Truer Words Were Never Spoken:

Robert E. Maher Jr., chief executive officer of the medical center, said
hospital officials realized it was time to settle the strike for the sake of
the hospital and the community. The hospital also recognized that nurses are
prepared to take a stand over mandatory overtime -- with the support of many
politicians, Mr. Maher said. "We came to the conclusion that we are right at
the beginning of a revolution in nursing, and we're at the front end of it,"
he said. "We believe nurses throughout the United States are willing to work
long and hard to fight mandatory overtime. We could have fought back and let
this drag out, but that's not good for anybody." With city councilors and
Mayor Raymond V. Mariano holding press conferences about the strike daily,
and with nurses criticizing care at the medical center, the pressure became
too large a distraction, Mr. Maher said. "The cost was a factor, the damage
to our reputation was a factor, the distraction of it was a factor," he said.
"Every day there was a new press conference to slam us one way or the other.
We needed to recognize that this is a national trend, and move on." --from
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 5/12/00

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

Highlights of Tentative Agreement:

Still needs to be ratified on Thursday:

Nurses got everything they wanted and more. ... On issue of Mandatory
Overtime, the following was reached:

.Every nurse has the right to refuse overtime if she feels too fatigued to do
so and provide safe patient care.

.Strict process in place to monitor hospitals use of mandatory overtime
(committee)

.Limit of 4 hours, no more than 12 hours of overtime

.Limited to 2 times per quarter (eight times per year) per nurse

.Also negotiated process through which the move to the new medical center
will take place. Have 60 days to negotiate issues as they relate to the move.
Any unresolved issues will go to binding arbitration.

.All nurses will go back to their original positions.

.Hospital agrees to pay cobra expenses, etc.

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

Strike Fund Still Needed (it will be a couple of weeks before all are back to
work):

Fund Raiser (and Victory Party) 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.

A Financial Support Fund for the Nurses Has Been Established

.Make checks payable to: MNA/St. Vincent Hospital Bargaining Unit Strike
Fund

.Mail payments to:

MNA/St. Vincent Nurses Strike Headquarters
29 Endicott Street
Worcester, MA 01610

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

For ongoing official news, with links, go to the MNA web site
<http://www.massnurses.org>.
For archived daily bulletins, with links, go to
<http://users.rcn.com/wbumpus/worcester.html>.
For information on Nyack strike, go to
<http://www.nysna.org/news/press00/nyack.htm>.

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

More Responses to News of Tentative Agreement in Worcester:

Hello Uniontalkers - We are coming up to Mother's Day and I can't tell you
how excited and jubilant I feel at the outcome of the Nurse face off with
Tenet Healthcare - Nurses and others across this nation have watched this
face off and it will be one of the most precedence setting examples of how we
can fight the corporate health care mind set. First, I am exceedingly
grateful to all those nurses from St. Vincent who truly held fast and shined
as a Great Light!! They are nurse heroes imo! Their representative, The
Massachusetts Nurses Association, is undoubtedly a powerful and effective
union that aims at no less than nurse and patient empowerment. Let Massnurse
along with Calnurse lead us into the next decade of empowered nurses who
aren't going to stand for anything less than what is fair and just for nurses
and patients! While there is a lot more work to be done, we have seen two
very powerful nursing unions combat the two largest health care organizations
in America, Columbia and Tenet! Again, thanks to the nurses at St. Vincent
and to all those who are part of the great nurses' union, Massachusetts
Nurses Association!
Sincerely,
Beth E. McGarry, RN, BSN, M.Ed.
Florida Nurse and co-moderator for UnionTalk4Nurses
UnionTalk@egroups.com

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

ANA Calls Pact a Win For Nurses And Patients
Tentative Agreement reached in Mass. Strike

Washington, D.C., May 12 -- The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauded
yesterday's tentative agreement between the nurses at St. Vincent's hospital
in Worcester, Mass, who have been on strike since March 31, and management.
The nurses, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, went
out on strike in response to the facility's demand for mandatory overtime --
that nurses work up to 16 hours straight.

The tentative agreement places strict limits on mandatory overtime. It limits
the amount of mandatory overtime assigned to a nurse to no more than four
hours, and limits the amount of times a nurse can be assigned overtime to
eight times per year (twice each quarter). However, every nurse has the right
to refuse a mandatory overtime assignment if he or she feels too fatigued or
ill to work safely. The language calls upon the hospital to exercise its best
effort to maintain full staffing to prevent the need for mandatory overtime,
and it requires the hospital to document each 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.

"The nurses' victory is a victory for nurses and patients nationwide - our
message about safe staffing practices can no longer be ignored," said ANA
President Mary E. Foley, MS, RN.

"We applaud the nurses' courage and professionalism for striking over such an
important issue and making this dangerous practice visible to the public and
policy-makers," she said. Foley and other ANA leaders joined the nurses on
the picket line during the strike.

Progress was made quickly in yesterday's talks, hosted by Sen. Edward Kennedy
and Congressman James McGovern in Kennedy's Washington, DC, offices. During
the talks, which lasted nearly seven hours, Tenet agreed to back off its
demand for the right to mandate up to eight hours of overtime. The agreement
needs to be ratified by members of the union. That vote is expected to occur
next week.

ANA, through its constituent member associations, represents some 120,000 RNs
under collective bargaining agreements. Many of these contracts call for
restrictions on the circumstances under which mandatory overtime is used and
the amount of mandatory overtime that can be required.

# # #

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

Thought for Today

The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should
be one uniting all working people of all nations, & tongues, & kindred. --
Abraham Lincoln

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

Deal does not heal scars in Fallon-Tenet union

Saturday, May 13, 2000

By Chris Pope, Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER-- The nurses' strike is over, but the wounded feelings that the
labor dispute spawned between Worcester Medical Center and Fallon Community
Health Plan seem destined to linger.
"We are committed to our members, and our members were hurt by this
strike," said Richard P. Burke, Fallon spokesman yesterday. "Our relationship
is strained."
About 65 percent of those treated at Worcester Medical Center are Fallon
members. The health plan and the hospital have an agreement that makes the
medical center the primary admitting hospital for about 180,000 Fallon
members in Central Massachusetts.
Relations between Fallon and the hospital began fraying April 27, when
Eric Schultz, Fallon's president and chief executive officer, called for
Jeffrey C. Barbakow, chief executive of Tenet Healthcare Corp. which owns the
medical center, to become directly involved in strike negotiations.
Mr. Schultz made his plea after the heads of three Worcester unions
threatened to pull their members out of Fallon unless the HMO did something
to pressure the medical center to reach a settlement.
A week later, in a further move to prod medical center administrators
toward a settlement, Fallon announced that it would start sending day-surgery
patients to Worcester Surgical Center instead of to the new medical center.
Paula L. Green, medical center spokeswoman, pronounced herself
"surprised and shocked" at Fallon's move. The following day, in what Mr.
Burke describes as a retaliatory move, Ms. Green called to say that the
medical center was rescinding its $7,500 pledge to participate in a
Fallon-sponsored charity golf tournament.
Robert E. Maher Jr., chief executive officer of the medical center, said
yesterday that the decision to pull out of the golf tournament was part of a
general review of expenses in light of the strike and had nothing to do with
Fallon's decision to take its day-surgery business elsewhere.
"We've had to review our expenses in a whole bunch of areas," he said.
"There are other commitments we've had to back away from as well ... Our goal
is to keep this hospital financially viable and to take care of patients, not
to play golf."
As far as the medical center's relationship with Fallon is concerned,
Mr. Maher said, he harbors no hard feelings about the HMO's efforts to
encourage a settlement.
"I don't consider the relationship strained," he said. "We continue to
see a high volume of Fallon patients. We're doing a good job with them, and
we hope to see more of them now that this is over."
Regarding Fallon's contract with the surgical center, Mr. Maher said a
May 3 letter from Mr. Schultz indicated that Fallon had contracted with
Worcester Surgical Center to provide services that the medical center was
unable to provide during the strike. Mr. Maher said it has been his
understanding that the hospital would regain those patients once a settlement
was reached and the medical center was back at full strength.
According to Mr. Burke, however, Fallon's agreement with the surgical
center remains in place at least while the HMO assesses the labor dispute's
impact on its members and image as one of the country's best HMO's.
"It's not something we can quantify at this point, but we were harmed by
this strike," said Mr. Burke. "This was our primary admitting hospital, and a
strike there does not contribute to our standing as the No. 1 HMO in
America... We called on corporate Tenet to intervene, and it's clear that it
did. We're glad it's over."

© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

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