Action Focus:
Anyone who can should spend as much time as possible on the picket lines at
Worcester Medical Center with the striking St. Vincent nurses. No matter what
the weather, marching there has a way of clearing one's vision and boosting
one's spirits. Picketing is ongoing, around the clock. Any time you can make
it is fine. But if your time is flexible, call the strike office in advance
(508-792-2181) to find out when your presence is most needed. Wednesday
evenings the strikers rally, so extra help is needed to cover the picket
lines between 5:30 and 9:00 PM. It's easy for out-of-towners to find the
Worcester Medical Center. Just take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 10,
Route I-290. Take I-290 East for 6.5 miles into downtown Worcester. Get off
at Exit 16 and follow the signs to the Worcester Centrum. The Medical Center
abuts the Centrum, so you can't miss it. Parking is readily available behind
the fire station diagonally across the street from WMC, on the street
(metered until 6 PM Monday through Saturday), or in a parking lot two blocks
away. Bring signs if you can - preferably waterproof!

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Email conversation between bulletin editor Sandy Eaton & Beth M.:

Sandy: I'll spread the notion of marching on Santa Barbara and see who comes
forward to help. And I've added a number of email addresses of nurse
activists I've gleaned from the Internet in the last few days. Florence
Project, Nurse Advocate, Nurses Network for a National Health Program are a
few, as well as officers of SNAs and unions. Any ring a bell?

Beth: Yes, we work closely with Carrie L. of Nurse Advocate and Paul L. of
the NNNHP. I am thinking that the California Nurses Assoc. has an office in
Santa Barbara. Wouldn't this be a way to put together a picket? Beth

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Message of Support:

TO: MNA St. Vincent Strike Headquarters
FROM: Bill Shakalis, Chair, Socialist Party/Boston Area Local

April 26, 2000

Dear Friends and Fellow Workers,

The Socialist Party/Boston Area Local voted on April 25, 2000, at its regular
monthly meeting, to offer its solidarity and support for the striking nurses,
members of the Mass. Nurses Association, at St. Vincent's Hospital,
Worcester. We collected $50.00 for your strike fund.

Additionally, we will spread the word and build support for this strike,
until all demands are won, and be at your picket lines on Wednesdays.

Your strike is important to all workers in Massachusetts and the United
States. Holding the line
against union-busting, greedy health corporations is the first step towards
building a more just, more fair system for health workers, patients and other
consumers.

The neoliberal, new global economy is threatening all our lives in its push
for a 'race to the bottom': this also refers to what corporations are doing
to its workers at home, right in our own communities.

We salute your struggle and hard work, and will do what we can to support,
build, and publicize your efforts. Keep the union strong and stop all
union-busting!

In Solidarity,

Bill Shakalis, Chair
Socialist Party/Boston Area Local
email: thesis11@att.net

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(Ed.'s Note: A number of local bargaining units, unions, community groups and
classes are now pledging to cover particular shifts on the picket line each
week. That's a great way to help! Call the strike office to sign up. For
official word on the strike and for background information on the issues,
access the MNA web site <http://www.massnurses.org> and click on the St.
Vincent Strike Page. For archived access to these unofficial strike
bulletins, go to the Web page maintained by Somerville Labor Party activist
Bill Bumpus <http://users.rcn.com/wbumpus/worcester.html>.)

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Closings cause little concern
ER closed four times since April 3

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

By Jim Bodor, Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER-- Worcester Medical Center diverted patients from its emergency
room for 14 hours last week, the fourth such closure since the start of a
strike by its nurses.
Two diversions came on April 3, the day of the move from St. Vincent
Hospital to the new medical center, said hospital spokeswoman Paula L. Green.
One of those lasted 51 minutes, the other, a little more than two hours, she
said. They stemmed from minor move-related delays, including a problem with a
heart machine, she said.
A longer diversion came April 10, when the emergency room stopped
accepting new patients from about 1 to 10:30 p.m., according to Ms. Green.
In the most recent instance, the hospital closed its emergency room 6
p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday. Patients were sent to either of UMass
Memorial Medical Center's emergency rooms at the University Campus or the
Memorial Campus.
The closures were necessary because a high number of emergency patients
needed to be admitted, Ms. Green said. She could not say exactly how many
patients were in the hospital Thursday night.
"This is typical," she said. "If you have lots of people coming into an
emergency room, and then a high number of them need to be admitted, it's
time-consuming. This is not an unnatural occurrence."
The striking nurses said the diversions indicate the medical center is
not running as smoothly at as hospital officials say.
"What they are saying doesn't compute with what we have heard from
physicians and our sources inside the facility," said David J. Schildmeier,
spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents the
nurses.
"They are telling us that things inside are not normal," he said. "To
us, the diversions are not a sign of normal activity."
Emergency room diversion is a common practice, said Roseanne Pawelec,
spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health.
When patient counts are high, beds full, or if equipment fails, the
doctors in charge of an emergency room can stop accepting new patients and
direct them instead to other hospitals, she said.
So far, the diversions at the medical center have not been serious
enough to merit concern, Ms. Pawelec said.
The latest diversion came because all of the hospital's intensive care
and trauma beds were full, she said.
"Diversions happen in hospital life all the time, strike or no strike,"
she said.
The department is still monitoring the quality of care at the medical
center, and has found no problems, Ms. Pawelec said.
Mark L. Shelton, spokesman for UMass Memorial, said its emergency
doctors noticed a slight increase in patients Thursday and Friday, but
nothing to cause concern.
Worcester Medical Center officials have said patient satisfaction levels
remain high, staffing levels are adequate, and care has not suffered because
of the strike.
The medical center's 535 full-time registered nurses and 80 per-diem
nurses have negotiated two years with Tenet Healthcare Corp. without reaching
a contract settlement. Tenet owns the medical center and the St. Vincent
Hospital, where the nurses worked before the medical center's opening in
early April.
A negotiating session on Friday broke down abruptly about issues of
overtime and staffing levels. The hospital wants the right to require nurses
to work up to eight hours of overtime per shift. The nurses have offered to
work two hours of overtime per shift, with the option for two more hours in
case of an emergency.
No further bargaining sessions have been scheduled.

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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Panel to weigh TIF decertification

Wednesday, April 26, 2000

By Nick Kotsopoulos, Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER-- The City Council's Commerce and Development Committee will
consider decertifying the $40.5 million tax relief agreement for the new
Worcester Medical Center.
The City Council last night unanimously asked the committee to hold the
hearings, after several councilors said they were disappointed and frustrated
by the number of jobs that were cut or privatized at St. Vincent Hospital
before the hospital moved into its new downtown center earlier this month.
They said St. Vincent Hospital officials never indicated during their
tax increment financing negotiations with the city that there would be such
employment cutbacks.
Nine of the 11 city councilors co-sponsored the order requesting the TIF
decertification hearings. Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes did not
co-sponsor the order, but voted in favor of it. Councilor-at-Large Dennis L.
Irish was recused because of a potential conflict: He is employed by UMass
Memorial Health Care.
"Departments have been cut, some functions have been outsourced and
employees have been removed," said Mayor Raymond V. Mariano, who led the call
for the public hearings. "This is not what the people who voted for this
(TIF) expected. They expected real jobs. What has happened is most
disappointing."
Mr. Mariano pointed out that the TIF approved for St. Vincent
Hospital/OrNda HealthCorp (which was bought by Tenet Healthcare Corp.) in
1996 specified that about 1,000 construction jobs would be created during
construction of the project. But only 492 jobs were created.
The mayor added that many city councilors had the impression that all
employees who worked at St. Vincent Hospital would be transferred to the
Worcester Medical Center when the building was ready.
"This City Council has some questions that need to be answered," Mr.
Mariano said.
City officials have said the Worcester Medical Center is not in
violation of employment benchmarks set under the TIF. When St. Vincent
Hospital first sought a TIF for the medical center from the city in October
1996, it employed 3,764 people. In its TIF application, the hospital
indicated that it planned to transfer 2,393 to the Worcester Medical Center.
As of April 7, St. Vincent had transferred 2,173 staff and outsourced
employees. Another 200 employees from the Fallon Clinic are also expected to
be transferred to the Worcester Medical Center.
City officials said the hospital has until June 30, 2001, to create any
new jobs. As a result, city officials consider the hospital to be in
compliance with the TIF.
City Manager Thomas R. Hoover and City Solicitor David M. Moore
cautioned the City Council about taking any action to decertify the TIF for
the medical center while many of its nurses are on strike.
Mr. Moore said such an action could violate the National Labor Relations
Act, which prevents parties outside a labor dispute from taking any action
that would affect either side of the dispute. He said lifting the
certification of the TIF by the city could be viewed as an effort to pressure
the hospital's management to settle on a new contract with its nurses.
"A committee can look into this," Mr. Moore said. "It's one thing,
though, to hold hearings, and another thing to take action."
But Councilors-at-Large Timothy P. Murray and Joseph M. Petty said the
TIF-related issues were brought up by the City Council well before the
strike. They said the questions were initially broached last year, and the
council is finally getting answers to them.
District 5 Councilor Stephen G. Abraham and Mrs. Lukes, however, said
the TIF issues would likely not have surfaced if the nurses were not on
strike.
"We would be using this (TIF) agreement in a punitive fashion," Mrs.
Lukes said. "We would, in effect, be imposing economic sanctions against the
hospital. We are responding to a highly volatile situation, and I question
whether the city should intervene in such a way to try and impact the
negotiations."

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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