtime.
While an RN shortage is a real issue in some areas, there are ways to address
staffing that do not force RNs to work inhumane hours. Mandating excessive
overtime is a calculated business practice aimed at saving hospitals money,
yet hospitals are reporting profit margins higher than they have enjoyed in
the past. Recent American Hospital Association (AHA) data show the nation's
hospitals reporting record profits of $21.9 billion, giving them a profit
margin of 6.6 percent - the second highest aggregate margin ever. Hospitals
reduce expenses - thus increasing profit - by employing insufficient numbers
of nurses and minimizing the number of employees paid benefits. Hospitals
routinely keep too few RNs on staff to provide appropriate coverage and
address fluctuating patient care needs."

"ANA supports the RNs currently on strike in Nyack, NY, and in Worcester,
Mass., who have gone out in protest over mandatory overtime. It is never easy
to decide to strike, but as we have seen time and time again, RNs are forced
to take this action when hospitals fail to support safe standards of nursing
practice. These nurses are on strike to protect both their own health and
well-being and the unsuspecting patients who assume that hospitals provide
safe, quality nursing care - not exhausted, overworked labor."

"The New York State Nurses Association and the Massachusetts Nurses
Association worked long and hard to educate hospital management about
appropriate staffing levels necessary to deliver high quality care. Nyack
Hospital and St. Vincent Hospital, which is owned by for-profit Tenet Health
Care Corporation, have repeatedly refused to address RNs' concern for patient
care and for nurses' safety in the workplace."

"Tenet, like many hospital organizations, is quite profitable. Its recently
released third quarter earnings report shows a 23 percent rise in net profits
over the same period last year. While realizing that kind of profit, Tenet
still insists on the right to require as much as eight hours of mandatory
overtime, even following an original eight-hour shift. This practice forces
some RNs to work up to 16 non-stop hours. Nurses who refuse the overtime can
be threatened with losing their jobs or licenses under an alleged patient
abandonment charge. This threat is blatant intimidation. Nurses themselves
know that working while exhausted will increase the risk of committing an
error that harms a patient, or predisposes themselves to injures - like
needle sticks - on the job. However, when threatened with job loss or action
against their license, some nurses feel obligated to stay."

"Hospital managers who rely on mandatory overtime ignore general standards
and acceptable practices that relate to public safety and well-being. Public
transportation, airlines and trucking companies - all have to respect
standards regarding shift lengths and the amount of rest an employee must
have before coming onto an assignment. Nurses attend to the sickest among us
- and yet hospital managers are putting profits before patients."

"While the New York and Massachusetts strikes are very visible and public
actions against mandatory overtime, RNs across the country are dealing with
similar staffing dilemmas. ANA is working diligently on many fronts to
address this public health issue. Working with its constituent members, ANA
promotes legislative and regulatory initiatives that address nursing
workforce, nurse staffing, and mandatory overtime issues. Additionally, ANA
consistently alerts consumers about their right to demand a safe and
qualified health care workforce."

"Patients and families need to ask their doctors, nurses, and hospital
management about staffing in their local hospitals. If possible, consumers
should call or visit a hospital before being admitted to determine the level
of RN staffing. Some questions the public can ask include:

.Will I have an RN caring for me?
.How many patients are assigned to each RN on the unit where I most likely
will stay?
.Are those RNs routinely required to stay beyond their scheduled shift?
.What is the hospital's policy on requiring a defined amount of time off for
rest before returning to duty?
.How does the hospital provide for RN staffing when there is an unexpected
shortage in the unit?

"The nurse staffing shortage is real and by all accounts it is growing.
Employers, such as hospitals, contribute to this problem by maintaining a
hostile and dangerous work environment for nurses. ANA believes this issue
demands full public awareness along with full attention to the threatened
quality of health care in the U.S. ANA continues to work on many fronts to
advocate for professional standards of care and a safe work environment. ANA
insists that nurses be able to deliver the highest quality care possible."

The American Nurses Association, through its constituent member associations,
represents some 120,000 RNs under collective bargaining agreements. Many of
these contracts call for restrictions on the circumstances under which
mandatory overtime is used and the amount of mandatory overtime that can be
required.

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Student protesters take on nurses strike

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

By John J. Monahan, Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER-- Student activists who demonstrated in Washington, D.C., against
the World Bank are now setting their sights on a local problem -- the
Worcester Medical Center nurses strike.
Fresh from the street theater and teach-ins that nearly shut down
Washington earlier this month, the group organized under the Worcester Global
Action Network, said the campaign against corporate abuse is initiating a new
era of political action.
The students said issues that brought together activists from labor, the
environment and human rights groups in Washington are similar to the striking
nurses battle against a for-profit medical corporation.
The international monetary policies and world bank loans that put
corporate profit over people's rights, they said, resemble the for-profit
movement in the nation's medical industry.
Laura Brown, a senior at Clark University, said at a news conference at
Clark yesterday that the issue of corporate justice is linking many
organizations that reject the idea of putting profit ahead of people.
"I am graduating from college this year and I don't want to live in a
society where corporations have the rights of humans. They shouldn't have a
voice in Congress," she said.
Ms. Brown, who marched in Washington carrying a cardboard shark that
moved down the street gobbling up smaller fish held by other demonstrators,
said students from various student action groups have already been spending
Friday afternoons supporting nurses on the picket lines.
The students plan to rally Saturday in support of the striking nurses.
Corey W. Dolgon, assistant professor of sociology at Worcester State
College, said the rally in Washington, D.C., and last year's demonstrations
in Seattle against the World Trade Organization are defining a new era of
globally organized activism.
So many movements are rallying under the umbrella of the global action
network, he said, because corporations make major decision that affect the
lives of people yet the corporate executives have little accountability.
"There is an anxiety because so many of the structures that run our
lives are invisible," Mr. Dolgon said. "We don't have the control over our
own institutions or our government that we thought we had."
Mr. Dolgon said these activists, rather than focusing on a single issue,
are challenging the closed policy-making of corporate institutions that
affect so many aspects of daily life here and in other countries. In
Worcester, he said, the students believe the nurses strike typifies corporate
power and the lack of democratic control over its practices.
"It's clear that privatization of the health care industry has global
connections," Dolgon said.
Some 40 students from Clark University, Worcester State College, College
of the Holy Cross, and WPI went to the Washington rally by bus and slept in a
church opened to the demonstrators. Several are members of other groups
including the Student Alliance to Reform Corporations and United Students
Against Sweatshops.
Students said while the media coverage focused on "violence" and
confrontations with police, they believed the police were the ones using
force, not the demonstrators.
They complained the police shut down a coordinating center where
puppets, banners and other materials were being distributed for the street
demonstrations. They said the thousands of arrests seemed to be a part of an
effort to wear down the demonstrators.
Clark University student Andrew Kite, 20, said the demonstrations did
have an impact, even though no major World Bank policies were changed over
the weekend. "We did have an effect. It's hard to ignore 30,000 people. I
went there because I wanted to be seen. I wanted to be one of them," he said.
Jordan DeMaio, 20, a Clark University student, said the public and the
media seem to be having trouble understanding why this generation of students
is protesting these global corporate and economic issues.
"We have been viewed as slackers and as uninformed," Mr. DeMaio said,
but students are addressing issues that are hard to track in light of the
lack of accountability in world economic decisions.

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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