Ralph Nader to Speak in Worcester

What: Rally with the Striking Nurses
When: 11:15 AM - Noon, Tuesday, May 16th
Where: Assumption College, Hagan Campus Center, 2nd floor, Worcester

Assumption College is on Park Avenue, a main road in Worcester that runs
roughly parallel to Main Street. Park Ave. is also Route 12. Route 290 meets
with route 12, and you should head south. At the Antiquarian
Society/Salisbury Pond, make a right onto Salisbury Street. Follow this road
for a few miles, and Assumption College will be on your right. Enter the
campus, bear right at the duck pond onto the main campus road, and the Hagan
Campus Student Center will be on the left hand side. 290 meets with route 90
and 495. The Campus Center is attached to the Laska Gym. A press conference
will follow.

Info: This strike, popular in the community of Worcester, has been nationally
covered for its implications with regards to managed health-care. The parent
company, Tenet Healthcare, based out of California, wants to be able to force
mandatory overtime for shifts up to SIXTEEN hours a day, at management
discretion, rather than hire more nurses. The nurses have attempted
mediation, but not the owners. The event will be a rally in support of the
striking nurses that addresses the implications of the strike, talks about
managed healthcare, and the concept of the right to organize.

Contact: David M. McMahon, Co-Chairperson, Worcester County Green Party
Post Office Box 30125, Worcester, Massachusetts 01603
dmcmahon32@hotmail.com / (508)757-7003 / fax (508)767-9930

(Ed.'s Note: Ralph Nader was the keynote speaker five years ago at a teach-in
in Boston sponsored by MNA's Statewide Campaign for Safe Care entitled "For
Patients Not Profits," attended by 1000 nurses, other health reform activists
and the public at large. -- SE)

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

Celebration 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/celebration to honor the couragous Striking Nurses
of St. Vincent Hospital.

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.

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

Nyack Nurses Strike Update

Nyack Strike: Day 147: Keep the Pressure up on the Board

We are again at a crucial point in negotiations. We are close to getting a
benefit package that will ensure Nyack Hospital remains competitive in the RN
job market. But we need to make the board of directors understand that sick
time is a serious issue for registered nurses. Because of the nature of our
work, getting sick is an inevitable part of our jobs. This is why we need a
sick time package that is nothing less than the industry standard. With only
one more major issue to go, it is important that we continue to pressure
board members. Telephone lists are available on the line of you don't have
one already.

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

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>.

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

Messages:

Sandy -- thanks for these updates. A great and very necessary victory.
Jack (Clark), Democratic Socialists of America

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

Congratulations to all. Your courage and fortitude have been exemplary. I was
extremely honored to speak alongside Sandy Ellis and Sandy Eaton at the State
House on Wednesday, May 10, in support of nurses throughout our state and the
world. As a physician I would be dysfunctional without nurses. Hospitals
would be truly inoperable without nurses. Thanks for your strong committment
as we all continue to battle to place patients first in our health care
systems throughout the world. Good job!!
Kenneth E. Smith, M.D.
(Practicing OB-GYN on Cape Cod, Delegate to the Massachusetts Medical
Society)

(Ed.'s Note: Ken is also on the Steering Committee of the Ad Hoc Committee to
Defend Health Care. -- SE)

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

Congratulations on the big win! Thank you for all the updates. I have been
under the weather for the times but have been following the strike every day.
I will be released from Chemo June 1st. Thanks again.

By the way, A few days ago your e-mail to "Carrie" stated that you confess to
having the broader picture of fostering the development of a global community
of nurses and friends seeking fundamental change in the way health care and
nursing are delivered. I believe you were present when I gave a talk to the
Ad Hoc sub group concerned with outreach. It was mainly about what forces
brought the present HMO mess. I didn't go into depth then about separating
nursing service from the room and board cost calculations. Nursing needs to
be a separate cost center and Nursing personnel needs to be staffed, placed
and costed by acuity measurements. Who ever could believe that hours of
nursing per day are any measure of anything as acuity diversified as nursing,
even within departmental areas, days of the week or different hospitals. I
set up such a system at the Mass Eye & Ear years ago and it eliminated the
problems such as happened in Worcester. On occasion we could have as many as
five or ten more patients under a nursing team. But those patients had lower
acuity. And the nurses always knew what acuity they were staffed for and how
many acuity units the patients represented. We would not admit to a filled
acuity unit, but rather to an under utilized unit as measured by acuity.
After I left the E&E changed it back to conform to the rest of the world and
make money during the early days of Drag's.

If you would like, I would like to sit down with you and go over all of the
advantages. Gloria Craven (Ed.'s Note: Gloria is the Director of Legislation
& Government Affairs for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. -- SE) is
pretty familiar with my early work and you might want to talk to her. The MNA
however has never endorsed it. I think it is PR with the HA though I am
beginning (to think) that the hospitals might begin to look differently at it
now that they are having all these troubles. Let me know what you think.
Charles Wood

(Ed.'s Note: Charlie is a retired CEO of the Massachusetts Eye & Ear
Infirmary and a staunch ally of MNA in campaigns for patient safety and
universal health care. -- SE)

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

Yes, it is wonderful that the strike was settled, and nurses may return to
their patient's side. Yes, it is wonderful that this issue fired up nurses
throughout the country. But to me, the most wonderful thing of all that came
out of this was the general publicity. The consumer/patient/client/average
citizen was up in arms about the very idea the nurses would be working above
and beyond their regularly assigned shifts to make up for the shortcomings of
management, and for the benefit of nothing more than the bottom line. I
believe it was, in large part, the consumers (the constituents of the
politicians), that helped send a harmonious voice to those who needed to
listen. It takes all of us.
In Unity,
Norma (Ouelette), North Shore nurse activist and MNA leader

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

CNA Press Release on MNA Settlement with Tenet

May 12, 2000

California RNs Hail Massachusetts Pact Limiting Mandatory Overtime
- Gains Called Win for Patient Safety

The California Nurses Association today praised the Massachusetts Nurses
Association and registered nurses at St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical
Center for "a historic breakthrough for patient safety" in the conclusion of
a 42-day strike at the Worcester hospital. A tentative agreement to the
six-week strike was announced late Thursday between the RNs and the hospital
which is owned by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a California-based company
that is the nation's second largest for-profit hospital chain.

"This strike was watched closely by nurses and the hospital industry across
the nation, and its outcome will send shock waves through an industry which
all too routinely sacrifices nurses and patients on the altar of corporate
profits," said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. She called the outcome
"a powerful expression of a growing national movement of nurses against
unsafe patient care standards."

The key issue in the strike was Tenet's demand to reserve the right to
mandate that nurses work up to eight hours a day of overtime, an issue
strongly opposed by the RNs who cited the considerable danger such long
shifts create for patient safety. With the persistence of the striking
nurses, and strong support from RNs across the U.S., including California,
the St. Vincent RNs won an agreement that limits the amount of overtime
assigned to a nurse to no more than four hours. It also limits the amount of
times a nurse can be assigned overtime to eight times a year. Significantly,
every nurse will have the right to refuse a mandatory overtime assignment if
he or she feels too fatigued or ill to work safely.

The RNs received overwhelming community support, "another reminder," said
DeMoro, "that patients recognize the heroism of nurses who fight for public
safety in an era of managed care, corporate medicine, and deteriorating
patient care conditions."

"This victory is of tremendous significance," said Julie Pinkham, RN,
director of labor relations for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "It
demonstrates the power of unionized nurses when they stand together and stand
up for what they believe in for their patients and for the integrity of their
practice."

"The message of this strike - and the convincing win of the Massachusetts
nurses - is that even a corporation like Tenet, with all their billions in
economic clout and their hard line stance against nurses and unions, can not
perpetually ignore popular will and public concern," DeMoro added.

Pinkham also expressed thanks and appreciation to the CNA and CNA-members at
Tenet hospitals in California who brought encouragement to the St. Vincent
RNs with countless letters and reports of their own experiences with Tenet,
e-mail messages, phone calls to Tenet officers in California, and food sent
to the picketline.

"With the help and contributions of our friends and colleagues at CNA, this
strike helped bring the issue of mandatory overtime into clear focus for a
lively and long public debate and discussion," said Pinkham. "The fact that
so many have watched and followed this struggle makes its outcome all the
more important as a stepping stone for future struggles by other nurses all
over this country."

"This victory was achieved through the strong work to build coalitions with
other labor organizations, community groups and citizen action groups. No
alliance was more significant than the alliance between the MNA and CNA,
particularly in this struggle with Tenet. CNA's ability to speak to our local
media about their experience in dealing with Tenet, the individual interviews
of CNA/Tenet nurses with our local press, the visits by CNA leaders to our
rallies and open meetings helped demonstrate to our nurses and our community
the validity of our stance," Pinkham said.

CNA's Board of Directors today sent a message of congratulations to the MNA
and the St. Vincent RNs. It said, in part, "We are incredibly proud of your
courage, your resilience, your steadfast determination, and your indomitable
spirit.

"Nurses across the nation have watched your heroic fight with admiration. You
selflessly challenged one of the most powerful for-profit corporations in
America, and achieved an inspiring victory for nurses and patients everywhere.

"At a time of deteriorating patient care conditions when conglomerates like
Tenet Healthcare Corporation insist that nurses work forced overtime hours in
short staffed hospitals, you have shown us all that it is possible to take a
principled stand - and win.

"At St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center, you have demonstrated the
finest expression of patient and RN advocacy. We are especially pleased to
have supported your struggle, and look forward to joining forces with you to
an even greater extent in the future."

For information, contact David Schildmeier, Massachusetts Nurses Association,
781-821-4625, pager, 508-426-1655, or Charles Idelson, 510-273-2246, or pager
(415) 249-0430.

Previous Worcester Strike Bulletins:

Return to the Union Web Services home page