Fallon CEO, Congressman McGovern, Worcester Mayor Mariano and Worcester
Legislators Call Upon Tenet CEO to Come To Worcester to Settle Strike, Get
St. Vs Nurses Back To Work, Cite Concerns Over Quality of Care at Worcester
Medical Center By Replacement Nurses
Related Announcement, Gov. Cellucci Steps Up Monitoring by DPH and Federal
Agency of Care Quality at Worcester Medical Center
65 Physicians Sign Petition Calling for Tenet Settlement and Striking Nurses'
Return
WORCESTER, Mass. - Pressure within the Worcester community continues to build
for Santa Barbara Calif.- based Tenet Health Care to get back to the table
and end the strike of the 615 registered nurses at St. Vincent Hospital and
Worcester Medical Center. At a press conference yesterday, Fallon Community
Health Plan President and CEO Eric Schultz appealed to Tenet CEO Jeffrey
Barbakow "to come to Worcester now to do whatever it takes to settle this
strike quickly, so that this community can move ahead." Schultz cited the
fact that many Fallon members had expressed concern about the quality of
health care provided by Tenet since the nurses walked off the job.
The press conference was organized by Worcester Mayor Raymond Mariano,
Congressman James McGovern, along with members of the local legislative
delegation at the State House. It followed Tenet's decision on April 21 to
break off talks with the nurses unless and until they accept the
corporation's demand for mandatory 16-hour shifts. The nurses, who are
anxious to resume talks towards a settlement, have already made a concession,
agreeing to work up to four hours of mandatory overtime. On April 21, Tenet
refused the nurses' proposal, shut off talks with the nurses and instead
announced it intends to seek permanent replacements for the nurses.
"We feel validated by the steps taken by our political leadership, and Fallon
Community Health Plan to make this request to settle this strike," said Sandy
Ellis, spokesperson for the nurses bargaining unit. "Fallon is fulfilling its
obligation to its members to ensure that they receive the quality of care
they deserve. It has been clear to the nurses, based on numerous daily
reports we have received from patients, physicians and technicians inside
Worcester Medical Center, that the care being provided by replacement nurses
is sub-standard at best."
Also yesterday, Gov. Paul Cellucci's office announced that he has requested
the State Department of Public Health (DPH) and the federal Health Care
Finance Administration (HCFA) to step up investigation and monitoring of the
care being provided at Worcester Medical Center. According to DPH official
Paul Jacobson, DPH and HCFA will conduct an inspection of the new $215
million facility "in the near future."
Under the Governor's directive, DPH will make public any incidents
investigated by the agency, and establish a toll-free hotline for patients
and family members to report any problems they have at the Medical Center.
The number is (800) 462-5540.
The nurses continue to obtain support from all sectors of the community. On
Tuesday night, April 25, the Global Action Network, a student activist
network including students from Clark University, Worcester State College and
College of Holy Cross, agreed to join with Community Caring for Nurses, a
newly formed activist group, in a community-wide effort to support the
nurses. The Global Action Network will begin their activism on behalf of the
nurses by picketing with the nurses on Saturday, April 29, 2000 from noon to
4 p.m.
Last week, more than 65 physicians at St. Vincent Hospital signed a petition
calling upon Tenet to settle the nurses contract and get them back to their
patients bedside. The petition, which was mailed to Tenet CEO Bob Maher,
read: "We the undersigned physicians of St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester
Medical Center hereby petition Tenet Health Care management to get back to
the table with the St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center nurses in
order to reach a settlement of the nurses contract. Our aim here is not to
advocate for the terms of the settlement, but to express our desire for Tenet
to do what is necessary to get our nurses back at the bedside, and to restore
the high level of patient care only they are capable of delivering."
"We are so gratified that so many of our physicians have taken the courageous
step of signing this petition," said Ellis. "We know that Tenet has forbid
these people from even talking to us. It takes great courage for them to
stand up for us as they have. It is also very validating that they want us
back at the bedside. We know they have been very unhappy with the quality of
care being provided by replacement nurses. We only hope Tenet heeds their
request and settles this contract so that we can rejoin our colleagues."
The nurses have been attempting to negotiate their first contract with Tenet,
the nation's second largest for-profit hospital chain, for more than two
years. The 615 nurses have organized a union and been using the collective
bargaining process to address their primary concerns about inadequate
staffing levels and deplorable working conditions under Tenet management.
Tenet's staffing levels are the worst of the 85 facilities where the
Massachusetts Nurses Association represents nurses in the state. St. Vincent
nurses on the day shift are regularly assigned between 8 - 10 patients on
days, and between 12 - 14 patients on nights. A safe assignment is no more
than six patients on days, and 8 patients on nights. The nurses have filed
more than 450 official reports of unsafe staffing assignments that
"jeopardize patient care."
Tenet purchased St. Vincent Hospital in 1997, and has also built the new $215
million Worcester Medical Center in downtown Worcester. Tenet was scheduled
to open the new facility and move the patients into it on April 1, 2000. The
move was postponed for two days because of problems with care being delivered
by more than 120 replacement "scab" nurses provided by U.S. Nursing Corps, a
Denver-based firm that specializes in providing strike breaking nurses to
hospitals involved in labor disputes. The nurses are paid more than $4,000
per week as well as food and lodging. The move to Worcester Medical Center
took place on April 3, 2000.
Message of Support to Our American Nursing Comrades from the Queensland
Nurse's Union - Queensland Australia:
I am sending this message of support and solidarity on behalf of our
26,500 members. We are greatly moved by your courageous and long standing
battle against market driven health care. The 500 striking nurses at St
Vincent Hospital in Worcester are an inspiration to us all!
In Australia we are currently facing an insidious attack on our
universal health system Medicare. Our federal government is diverting
billions of taxpayers dollars per years away from our public health system
into incentives for private health insurance. Our theme for our Labour Day
March (this coming Monday 1 May) is "Health for Workers". We as a union are
demanding quality health care for all based on need and not ability to pay.
We too are facing a de-regulation agenda from various sources in our
health sector, particularly in aged care. Serious attempts are being made to
replace qualified nursing personnel with unqualified staff. The result is
that the quality of patient care suffering.
So although we are on opposite sides of the world nurses in Australia
are engaged in similar struggles. We understand your concerns and support
your actions 100%.
Maintain your rage and do not loose faith. Gain strength from the
many individuals and organisations in the world who support your actions. We
all appreciate the importance of your advocacy for the rights of patient and
workers.
Our thoughts are with you. Organised nurses are a formidable force to
be reckoned with. We know that you will succeed in the end! Please keep us
posted on the progress of this crucial dispute.
Yours in solidarity,
Gay Hawksworth
Secretary
Queensland Nurse's Union
-------------------------------------------
Message from Massaya Nishio, correspondent for Japanese daily newspaper
Akahata:
Dear Sandy
Thank you for sending information constantly about the strike at
Worcester. These are very useful for me.
I also would like to thank you for the interview in Cambridge , although
you were busy at both your job and activities. I was so glad to see you.
After meeting you there, I went to Worcester and see the picket line. They
were very impressive.
Now I am trying to write a story about the struggle about health care in
MA. Because I had been in New York to cover the international conference on
Non Proliferation Treaty until Thursday this week. (But I need to go to New
Orleans next week.)
Will you please do me a favor? I am interested in the Tenet Inc. Can you
tell me how I can get the information about Tenet. I want to know its history
and behavior against workers and patients. You mentioned about the ad by
California Nurse union on the local paper. If possible, can you e-mail or fax
it to me, or other intersting materials if you have?
Message from Judy Sheridan-González, staff nurse leader in New York State
Nurses Association:
Dear Sandy,
... The Nyack nurses are incredible. Mgmt. gave them a permanent replacement
ultimatum (they're on strike for 4 months) and they had a mass rally and
burned the letters in front of the hospital. Suddenly there was a 26 hour
session, and another one for today. I think they called the hospital's bluff
(Nyack must have thought they would go rushing back in--only 2 nurses
returned to work). The secret is financial planning in advance, and per diem
jobs, balanced with picket line duty (and a sonofabitch CEO). Numerous CNPs
have raised money for the cause--my place sent $400--so whatever happens,
Nyack didn't bring the nurses to their knees. I'm not sure what the
settlement is, or if there is one, but I will keep you posted. ...
En la lucha,
Judy
----------------------------------------
Editor's Note: News of the protracted struggle by the Nyack, New York, nurses
for patient safety can be obtained from the NYSNA web site
<http://www.nysna.org>, as well as suggestions on ways to express your
solidarity with these brave nurses. It's been a long winter! This evening, my
wife Merrie and I were privileged to have had the chance to spend several
hours with St. Vincent strike leaders Debbie Rigiero and Sandy Ellis at a
banquet at the union hall of IBEW Local 103 in Dorchester, Massachusetts,
celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Labor Studies Program at the
University of Massachusetts in Boston. Hundreds of labor and community
leaders and activists came together to honor twenty three outstanding
individuals for their contributions to building the community of struggle for
a just society. One of these honorees, Wally Soper from Natick, who had
himself waged a strong fight against Columbia/HCA and then Tenet in the
Metro/West area through Jobs with Justice, introduced Sandy and Debbie, and
gave a thumbnail sketch of the strike in Worcester. After a standing ovation,
the hat was passed, and $1200 was spontaneously generated for the MNA/St.
Vincent Nurses Strike Fund. Additional donations may be sent to the MNA/St.
Vincent Nurses Strike Headquarters, 29 Endicott Street, Worcester, MA 01610.
Just a reminder: these daily unofficial strike bulletins are now being posted
on the Internet for easy access and referral
<http://users.rcn.com/wbumpus/worcester.html>. And if anyone has specific
information on Tenet Corporation they can email to Massaya Nishio, or if they
can fax a copy of the CNA ad that appeared in the Telegram & Gazette last
week, he will be very grateful, as he prepares to file his story on the
strike and the state of health care in this country. Massaya was on staff
with the Japanese Nurses Union before he went to work for Akahata, so we
spoke the same language during that interview. Expressions of solidarity have
been tremendous. Debbie and Sandy want all to know what a morale booster these
expressions are. Keep up the good work! -- Sandy Eaton, RN
----------------------------------------
Fallon intervenes in the nurses strike
Fallon asks Tenet chairman to enter talks with nurses
Friday, April 28, 2000
By Bronislaus B. Kush, Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Fallon Community Health Plan has asked Jeffrey C. Barbakow,
chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Tenet Healthcare Corp.,
to become directly involved in the negotiations between striking nurses and
administrators of the Worcester Medical Center.
"The completion of the Worcester Medical Center is the culmination of an
extraordinary public-private partnership," said Eric Schultz, president and
chief executive officer of Fallon. "It saddens me that this community is
unable to celebrate this wonderful accomplishment."
Worcester political leaders said they hope Fallon's disappointment with
the lack of progress in settling the 4-week-old nurses' strike will prod
Tenet, which owns the new medical center, to quickly resolve the dispute over
mandatory overtime and other contract issues.
Mr. Schultz, who appeared at a press conference at City Hall organized
by Mayor Raymond V. Mariano, said many Fallon members have expressed concern
about the health care provided by Tenet since the nurses walked off the job.
Mr. Schultz declined to say what Fallon will do if Mr. Barbakow balks at
becoming more involved.
There are questions, however, as to how much leverage Fallon has in the
matter.
About 65 percent of those treated at the Worcester Medical Center are
Fallon members. The health plan has contractual obligations that make the
medical center the preferred hospital for its members.
Whatever its impact, striking nurses welcomed Fallon's intervention.
"It's very meaningful," said Debra A. Rigiero, co-chairwoman of the
nurses' bargaining unit. "Concerns have been raised about the quality of care
now being provided, and Fallon realizes that we should be in that hospital
helping the patients."
The nurses said that pressure by the public and the City Council may
have forced Fallon into action. They said Fallon is also concerned that
members of other unions may drop the plan because of the labor strife and the
use of replacement nurses at the medical center.
Three of the largest unions in the city -- the American Postal Workers
Union, the Educational Association of Worcester, and Teamsters Locals 170 and
437 -- recently threatened to end their contracts with Fallon if the health
plan did not lobby for a resolution of the strike.
The unions represent about 7,000 workers.
Ms. Rigiero said no formal attempt has been made to contact Mr.
Barbakow. She noted that copies of all correspondence to Robert E. Maher,
Worcester Medical Center chief executive officer, have been sent to the Tenet
chief.
Additionally, a flier distributed by nurses provides Mr. Barbakow's
e-mail address at Tenet headquarters in California.
Mr. Barbakow could not be reached for comment yesterday. Medical center
spokeswoman Paula L. Green said he is updated daily on the situation in
Worcester.
"He is acutely aware of where things stand," Ms. Green said.
She said Mr. Maher has daily conference calls with top officials at
Tenet, including Randy Smith, regional senior vice president, and Steve
Corbeil, vice president of the Tenet division that includes the medical
center.
Mr. Mariano said that he, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, and
members of the local delegation at the Statehouse lobbied Fallon to get
involved.
"There are no smiles in the community as a result (of the strike)," the
mayor said.
Mr. McGovern said the best way for Tenet to ensure quality health care
is to get the striking nurses back to work. He said area residents "are not
comfortable with the mercenary nurses" hired by Tenet.
State Rep. John J. Binienda, D-Worcester, speaking on behalf of the
state delegation, said the strike, which he described as "a black eye," has
gone on too long.
Mr. Schultz said Fallon has a "vested interest" in the matter and said
he would send a letter this week to Mr. Barbakow asking him to come to
Worcester.
The nurses, who have been negotiating for a first contract for about 30
months, have been on strike since March 31. In response, Tenet has hired 125
replacements to work at the recently opened medical center.
AUBURN-- About 25 Worcester Medical Center nurses and supporters picketed
outside the Ramada Inn last night, shouting "Go home, scabs!" to substitute
nurses as they arrived at the motel in vans with shaded windows.
The striking nurses have been replaced with about 125 nurses from U.S.
Nursing Corp. of Denver and elsewhere. The replacement nurses have been
staying at the Ramada Inn, among other places.
Two Auburn patrol officers watched the pickets from the parking lot,
noting the nurses were lawfully remaining on the sidewalk and not causing any
problems.
Cardiac nurse Deborah Siplas of Worcester said the purpose of the
picketing was to peacefully confront the substitute nurses and try to make
them think about how they are interfering with the ability of striking nurses
and Worcester Medical Center management to reach an agreement.
About 80 percent of the 535 full-time Worcester Medical Center nurses
went on strike March 31, principally over management wanting nurses to work
mandatory overtime shifts. They are members of Massachusetts Nurses
Association and have been joined on the picket lines by friends, college
students, other union members, spouses and children.
As Ms. Siplas picketed at the Ramada Inn, her children, Andrew, 13 and
Kathleen, 10, carried signs, watched for vans carrying nurses and yelled for
them to go home.
Kathleen's sign said: "Scabs, you can't run and you can't hide."
"We want them to know they're really just prolonging the strike for
everyone. They can't prolong their anonymity any longer," Ms. Siplas said.
"Certainly, we wouldn't do anything to injure them."
Ms. Siplas said she and some of the other striking nurses have been
working at hospitals and other medical facilities on a per-diem basis. She
said she could easily find another full-time nursing job, but misses her
patients.
Nurse Rosemary Stone said she has been too busy helping organize the
picket lines to work, and she hopes to return to her full-time nursing job
under an appropriate contract soon. Ms. Stone said the replacement nurses
have been staying mostly at Worcester hotels, but also other places out of
the city.
State Rep. Paul K. Frost, R-Auburn, was at the Ramada Inn for his 30th
birthday party and joined the picket line for a while. He said he would have
selected another site for his party if he had known the replacement nurses
were staying at the hotel because he supports the striking nurses.
Inside the Ramada Inn, no replacement nurses were in any of the common
areas, and the motel manager declined to allow a reporter to knock on the
doors of their rooms, saying the motel is their home for now and they should
be allowed privacy.
Medical center chief welcomes record review for TIF compliance
TIF compliance is questioned
Thursday, April 27, 2000
By Jim Bodor, Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Worcester Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Maher
Jr. yesterday invited city officials to audit the new hospital's employment
records to see whether they comply with the terms of a tax relief agreement
worth more than $40 million.
"Whoever they want can come in here and review the numbers," Mr. Maher
said. "Let's get the facts. We will be more than happy to entertain anybody
they want to send in here."
Mr. Maher's comments came one day after the City Council voted to hold
hearings to discuss a decertification of the tax increment financing
agreement. Under the TIF, the hospital will pay $40.6 million in taxes to the
city over 18 years, $40.5 million less than it would have paid without the
agreement.
At Tuesday's City Council meeting, councilors raised concerns about the
number of jobs that have been privatized at the hospital, which opened April
3. They also questioned the number of construction jobs the project created.
The decertification hearings will be held by the council's Commerce and
Development Committee.
Mr. Maher attended Tuesday night's council meeting, but was not given a
chance to discuss what he understands to be the requirements of the tax deal,
and how the hospital has met those requirements, he said.
Mr. Maher said he believes the hospital is in compliance with the
agreement so far. The hospital must be in full compliance with the agreement
by June 30, 2001.
"It's clear to me that we are in compliance, in both the spirit and the
letter of the agreement," Mr. Maher said. "It's also clear that the
councilors are experiencing some frustration because of their perception that
they have not received all of the information. They've got a lot of
questions, and I'm prepared to answer them."
According to the TIF, the hospital agreed to create 1,000 construction
jobs while the medical center was being built, and 2,430 jobs in the center
after construction.
The construction created jobs for 1,800 from March 14, 1997, to March
21, 2000, according to a letter from Centex Rodgers Construction Co. of
Nashville, Tenn.
The previously cited number of 492 jobs was outdated and incorrect, Mr.
Maher said yesterday.
"It was a number that has been cited for a long time, but it was a
mistake, and I should have realized it sooner," he said.
Of the 2,430 jobs to be created in the medical center, 2,200 people
currently work there, Mr. Maher said. Another 200 will be transferred from
the Fallon Clinic in September, bringing the total to 2,400.
City councilors have said that the tax deal did not allow for Fallon
Clinic employees to be included in the total job count. But Mr. Maher said a
review of the tax agreement shows that it does allow them to be included.
"They are in there, and they always were," he said.
City councilors also have challenged the inclusion of privatized or
outsourced positions in the total job count. There are 264 such workers, Mr.
Maher said.
The tax agreement does not specify that those people cannot be counted,
he said.
"They work in the building, so I counted them," Mr. Maher said.
The figure of 2,400 does not include about 125 replacement nurses who
have been working at the hospital during a strike by its nurses. Nor does it
include 96 positions at the retail shops on the ground floor of the new
hospital, all of which will be filled by July 2001, Mr. Maher said.
Tenet Healthcare Corp., which owns the hospital, has its lawyers
reviewing the terms of the tax deal to protect the hospital's interests, Mr.
Maher said. The City Council has no grounds to decertify the deal, he said.
"An audited review will show that we are in compliance. And if we are in
compliance, then on what basis can it be rescinded?" he said.
Mayor Raymond V. Mariano said yesterday that the council has been asking
for such detailed information for two years without success. That has forced
the council to pursue a more formal investigation, he said.
"We have asked for this data, and they have been reluctant to give it to
us," he said. "With each group that they have downsized or outsourced, we've
become increasingly frustrated. So now we are going to ask tough questions."
Mr. Maher said yesterday that he has responded to all of the city's
requests for such information.
Some city officials have questioned the legality of a decertification
move. City Manager Thomas R. Hoover and City Solicitor David M. Moore
cautioned the council about such a move.
A decertification move now could be a violation of the National Labor
Relations Act, which prevents parties outside of a labor dispute from taking
any action that would affect those involved in the dispute, Mr. Moore told
the council. The medical center's nurses have been on strike since March 31.
But other government bodies have used tax breaks as a way to pressure
companies into resolving labor issues, according to The Wall Street Journal.
When Associated Wholesale Group of Kansas City, Kan., locked out 1,200
Teamsters and brought in replacement workers last month, the union asked the
county to review a 10-year tax break granted to the company. The tax break
required that half of the company's new hires come from Wyandotte County,
Kansas. The issue is under consideration.
In Mansfield, Ohio, locked-out Steelworkers are seeking a court
challenge of tax breaks granted to AK Steel of Ohio, The Wall Street Journal
reported. And the city of Cleveland threatened to pull $500,000 in tax breaks
to SuperTrapp Industries Inc. until the company agreed to open talks with the
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.