Scab Alert!

Picket Nursing Spectrum Job Fair
8 AM - 5 PM on Wednesday, May 3rd
Holiday Inn, Boxboro, Massachusetts
Take Exit 28 off I-495

Spectrum has been advertising for strike-breaking firms
- Tenet will have a booth at the Spectrum job fair.

We need picketers to join us at this fair to protest
Spectrum's support for scab nursing and strikebreakers.

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Message from MNA Labor Cabinet Chair Karen Higgins:

I hope you can help. I'm trying to get people to join me to picket the Spectru
m job fair. Anyone interested should let me know.

Karen H. (email: auntie85@aol.com)

PS: I also encourage you to call On Call magazine and let them know that as
nurses we are appalled that they are advertising for scabs. This is a
disgrace, and I myself will not have anything to do with a nursing magazine
that continues this practice.

(Ed.'s Note: On Call's phone number: 508-871-1900. Their web site is under
construction, so no email address is readily available. - SE)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2000
Contact: David Schildmeier: (781) 821-4625 x717 or (508) 426-1655 or
781-249-0430

Mediator Schedules Talks Between St. Vincent Hospital Nurses and Tenet Health
Care - Thursday, May 4 at 10 a.m. (Location To Be Determined)

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Federal Mediator for the contract dispute between
Tenet Health Care and the registered nurses represented by the Massachusetts
Nurses Association (MNA) at St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center has
scheduled a meeting of the two parties for Thursday, May 4, 2000 at 10
a.m. The location of the talks has yet to be determined. This will be the
first time the two parties have met since talks broke down on April 21,
2000. At the time of the May 4th session, the nurses will have been on strike
for 35 days.

"We look forward to the opportunity to get back to the table," said Sandy
Ellis, a nurse at the facility and a spokesperson for the nurses' bargaining
unit. "Any time the two sides get together is an opportunity to reach a
settlement and end this strike."

The issue of mandatory overtime is the single most important issue of concern
to the nurses. Currently, the hospital does not use mandatory overtime. Under
the new contract, the hospital is demanding the right to mandate double
shifts for nurses, forcing nurses against their will to work up to 16 hours
straight, something nurses believe is dangerous to patient care.

After a 20-minute negotiating session on April 21, talks between the St.
Vincent Hospital nurses and Tenet Health Care broke down after the hospital
refused to withdraw its demand for mandatory 16-hour shifts as a means of
staffing the hospital in non-emergent situations.

The nurses have made a significant concession to resolve the dispute by
agreeing to work up to four hours of mandatory overtime. The nurses' proposal
would allow management to mandate a nurse to work two hours of overtime. plus
two additional hours at the nurses' discretion. Additionally, a nurse would
have the right to refuse mandatory overtime if and when she feels too
fatigued or impaired to provide safe patient care.

The proposal to place limits on mandatory overtime mirrors a number of
contract agreements MNA-represented nurses have negotiated at facilities
where poor staffing conditions exist and mandatory overtime is used to
compensate for lack of adequate staffing. The proposal also responds to CEO
Bob Maher's public statements that, in most cases, nurses would not be
expected to work more than two to three hours of mandatory overtime.

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Message from Beth M.:

It is not only Nursing Spectrum which advertises for nurse scabs. The journal
Vital Signs has the same advertisement. Beth

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Observation by Beth M.:

Thanks Mared for sending this article (Ed.'s Note: on scab errors, from
Worcester Telegram & Gazette - see below -- SE). What is interesting in here
is that there is no mention when the error was noted after the wrong mother
was breast feeding the wrong baby or before. This could have had very serious
ramifications. Now the story about the unattended post op patient is really
outrageous, ONE hour attended? Whew. Please be advised that there is supposed
to be another meeting between TENET execs and nurses this coming Thurs, May
4. Beth

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`Unfortunate' mistakes cause strikers to question care
Care-related lapses prompt firing of 3 temp nurses

Tuesday, May 2, 2000

By Chris Pope, Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER-- As a federal mediator asked both sides in the 33-day-old
Worcester Medical Center strike to return to the bargaining table, the state
Department of Public Health reported that three replacement nurses hired by
Tenet Healthcare Corp. have been fired.
According to DPH reports released yesterday on conditions at the
Tenet-owned medical center, two of the nurses -- part of a contingent of 125
brought in by Tenet from Denver-based U.S. Nursing Corp. -- were terminated
after leaving a surgical patient unattended last Tuesday in a post-operative
recovery room.
The third nurse was fired after delivering a newborn to the wrong mother
for nursing. That incident took place Friday, according to the report.
"This should not happen under any circumstances," said Paul R. Jacobsen,
deputy state commissioner of health. He said the incident is being
investigated by state health officials.
Paula L. Green, medical center spokeswoman, confirmed that the nurse
responsible for the baby mixup was employed by U.S. Nursing. She said the
hospital regretted the incident.
"This was a very unfortunate situation," she said. "We're sick over the
fact that this occurred."
Ms. Green said the nurse, who was experienced in neonatal care, was
fired after failing to match the identification bracelet attached to the baby
with one worn by its mother. She said the error was discovered after the
misidentified baby's real mother went to the hospital's nursery and found her
child missing.
While the error was discovered and corrected quickly, Ms. Green said the
nurse was terminated for violating procedures designed to make sure that such
misidentifications do not occur.
"We very much regret the emotional distress caused to both mothers and
their families," she said.
Ms. Green said the incident involving the patient who was left
unattended in the recovery room for about an hour was the result of a
misunderstanding between two nurses.
"Each left thinking the other was still there," she said.
Ms. Green said that because the patient suffered no harm as a result of
being left unattended, the hospital was not obligated to report the incident
to the DPH. She said the hospital reported it anyway as part of its full
disclosure policy concerning patient care during the strike.
DPH monitors have been in the hospital since the start of the strike.
The monitors have sent daily written reports to public health officials,
noting their findings, but those reports have been made available to the
media only since Friday.
Ms. Green said the decision to terminate the nurses was made after
determining that they had violated hospital care standards.
"We felt as professionals it was their responsibility to make sure
coverage was there," Ms. Green said.
David J. Schildmeier, spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses
Association, which represents the striking nurses, said both incidents
confirm the striking nurses' contention that the medical center has been
unable to maintain adequate care standards during the strike.
"It's compatible with reports that we have been receiving daily on the
quality of care being provided," he said.
"We feel we're maintaining a high quality of care," Ms. Green responded.
"But unfortunately, these things did occur during the strike, if not
necessarily because of the strike."
Meanwhile, the federal mediator assigned to the nurses' strike has
called for the two sides in the dispute to meet at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The meeting, at a site yet to be determined, would be the first between
Tenet, owner of the hospital, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association since
a 20-minute session ended without progress April 21.
Sandra A. Ellis, spokeswoman for the striking nurses, said the union's
negotiating team is looking forward to the resumption of talks.
"Anytime the two sides get together is an opportunity to reach a
settlement and end this," Ms. Ellis said.
Ms. Green said the hospital bargaining team, led by Chief Executive
Officer Robert E. Maher Jr., would attend the session. Ms. Green said she was
not aware of any changes in the medical center's bargaining position, however.
The main issue separating the sides in the dispute remains mandatory
overtime. In a compromise from their initial position, the nurses have said
they would work up to two hours of overtime each shift, and would work an
additional two hours of overtime per shift in emergencies. The nurses'
proposal would allow nurses who feel too tired to provide safe patient care
to refuse overtime.
The hospital, which essentially has stuck to its original bargaining
stance, wants the ability to require eight hours of overtime per shift with
double wages. In the alternative, the hospital said it is agreeable to a flex
policy that would give management the right to send nurses home without pay
on low patient census days.

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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Nyack (New York) Nurses Reject Pact, Strike Continues

NYACK, May 1, 2000 -- Registered nurses at Nyack Hospital rejected a proposed
five-year contract this evening. In expressing their frustration with the
tentative agreement reached during negotiations with hospital management last
week, the nurses said the pact goes only halfway toward resolving the
hospital's serious staffing problems.

NYSNA has always maintained that there are two aspects to solving the
staffing problem. The first is creating minimum staffing guidelines. The
second is maintaining a competitive benefit package. The most recent package
offered by Nyack Hospital only addresses the first of these issues.

This package eliminates five of the nurses' 12 sick days, and makes the
remaining seven difficult to access. Registered nurses work on the front
lines of health care, caring for the sick, and should be entitled to retain
the sick time they have. If Nyack Hospital cannot successfully compete for
RNs with other area institutions, it will surely lose personnel to them.

As a result of the vote, the strike will continue. The nurses will resume
regular picketing at 10 a.m. tomorrow and will conduct another large-scale
demonstration at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, May 7. The New York State Nurses
Association (NYSNA), which represents the nurses, is contacting the federal
mediator to set up another negotiation session.

(Ed.'s Note: For full information on the nurses' strike in Nyack, New York,
and for ways to express your support, go to the official strike web page
<http://www.nysna.org/news/press00/nyack.htm>. -- SE)

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Striking NY Nurses Reject Contract

Monday May 1 11:47 PM ET

NYACK, N.Y. (AP) - Striking nurses at Nyack Hospital rejected a tentative
agreement on a new contract Monday night and said their 4-month-old walkout
would continue.

Hospital officials expressed surprise and disappointment and said they would
resume hiring permanent replacements for the strikers.

Mark Genovese, a spokesman for the New York State Nurses Association, said
the vote against the contract was ``greater than 2 to 1,'' but he would not
give the exact numbers. The union's bargaining committee had given the
agreement a favorable recommendation.

``Obviously we're very disappointed,'' said hospital spokeswoman Nancy Kriz.
``We bargained in good faith, and we believe NYSNA did, too. We felt the
proposal met everyone's needs - the hospital, the nurses, the community.''

But Genovese said the hospital's 425 striking nurses, who have been out since
Dec. 21, felt that the proposal was insufficient in wage hikes and time off,
which would compound staffing problems. Genovese said picketing would resume
Tuesday morning.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Coming Events:

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

May 6 - 12 is National Nurses Week. What better way to celebrate this week
then to join the St. Vincent Hospital nurses on their strike line outside of
Worcester Medical Center. We hope that hundreds of nurses from hospitals and
health care facilities throughout the Commonwealth will have representatives
at this picketing, displaying signs of their different facilities. We need an
army of supporters from the nursing community to demonstrate to these
courageous nurses and to their community 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.


Fund Raiser for Striking Nurses at "Sh'Booms"

DATE: Thursday, May 18, 2000
TIME: 5:00 - 9:00 PM
PLACE: Sh'Booms . 215 Main Street . Worcester

Sh' Booms Entertainment Complex in Worcester has generously donated their
nightclub for a fundraiser to support the St. Vincent Hospital Nurses Strike
Fund.

Enjoy a night of Dining and Dancing. Evening Includes a Buffet Dinner, Cash
Bar & Disc Jockey. Admission is on a first-come, first served basis. Must be
21 or over with Positive I.D.

$10 donation gets you into the party.and helps ensure safe care for the
future. Tickets also available at the St. Vincent Strike Office, 29 Endicott
Street, Worcester Mass. 508-792-2181. All Proceeds Support the Nurses' Strike
Fund. For more information, call the nurses' strike office at 508-792-2181.

Previous Worcester Strike Bulletins: