Join the National Nurses' Week Nurse Day Picket
to Support the St. Vincent Hospital Nurses -
Help Send the Message: Exhausted Nurses = Unsafe Care

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.

.Directions to Worcester Medical Center:

From 290 East or West use Kelly Square Vernon Street exit (Exit 16, 6.5 miles
from Massachusetts Turnpike). Go through Kelly Square. Take Green Street (to
the right of Merit gas). Go to end of Green Street. 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.

------------------------------------------------

Results of Thursday's Negotiations:

After nine hours of negotiations, talks break down. Hospital suggests
"baseball-syle" arbitration in which each side submits their last offer and
an outside party (arbitrator) "picks" one of the two offers, in order to
settle strike.

St. Vincent nurses balk at this tactic as they will not subject their
position to (i.e., put their futures in the hands of) a third party.

The nurses and the Worcester community made it clear that 16 hours of
overtime is dangerous and believe Tenet has the responsibility to change its
position in order to settle the strike.

(Ed.'s Note: See T&G article below. -- SE)

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Letter from the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation
Urging Tenet Corporation to Settle Contract with Nurses

Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515

May 3, 2000

Jeffrey Barbakow
Chairman and Chief Executive Operator
Tenet Healthcare Corporation
3820 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105

Dear Mr. Barbakow,

We are writing to urge you to come to Worcester, Massachusetts and conduct
face-to-face negotiations in order to settle this labor dispute between Tenet
Healthcare Corporation and the nurses employed at St. Vincent's Hospital. We
join other elected officials and heads of private companies in urging a
renewed focus and commitment to a compromise in this labor dispute.

We are seeking a quick, fair resolution of this dispute because we are
concerned about the lasting impact of this strike on Worcester and Central
Massachusetts. The nurses on strike are trained experts in their field and we
believe that patient safety and the quality of care for the patients at St.
Vincent's Hospital could be compromised the longer this strike
continues. Tenet Healthcare Corporation has made a significant investment in
the City of Worcester with the construction and recent opening of the Medical
City Campus. Now we must begin to nurture and develop a strong partnership
with the Worcester community.

Your direct participation will undoubtedly be a gesture that Tenet Healthcare
Corporation is committed to ending this strike amicably. A compromise and
quick resolution to this strike are beneficial to all parties and we
encourage you to travel to Worcester to complete these negotiations. We look
forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Kennedy
John F. Kerry
James P. McGovern
John F. Tierney
Joe Moakley
John W. Olver
William Delahunt
Michael Capuano
Edward J. Markey
Richard E. Neal
Barney Frank
Marty Meehan

---------------------------------------------

Message from the Board of MNA's Largest District:

The Board of Directors of District 5 and many of the nurses in District 5
represented by the Board of Directors appreciate your convictions and the
courage to take a stand for safe patient care. Please accept our support and
our wishes for a successful and speedy resolution to the strike.

Sincerely,

BOD District 5, Inc.

--------------------------------------------

Message from Ohio Nurses Association Labor Leadership:

Dear Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital,

On behalf on the Ohio Nurses Association Economic and General Welfare Council
I would like to extend our support to you during the strike at St. Vincent
Hospital. The nurses in Ohio are proud of your efforts to maintain safe
staffing and patient care. We also believe that what you are doing to protect
your rights will also protect the rights of nurses everywhere. I encourage
each nurse in the union to maintain solidarity and to continue to your work
toward improving your working conditions and the practice of nursing. Remain
united for patient care and the nursing profession. You will prevail!

Sincerely,

ONA Economic and General Welfare Council

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Message from Youngstown, Ohio, Nurse Activists:

Greetings and support from The Youngstown General Duty Nurses
Association/Ohio Nurses Assoc. in Youngstown, Ohio.

We wish you unity and strength and we understand your issues. We are living
them here and draw strength from your courage to fight for what is
right. Good luck to all of you. Stay strong. You are getting great press here
in Ohio and you are an inspiration to us as we get ready for negotiation over
the same issues.

Best Wishes from YGDNA, District#3, ONA

------------------------------------------------

Messages from Boston SEIU Local 285 Rank-and-file Activist:

Dear Mr. Maher,

I've been shocked at how you've handled your side of the negotiations with
the nurses. I think you should drop your demand for mandatory overtime and go
back to the bargaining table as soon as is humanly feasible. I am not a nurse
or a doctor. I am a health care consumer, and I don't want my health or
anyone else's health jeopardized because nurses' strength has been taxed
beyond their capacities.



Respectfully submitted,

Gregory R. King



Dear Mr. Barbakow,

I've been shocked at the way Tenet has been handling its negotiations with
the nurses of St. Vincent's Hospital/Worcester Medical Center. The demand you
have raised of mandatory overtime seems not only unreasonable, but a risk to
both nurses' and patients' health. I am not a nurse or a doctor. I am a
health care consumer, and I would not want to be cared for by exhausted
nurses, who are only human, after all, and might make a mistake in their very
tired state. Please instruct Mr. Maher to drop the demand for mandatory
overtime and return to the bargaining table.


Respectfully submitted,

Gregory R. King

-------------------------------------------------

Forwarded Message from Canadian Colleague:

[Sandy ... forwarded with permission from the Nurse Advocate list
<http://www.nurseadvocate.org>. Grant is an informatics nurse in Canada.
Carrie Lybecker]

I followed Barry Adam's story and was not surprised by the MA BORN's handling
of his case (though I hasten to add, I share Mr. Adam's view of how the board
should proceed). While I believe that, sadly, double standards for staff
nurses and adminstrative nurses are not unusual, I must say that I am quite
shocked at what seems to amount to a reckless disregard on the part of the
board for the public safety which is their charge. I have never heard of a
similar case in Canada. Surely this is unusual in the US as well?

What could these nurses possibly be thinking that could justify ignoring
standards for licensure that are designed for the safety of the public? What
possible justification, however weak, could there be for such a blatant and
egregious disregard of the sacred trust of protecting the public. Who are
these people? How can they possibly sleep at night?

To my colleagues who are subject to the dictates of such people as these, my
thoughts are with you. Perhaps this will be enough to move your legislators
to remove this travesty of a board. I only hope they will look to the many
fine nurses who work in the jurisdiction (such as Mr Adams) to realize that
the MA BORN are an aberration and that the vast majority of nurses can be
trusted to regulate their profession in the public interest.

To my sisters and brothers on the line at Tenet. Stout hearts. Surely
regularly mandated 16 hour shifts are an example of the institutionalized
violence to which we are all subject. Your fight is our fight. Thank you for
taking it on.

In solidarity,

Grant

Grant Tomlinson,
Informatics Resource Nurse

The essence of civilized discourse is to disagree without becoming
disagreeable.

-----------------------------------------------

Rally for Safe Hospitals

Because every patient deserves quality care!

Tuesday, May 9

4:30 - 6:00 PM
Rhode Island State House
South Steps

You don't have to be an expert to know our health care system is in crisis.
If you or a loved one has been in any hospital lately, you have probably seen
for yourself how patient care is all too often lacking. That's because
staffing cuts are putting patients at risk.

We deserve better. Join hundreds of health care professionals, labor unions,
community advocates and patients and their families to rally for safe
hospitals. There will be exciting speakers from across the country, along
with music, skits, giant puppets and balloons for the kids!

With your help, we will let everyone in the State House know that when it
comes to quality hospital care, we're worth it!

Hosted by the United Nurses & Allied Professionals

For additional information, call UNAP at 401-831-3647.

----------------------------------------------

Teachers to join nurses' pickets
Hospital's arbitration offer rejected

Friday, May 5, 2000

By Chris Pope, Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER-- Worcester Medical Center managers and the hospital's striking
nurses struggled through nine hours of negotiations yesterday.
That easily beat the 20 minutes of talking that took place the last time
the two sides met. But in the end, the result was the same -- no progress
toward a settlement, and at least for now, nothing else to talk about.
Yesterday's breakdown of negotiations left Debra A. Rigiero, co-chairman
of the nurses' bargaining team bitter and pessimistic about the chances of
settling the five-week-old contract battle anytime soon.
"I'm so angry right now. I'm just so very, very angry," Mrs. Rigiero
said. "I feel like once again we have been slapped in the face."
For his part, Worcester Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Robert E.
Maher Jr. said the union's rejection of a new offer by the hospital to send
the dispute to binding arbitration has left negotiations pretty much where
they were on Day 1 of the strike.
"We thought it best to move the issue to binding arbitration," Mr. Maher
said. "We thought if we were being unfair, an arbitrator would tell, and if
the union was being unfair an arbitrator would tell them that ... Our thought
was let's get this thing taken care of."
"We are not going to put this decision in a third party's hands,"
responded David C. Schildmeier, spokesman for the nurses' association.
Some 535 full-time and 80 per diem registered nurses walked off their
jobs at the medical center March 31, after two years of contract talks with
Tenet Healthcare Corp., the hospital's California-based, for-profit operator.
The strike began a day before the nurses were scheduled to move from St.
Vincent Hospital on Vernon Hill to Worcester Medical Center downtown. The new
downtown hospital is also owned by Tenet.
The hospital has continued to operate with nurse managers, 125 nurses
supplied by U.S. Nursing Corp. of Denver, and another 125 nurses who have
crossed picket lines set up by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the
strikers' bargaining representative.
The sticking point going into yesterday's negotiations was mandatory
overtime. Initially, the nurses said they wanted a contract without any
mandatory overtime. They later said they would be willing to work up to two
hours of overtime each shift and an additional two hours of overtime per
shift in emergencies. That proposal allowed nurses to refuse overtime if they
felt they were too tired to provide safe patient care.
According to Mr. Schildmeier, the nurses showed their willingness to
compromise further yesterday with a proposal that would give the hospital the
right to require each nurse to work up to four hours overtime for whatever
reason, provided the number of involuntary shifts was held to eight per year
and to no more than two per quarter.
"This was a major concession for us," he said. "Under this proposal they
could mandate 20,000 hours of overtime annually."
"That's a good spin, but it doesn't work," responded Mr. Maher. He said
the union's proposal to limit the hospital's right to require overtime to two
shifts per quarter for each nurse failed to take into account the seasonal
fluctuations in patient population.
"Everyone knows there are peak census periods and non-peak periods," Mr.
Maher said. "As far as going from two hours of overtime to four hours, we
don't regard that as a major concession at all."
The hospital wants the right to require eight hours of overtime per
shift, or 16-hour shifts in total, with the last eight at double wages. In
the alternative, Mr. Maher has said he is agreeable to a flex policy that
would give management the right to send nurses home without pay on days when
the patient census is low.
Mr. Maher said the hospital's managers don't understand why the nurses
union refuses to consider mandatory overtime at Worcester Medical Center,
while just last Friday the union signed off on a contract at Tenet-owned
MetroWest Health System's Leonard Morse campus in Natick that includes
mandatory overtime.
"It's perplexing," Medical Center spokeswoman Paula L. Green said
Tuesday. "That agreement provides for reasonable overtime. We're kind of
wondering why we can't have the same thing."
Mr. Schildmeier said the discrepancy simply means that Worcester Medical
Center nurses consider limiting mandatory overtime to be a critically
important component of an agreement.
"Absolutely, it's important," said Cheryl McKenna, one of those waiting
for word on the negotiations yesterday at the striking nurses' headquarters
at 29 Endicott St. "The fact that a truck driver can't work for more than 10
hours a day, but we can be required to give meds and make life-changing
decisions 16 hours a day, is just incredible."
"They want 16 hours a day and we can't give it to them," said Mr.
Schildmeier. "Sixteen hours a day is too much. They played games with us
today."
For Mr. Maher, however, the union's turndown of binding arbitration is a
sign that at least for now it is willing to let the strike game continue.
"We made it very clear that we want people back to work, and that this
seemed to be a way to get them back," he said. "The union doesn't seem to
want that."
As an expression of solidarity, members of the Massachusetts Teachers
Association, which is holding its convention at Worcester Centrum Centre,
will join the striking Worcester nurses on the picket line today. According
to Mrs. Rigiero, co-chairman of the MNA's Worcester bargaining unit, she will
talk to the teachers at 5 p.m. and then lead more than 1,000 MTA members on a
march from the Centrum to the nurses' picket line.
Also, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who is scheduled to deliver the keynote
address at the teachers' convention, will speak at 12:30 p.m. at a rally in
support of the nurses slated for the intersection of Worcester Center
Boulevard and Foster Street.
The nurses association has also declared Sunday "Nurse Day" on the
picket line to celebrate National Nurses Week, which runs from May 6 to 12.
Mr. Schildmeier said nurses from across the state will join the striking
nurses on the picket line from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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