Join a Nurses' Day Picket on St. Vincent Picket Line!

DATE: Sunday, May 7, 2000
TIME: 12 noon - 4:00 PM
PLACE: Worcester Medical Center

.Directions to Worcester Medical Center:

From 290 East or West use Kelly Square Vernon Street exit. Go through Kelly
Sq. take Green St. (To the right of Merit gas). Go to end of Green St.- take
right at lights. Follow past Fashion outlets, Medical Center in on your right
across from Worcester Centrum.

For up to the minute information contact the St. Vincent Strike Office @
508-792-2181, or call the MNA @ 800-882-2056.

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Message from ANA:

American Nurses Association Condemns, Pickets Denver Firm Supplying
Strikebreaking Nurses in Massachusetts, New York

4/27/00

American Nurses Association President Mary Foley and 1st Vice President
Barbara Blakeney joined Colorado Nurses Association Executive Director Lola
Fehr leading 25 nurses at a picket on April 25 at U. S. Nursing Corporation,
headquartered in Denver. The protest was staged in support of nurses, who are
members of ANA's constituent associations, on strike at hospitals in
Massachusetts and New York. U. S. Nursing Corporation is providing strike
breaking nurses in the Massachusetts and New York strikes. Foley said, "We
are tired of U. S. Nursing Corporation betraying the nursing profession and
patients. We condemn U. S. Nursing Corporation for engaging in shameful
strikebreaking that puts profits before patients."

Association leaders met with U. S. Nursing Corporation executives for about
40 minutes to protest their practice of supplying strikebreakers.

Foley and Blakeney also issued a consumer alert, warning about the patient
and provider dangers of mandatory overtime. Mandatory overtime is a key issue
in both strikes.

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News Flash: Tentative Agreement Reached in Nyack, New York, Strike

At 3:15 AM, April 27th, negotiators for the New York State Nurses Association
(NYSNA) and Nyack Hospital reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year
contract. Nurses will continue to picket in front of the hospital from 10:00
AM to 2:00 PM each day until the contract is ratified. Details of the
agreement will not be released until after the vote. The 450 registered
nurses at the hospital have been out on strike since Dec. 21, 1999. The
nurses' most recent contract expired on Dec. 31, 1997. Voting on the
agreement will take place from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM and from 6:00 PM to 9:00
PM on Monday, May 1st.

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A small sample of letters of support from around the world found on MNA web
site:

.I am a Bulgarian Nurse, working in Abu Dhabi - across the globe from you.
But even that far we have your problems as well. Isn't it about time to let
people know that we are highly professional and we must be regarded as such.
We are not doing some kind of a menial job which doesn't require our
attention. Don't give up.

.I wish to support the strike of the nurses for the position taken against
the mandatory overtime by staff because of management's refusal to improve
the level of staffing so that quality care can be given to the patients. At
present, I am also engaged in industrial action with regards to the
inadequate staffing at my hospital in Trinidad. One nurse is forced for take
care of any number of patients from 25 - 60 on each shift. Most times nurses
are force to work double and triple shifts because of this gross staff
shortage. This is compromising patient care as well as placing the nurse's
license at risk, because if any errors take place the nurse is held
responsible. The government is also threatening nurses with legal action
because of some scabs who have decided that they will not support the action
although they have been most vocal for a long time about the situation. We do
not intend to give up unless something is done about the situation. So I am
in support of your action. RN in Trinidad

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Summary of important web sites for strike news and background information:


<http://www.massnurses.org> for the most thorough official news and
background from MNA.

<http://www.nursingworld.org> for news of support actions by ANA.

<http://www.nysna.org/news/press00/nyack.htm> for the latest developments in
Nyack, NY.

<http://www.califnurses.org> for Tenet Watch and great contract language on
mandatory OT.

<http://users.rcn.com/wbumpus/worcester.html> for an archive of these daily
bulletins.

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Update from strike leader Sandy Ellis on Friday's labor banquet:

I had a chance to count the oh, so generous collection taken at last night's
event for our Strike Fund. The grand total was $1,354. Wow! That sure will
help a lot of families facing financial hardship during the strike. We are so
grateful for the overwhelming kindness and generosity shown to the striking
nurses.
In solidarity,
Sandy Ellis

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Message from striking St. Vincent nurse:

Dear Sandy Eaton:
I am a Saint Vincent nurse on strike, and wanted to take the time to
personally thank you for all your strike updates. I have been so involved in
pickets, office business, and site trash collections that I have been unable
to keep up with the news on television. I do read the newspaper faithfully,
but have learned that the T&G is far from "nurse friendly," and that we don't
always get the whole story.
Thanks to a picket with Sandy Ellis this week, we were able to
discuss informative matters, and she mentioned your bulletins. It is so
encouraging to me to read the letters that you receive from around the world,
and a source of support in our struggle for our rights against this "Goliath"
corporation. Thank you for including me in your E-mailing, and thanks to
Sandy Ellis for her untiring devotion to our cause.
In unity, MaryEllen DeCaro, RN

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Message from a staff nurse at Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital Teana
Gilinson:

In case you weren't aware, the California Nurses Assoc. web site has a lot of
information about Tenet. They have a separate section called Tenet Watch.
Also, if you use the word Tenet in a search engine, it will come up with
stuff as well.

Teana

(Ed.'s Note: Thanks, Teana! We'll pass this on Massaya for his research. And
I apologize for misspelling your name in my haste the other day! -- SE.)

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Message from nurse activist Carrie Lybecker:

Dear Sandy:

Well, I have to tell you, I am really embarrassed. I've been following this
whole thing for weeks from my little hole in Olympia Washington and with
input from my MNA friends Barry Adams and Judybeth Crowell, even David S. In
all this time, I never put your email address together with the Sandy Ellis
quoted in all the newspaper stories.

What can I say. I am an idiot.

I own the Nurse Advocate email list and web site (www.nurseadvocate.org).
Along with the rest of the world, I adamantly support St Vincent nurses and
share everyone else's admiration for their courage and strength. In addition,
I admire your ability to deal with reporters. Every time I have read one of
these articles I have marveled at your composure.

Best of luck!

Carrie Lybecker

(Ed.'s Note: Thanks, Carrie, for your fervent support. I must confess,
however, that there are at least two Sandy E's running around Massachusetts
stirring up mischief: Sandy Ellis, spokesperson for the striking Worcester
nurses, and Sandy Eaton, transmitter of email messages such as this one.
We've even been getting each other's email by mistake, so I guess a lot of
people have us confused. I'm glad we're on the same side! -- Sandy Eaton, RN)

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Message from MNA Labor Cabinet Chair Karen Higgins:

Sandy,

I just wanted you to know I love your updates on St. V's and that I send it
on to every nurse I have e-mail for and that they also love it. I know it is
a lot of work and I wanted to let you know how much we all appreciate it.
Thanks.

K.

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Nurses: We're tired

Saturday, April 29, 2000

By SUE REINERT, The Patriot Ledger

Sandy Eaton worked in a Roxbury meatpacking plant during the Vietnam War,
filling cans of food rations for soldiers.

Now he is a nurse at Quincy Medical Center, but he sometimes feels like a
factory worker.

``I worked on an assembly line so I know what speedup is like,'' the Quincy
resident said.

For many nurses, mandatory overtime has become the lightning rod for
complaints about understaffing and hospitals' fears that a nursing shortage
will leave patients without coverage.

Nurses say working 16-hour shifts increases the danger of mistakes; hospital
managers say they must sometimes order overtime to avoid dangerous gaps in
staffing.

Mandatory overtime is a key issue in a four-week nurses' strike in Worcester,
but the pressures facing nurses are broader than that, nurses say.

``Hospitals are reducing staffing levels to the point where safe care is
jeopardized,'' said Paula Ryan, head of the Massachusetts Nurses Association
bargaining unit at Quincy Medical Center.

``It's very sad,'' said Ryan, who has worked as a nurse for 31 years. ``When
you go into nursing you want to take care of people; you want to make them
safe. You aren't able to meet the needs of patients, things that you know you
want for your own family and eventually for yourself. It's very frustrating
and our voices aren't heard.''

With hospitals, nursing homes and home care agencies under financial
pressure, many nurses say their profession is under siege. They say they are
expected to take care of much sicker patients, care for more of them and get
them out of the hospital faster, and no matter how stressful the job becomes,
they cannot afford to make mistakes.

``You don't get to go to the Board (of Registration in Nursing) and say, `I'm
sorry I made that error but I was on mandatory overtime and I was overtired,'
'' said Julie Pinkham of Quincy, director of the labor program for the
Massachusetts Nurses Association and a nurse herself.

In Worcester, Massachusetts Nurses Association members are in their 30th day
of a strike against St. Vincent Hospital, owned by Tenet Healthcare System, a
for-profit hospital chain based in California.

Nurses, seeking their first contract with Tenet, won't accept an agreement
that gives management the right to demand they work an extra eight-hour
shift. The hospital says it must have the ability to order overtime.

Mandatory overtime is not a new issue.

In Plymouth, nurses at Jordan Hospital have picketed the hospital -- while
remaining at work -- over forced overtime and other staffing issues.

At Quincy Medical Center, formerly Quincy Hospital, nurses filed more than
100 grievances in the early 1990s over overtime orders.

Hospital officials agreed in a 1996 settlement to order overtime only after
seeking volunteers, nurses from employment agencies, and employees who had
not worked a shift that day. The hospital also promised to limit extra time
to six hours if a nurse was too tired to work more, the nurses association
said.

A year later, the union said the hospital was not adhering to the commitment
and filed another grievance. An arbitrator ruled in the union's favor in
1998, and since then overtime has been voluntary.

Pinkham said most contracts with union nurses allow managers to mandate
``reasonable'' overtime.

Most nurses say they are willing to work extra hours in a true emergency. But
they object to being ordered to stay at work for another shift merely because
the hospital didn't hire enough nurses.

`` `Reasonable' works when you have sufficient numbers of staff,'' Pinkham
said. ``It doesn't work when you lowball the staff and just try to use nurses
as hostages when people get sicker or you have more admissions.''

The nurses union has turned to arbitration to limit overtime. At Carney
Hospital in Dorchester as well as Quincy Medical Center, the union succeeded
in requiring the hospital to try all alternatives before ordering overtime,
Pinkham said.

Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center is one of the few hospitals that has
overtime safeguards written into the hospital's contract with nurses, Pinkham
said.

Officials at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, where nurses are not in a
union, declined to discuss the overtime issue.

Milton Hospital has no written policy on mandatory overtime but has never
ordered any employees to work beyond the end of their shift, said hospital
Vice President Richard Brooks. The hospital relies on employees who agree to
work extra hours and per-diem nurses, he said.

``It works for us,'' Brooks said. ``We're very proud of our employees'
dedication.''

Hospital officials don't like mandatory overtime, but they say they have no
choice.

``We do everything in our power to make sure that appropriate staffing levels
are here,'' said Margaret Carr, spokeswoman for Jordan Hospital.
``Unfortunately we have to implement mandatory overtime. It doesn't make
financial sense for us; it doesn't help us work with our nurses.''

When hospital managers do order nurses to stay an extra shift, they tell them
to let a supervisor know if they feel too tired to provide safe care, Carr
said.

The hospital cannot hire enough nurses partly because of a nationwide nursing
shortage and partly because Jordan hasn't raised nurses' salaries since 1997,
Carr said.

The union and the hospital are locked in an arbitration case that has
prevented them from signing a new contract, Carr said. The hospital offered
to increase pay on a contingency basis pending a ruling, but the union
declined, she said.

Even if the hospital paid more, ``we would still have a shortage,'' Carr
said.

The union isn't proposing to change the current contract language allowing
``reasonable'' overtime, but does want more pay.

Nicole Miller of Plymouth, a member of the union bargaining committee, said
union members think a pay raise will solve the hospital's staffing problems.
The hospital offered too little to make a difference, she said.

``We're fearful that more and more mandatory overtime is going to arise
because of our lack of a contract and our low pay rate,'' Miller said. ``A
lot of our RNs are leaving.''

``A lot of us voluntarily pick up overtime,'' Miller said. ``We can only pick
up so much. We're getting tired.''

Copyright 2000 The Patriot Ledger
Article received on Friday, April 28 2000 at 22:59 EDT

(Ed.'s Note: Attempts by employers of nurses to deal with the shortage of
nurses by working the ones they already have to death only deepen the
shortage of nurses. In order to find ways to break out of that vicious cycle,
MNA has convened a Task Force on the Nurse Shortage. Stay tuned! -- SE)

Previous Worcester Strike Bulletins: