ST. VINCENT NURSES WIN....AND THEY WIN BIG!!!!!!!
Hurray for the nurses of St. Vincent Hospital and Worcester Medical Center
who won a victory today, not only for themselves and their patients, but for
every nurse and every patient in America.
St. Vincent Hospital RNs Reach Tentative Agreement With Tenet in Talks Hosted
By Sen. Kennedy and Congressman McGovern in Washington D.C., Pact Includes
Limits on Mandatory Overtime the Nurses Sought
The Nurses Praise Settlement as Victory for Nurses, Patients, the Worcester
Community, as well as for Nurses from Throughout the Nation
Pact Will Now Go Before Rank and File Membership for a Ratification Vote
WORCESTER, Mass. - In a historic ending to a historic 42-day strike,
registered nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA)
at St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center in Worcester today reached a
tentative agreement of their first contract with Tenet Health Care. The pact,
which still needs to be presented to the rank and file membership for a
ratification vote, includes key provisions the nurses had sought through the
strike. Specifically, the contract places strict limits on the amount of
mandatory overtime, calls for the phase out of a controversial flex time
policy, and provides the nurses with a protected voice and binding
arbitration regarding issues related with their move into the new Worcester
Medical Center facility. The talks progressed quickly once Tenet agreed to
back off its demand for the right to mandate up to eight hours of overtime, a
practice the nurses opposed because of its negative impact on patient care.
The agreement was reached today in talks hosted by Sen. Edward Kennedy and
Congressman James McGovern in the offices of Sen. Kennedy in Washington.
D.C. After discussions with the Sen. Kennedy's office late last night, the
decision was made by the nurses to fly to Washington to resume talks toward a
settlement. The talks began at 10:30 a.m. and ended after 5 p.m. A press
conference was held at Sen. Kennedy's office to announce the result of the
negotiations.
"This is a true victory for all involved, for the nurses, for the community,
and most important of all, for the patients of Worcester Medical Center, who
will now be guaranteed care provided by nurses who are rested, alert and
prepared to deliver the safe patient care they so rightfully deserve," said
Sandy Ellis, a member of the nurses' bargaining committee. "This is also a
victory for the nursing profession and our colleagues from all over the
nation who have been watching this strike, and supporting our stand for safe
staffing and limits on mandatory overtime.
The hospital, which had been insisting on the need for the right to be able
to mandate 16-hour shifts since the strike began on March 31, 2000, came to
the table with a proposal that mirrored the nurse's last proposal, issued at
the last negotiating session on May 4, 2000. The overtime language agreed
upon today limits the amount of mandatory overtime assigned to a nurse to no
more than 4 hours, and limits the amount of times a nurse can be assigned
overt time to 8 times per year (twice each quarter). However, every nurse has
the right to refuse a mandatory over time assignment if he or she feels to
fatigued or ill to work safely. The language calls upon the hospital to
exercise its best effort to maintain full staffing in order to prevent the
need for mandatory overtime, and it requires the hospital to carefully
document each and every instance of mandatory overtime, and to review those
occurrences with a staffing committee made up of unionized nurses and
management. The goal of this process is to limit the use of mandatory
overtime and develop solutions to correct conditions, such as inadequate
staffing, that contribute to it. If the two sides cannot agree on problems
that arise, the language calls for the issues to be presented for expedited
arbitration.
"Our biggest concern was that this hospital would use mandatory overtime as a
mechanism to staff the facility," Ellis said. "This language not only
provides strict limits on the amount of overtime assigned, but also provides
a rigorous process for ensuring that management address underlying staffing
issues that cause mandatory overtime."
Protection on Issues Related to Move to Worcester Medical Center
As the nurses were preparing to strike, the hospital was making plans to move
most of its patient care services from the St. Vincent Hospital facility to
the newly built $215 million Worcester Medical Center. The hospital actually
moved its operations two days after the strike began on April 3, 2000.
Throughout the two-year process of negotiating their contract, the nurses had
been seeking information from Tenet concerning the working conditions for the
nurses in the new facility. Tenet's failure to provide that information was
the subject of unfair labor practice charges filed by the union, and
developing a process to resolve issues related to the move has remained a
sticking point to the negotiations.
Today's agreement provides both sides with a 60-day period to negotiate these
issues, after the nurses have returned to work. In the event that the nurses
and management fail to reach agreement on any issues in that period, the
unresolved issues shall be submitted to binding arbitration.
Back-to-Work Agreement
Finally, the new agreement provides a process to govern the return to work of
the striking nurses. Under the agreement, the parties agree to begin
immediate negotiations over issues concerning the nurses' return to work,
with the goal of returning all the striking nurses back to their positions on
or before June 1, 2000.
The hospital also agreed to pay the nurses' costs for health and dental
insurance benefits, which had been cut once the strike began.
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.
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David Schildmeier
Director of Public Communications
Massachusetts Nurses Association
800-882-2056 x717
508-426-1655 (pager)