NYC Nurses Vote To Ratify Contract For Increased Pay, Safe Staffing Ratios
A majority of union nurses that work at NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals voted Thursday to ratify a four-year contract with the hospital that includes the establishment of minimum staffing ratios among other provisions, according to a Facebook post from the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). About 91 percent of the nurses at the hospital voted to ratify the contract agreement, according to the post. NYSNA members and representatives from some of the state’s largest hospitals reached the tentative contract agreement last Tuesday, ending a months-long feud and preventing a major nurse strike. The four-year contract includes a $100 million agreement to hire nearly 1,000 additional staff members at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Montefiore, and Mount Sinai hospitals, a minimum wage increase of three percent annually and an extended window for nurse retiree health benefits. The provision of the contract praised the most by supporters on social media—and that was often the source of escalating tension between union members and the hospitals—was the agreement to create unit-specific staffing grids that would establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. This is the first time minimum staffing levels have been “spelled out in the contract with a meaningful enforcement mechanism,” according to a press release from NYSNA. Once both parties agree on the minimum staffing levels, a third-party arbitrator will be responsible for enforcing those levels and changing them based on patient census and acuity changes, according to the contract. Anthony Ciampa, first vice president of the New York State Nurses Association told the New York Times this agreement marks a groundbreaking achievement in addressing staffing issues statewide. “This is going to have a very positive impact, and it will be the trendsetter of the industry,” Ciampa told New York Times. “What we decide in these major city hospitals tends to set the framework for other hospitals.” Details of the full agreement can be view below:
New York Nurses Set April Strike Date At 3 Hospital Systems
Registered nurses at three New York healthcare systems issued a 10-day strike notice on Monday, amid claims of unsafe working conditions caused by inadequate staffing, according to a recent union press release. New York State Nurses Association members delivered the strike notice to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Montefiore, and Mount Sinai hospitals and set the strike date for April 2. The strike could affect more than 10,000 nurses at the three hospitals, according to the union, which have been in contract negotiations for several months with the New York City Hospital Alliance. More than 8,000 members of the nurses union voted earlier this month to authorize a strike if necessary. Union contracts at the facilities ended on December 31, but both parties have met about 30 times at barganing sessions with limited progress, according to an ABC 7 NY report. “Now is the time that all New Yorkers must have what they need and deserve,” Robin Krinsky, RN, NYSNA Board Member and negotiating committee member at Mount Sinai, said in a NYSNA Facebook post. “Safe patient care by educated professional nurses who know how to provide excellent care each and every time a patient requires it.” The union claims nurses are working with anywhere from 9 to 10 patients at at once, and has protested in support of legislation that would establish mandated nurse-to-patient ratios. A “Safe Staffing For Quality Care Act” bill that would establish mandated ratios statewide was reintroduced during this year’s legislative session, and is currently in committee for review. Advocates have pushed for mandated ratios since 2009, when a version of the bill was first introduced.
New York, Rhode Island Nursing Unions Vote To Authorize Strikes
Members of registered nurse unions in New York and Rhode Island have both voted to allow union representatives to issue 10-day strike notices if necessary, according to recent reports. United Nurses & Allied Professionals (UNAP) members in Rhode Island voted Wednesday to authorize a strike notice for Fatima Hospital, located in northern Providence. Workers want to bring attention to what they claim is a lack of commitment to patient and worker safety under Prospect CharterCARE, according to a WPRI report. Fatima Hospital is an affiliate of Prospect CharterCARE. “We don’t take this step lightly and we realize what’s at stake for each other, our patients and the community we are proudly a part of,” Cindy Fenchel, president of UNAP Local 5110 said to WPRI. “It’s time for Prospect CharterCARE to come to the table and make substantive commitments on improving patient care and strengthening worker safety.” In New York, more than 8,000 members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) voted to authorize a 10-day strike notice amid ongoing contract negotiations with New York City Hospital Alliance, according to a recent blog post. The collective bargaining agreement between the two organizations ended on December 31. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Montefiore, Mt. Sinai, Mt. Sinai West, and St. Luke’s hospitals are involved in the negotiations, and a potential strike could affect an estimated 10,000 nurses at those facilities. Nurses held open protests against the 13 facilities in February over what they claim are unsafe working conditions and inadequate staffing levels. New York City Hospital Alliance disputes these claims and said NYSNA has not provided a “single shred of evidence” to support this claim, according to a CBS WLNY report. “We have remained committed to bargaining in good faith and have put forward a significant proposal that demonstrates the value we place on our nurses, who are the best in the business and should be rewarded for their essential role in the delivery of excellent care,” Farrell Sklerov, a spokesperson for the Hospital Alliance told WLNY.
Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! Is Striking For School Nurses The Way To Go?
By Ana B. Ibarra, Kaiser Health News As teachers across the country walk out of their classrooms, hit the picket lines and demand higher pay, they’re keeping school nurses in mind — asking for more of them or, at the very least, better pay for them. Oakland, Calif., teachers plan to strike Thursday if they can’t hammer out a deal with the district that includes a “living wage” and more nurses and counselors. Last week in Denver, thousands of educators and school nurses went on strike and marched to the state Capitol asking for a significant raise — and got it. These unions follow in the footsteps of Los Angeles teachers, who, after striking for six days last month, won a 6 percent salary increase and 300 more school nurses over the next three years, enough to staff every school with a full-time nurse. “It shows that teachers recognize the importance of having a nurse on-site at all times, but it’s sad that it takes a strike to get more nurses,” said Nina Fekaris, president of the National Association of School Nurses and a school nurse in Oregon. Student health is key to academic success, but when it comes to putting nurses in schools, the education system has often “turned a blind eye,” Fekaris said. Now, teachers are making nurses a critical piece of their contract negotiations in a bold move that seems to be working, she said. For districts, it comes down to limited funding, said Erika Hoffman, a lobbyist with the California School Boards Association. “You’ve got massive competing interests: Do I hire a new teacher, a counselor or a school nurse?” School districts do not make these decisions lightly, Hoffman added. “We know healthy kids learn better,” she said. “It’s great that the unions are looking at the needs of the whole child, but [nurses] don’t come for free.” School nurses make a national average salary of $63,944 to $66,973, according to the latest figures from the National Association of School Nurses. About 55 percent of them earn less than $51,000 a year. In many school districts across the country, there simply aren’t enough nurses to tend to students’ medical needs. Nurses often split their time among several campuses, leaving many schools without a nurse at critical times and short of the recommended staffing ratio. In some instances, teachers or support staff administer medication when a nurse isn’t around. And in at least one extreme case, when a gun accidentally discharged inside a Los Angeles Unified School District middle school classroom last year, teachers scrambled to figure out how to tend to the injuries before first responders arrived. Nonetheless, when districts face budget cuts, nurses are among the first staff to go, Fekaris said. That’s because school nurses are not required by law in most states, even though their services, such as vision, hearing and scoliosis screenings, are. The American Academy of Pediatrics used to recommend a ratio of 1 nurse for every 750 students, but the organization updated its recommendation in 2016 to at least one nurse in every school. During the 2017-18 school year, California schools employed 2,623 full-time registered nurses, according to the state Department of Education. With about 6.22 million students enrolled, that averages out to about 1 nurse for every 2,370 students. In West Virginia, teachers went on strike last year and won a 5 percent raise for all staff, including nurses. Now, proposed state legislation would improve the school nurse ratio, which currently stands at 1 nurse to 1,500 students, according to the West Virginia Association of School Nurses. In Los Angeles, the district is still working out how it will pay for the additional 300 nurses it agreed to hire. The union says there’s enough money in the district’s reserve to cover at least the first year of pay for the additional nurses and other support staff. “Our parents really wanted more nurses, and it became one of our top demands,” said Arlene Inouye, secretary of United Teachers Los Angeles. After the strike, Inouye visited Oakland to advise that city’s teachers union, which announced Sunday that it will strike this week, barring “dramatic changes” from the district. “L.A. has been an inspiration,” said Chaz Garcia, a vice president of the Oakland Education Association. “There has been a lot of focus on salaries, but that’s not the driving force and that’s not all we’re looking for,” she said. The union is asking for 1 school nurse for every 750 students “because we do not have enough to deal with students’ growing health issues,” she said. School nurses and teachers in the district are seeing more students with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and food allergies — which require constant monitoring and the administration of medications such as insulin. It’s not that the district doesn’t want to hire nurses, said Andrea Bustamante, executive director of student services at Oakland Unified School District. It’s that it can’t. The district, which has about 37,000 students, budgets for 32 nurses, but seven of those positions are vacant, she said. “Like many other California districts, we have struggled to find qualified candidates to fill our vacancies,” Bustamante said in a written statement. She cited obstacles including the additional state certification required to become a school nurse and competition from hospitals. What school districts really need to do if they want to attract more nurses is offer them a “living wage,” said Sean McFarland, a school nurse at Denver Public Schools who participated in the strike there. Before working in schools, McFarland was a charge nurse in an emergency room, where he made about $16,000 more a year than his starting salary at the school district, he said. He took the pay cut because he wanted to try nursing in another setting and give back to his community in a different way, he said. When he started, he befriended four other new nurses. “Out of the five of us, I am the only one who
Michigan Medicine, Nurses Union Members Reach Tentative Agreement
Michigan Medicine and nurses with the University of Michigan Professional Nurses Council (UMPNC) reached a tentative three-year contract agreement last Friday, according to a UMPNC press release. “Details of the tentative agreement will be discussed at membership meetings, and nurses will have the final say through a ratification vote,” Katie Oppenheim, nurse and chair of the Michigan Nurses Association, said in the press release. “Our bargaining team is recommending this agreement because it will allow nurses to continue to provide world-class care. We are proud of our nurses and their ongoing dedication to patients.” UMPNC is an affiliate of the Michigan Nurses Association and represents more than 5,700 nurses at University of Michigan Health System facilities. More than 4,000 of those members voted in September to authorize their bargaining team to implement a three-day hospital strike if an agreement could not be made. David Spahlinger, M.D., president of the University of Michigan Health System and executive vice dean for clinical affairs of the University of Michigan Medical School, said the system is pleased they could reach this agreement. “Reaching a resolution is the best possible outcome for our hospital employees, our patients and our community,” Spahlinger said in a press release. “We all care deeply about our patients and our top priority is to ensure our patients receive the highest quality of care. We know families and patients choose Michigan Medicine because of our devoted teams of faculty and staff, including our excellent nurses. We are eager to move forward together.” Full details of the agreement will be discussed at UMPNC member meetings, and a ratification vote is scheduled from October 7-10, according to the UMPNC website.
Union nurses vote to authorize strike at Michigan Medicine
Nurses at Michigan Medicine, based out of Ann Arbor and affiliated with the University of Michigan, voted last week to authorize a three-day strike “in protest of the University’s unfair labor practices.” No date for the strike has been set, but the vote allows the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council (UMPNC) bargaining team to submit a 10-day strike notice if they feel it’s necessary, according to the union’s statement. “Our goal is not a work stoppage,” said Katie Oppenheim, RN and chair of UMPNC in the statement. “Our goal is a fair agreement which respects nurses and guarantees safe staffing. The University can remedy this situation immediately, by stopping their unfair labor practices and bargaining in good faith.” Of the approximately 5,000 nurses represented by the UMPNC, an affiliate of the Michigan Nurses Association, more than 4,000 voted last week to authorize a strike. Nurses at the facility have worked without a contract since it expired on June 30 this year. UMPNC and university officials began contract negotiations in January but have struggled to lock down a new agreement. A state mediator joined the bargaining table on July 10 to help parties reach a final agreement, but little progress has been made. “We are disappointed that our UMPNC nurses have voted to approve a strike,” said Mary Masson, director of public relations for Michigan Medicine. “We have been bargaining in good faith since January and have offered a competitive package.” If nurses decide to initiate a strike, the Michigan Medicine legal team is prepared to pursue legal action because “it is illegal for public employees to strike,” the university said in their bargaining update Tuesday. Michigan Medicine is also prepared to bring in temporary nursing staff if a strike notice is issued and “has been developing contingency plans in the event of a strike.” The union main complaints, according to the statement, include: failing to bargain in good faith, including over terms and conditions of employment; making changes in work shifts without notifying or negotiating with the union; and discriminating against union members who are engaged in legally protected speech in support of their right to collective bargaining. UMPNC filed four unfair labor practice charges with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission about these issues on September 12.
Rhode Island Healthcare Workers Strike Begins; Lifespan Spends $10M On Temp Staff
Last-minute negotiations failed for a third time early Monday morning between Providence-based healthcare system Lifespan and healthcare union workers in the midst of a planned 3 p.m. strike. United Nurses and Allied Health Professionals Local 5098 rejected the contract proposal from Providence-based healthcare company Lifespan early Monday morning. The Rhode Island healthcare workers strike is planned to end on July 26 at 3 p.m. Negotiations between Lifespan and the union are scheduled to continue while the strike is underway. “This is a difficult day for all of us,” said UNAP Local 5098 president Frank Sims in a press release. “Lifespan is a broken system where wealthy executives make millions and front line caregivers are ordered to do more with less, and until that changes, patient care will continue to be adversely impacted.” Lifespan officials have planned for the strikes at Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals for weeks, hiring temporary workers costing at least $10 million to cover needs at the facilities. The Department of Health activated an “incident command center” to monitor staffing levels, patient care and possible surges due to patient diversions to other hospitals, director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said in a Monday morning press conference. “Rhode Island Hospital’s emergency department will continue to accept all walk-ins,” Alexander-Scott said. “However, EMS throughout the state will only be transporting trauma, burn, cardiac and respiratory arrest and pediatric cases to the Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro’s hospital EDs. [EMS] will transport other patients to the other hospitals [EDs] throughout the state.” You can view live coverage of the ongoing strikes from the Twitter feed below. This story will be updated as it develops. Tweets by WeAreUNAP
Rhode Island Healthcare Union Delivers Strike Notice, Sets Date
United Nurses & Allied Professionals Local 5098 issued a 10-day strike notice on Friday to Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals and plan to strike starting July 23, according to a press release from the union. Healthcare professionals with the union plan to strike for three days, ending at 3 p.m. on July 26 with an unconditional agreement to return to work. UNAP Local 5098 represents 2,400 healthcare workers at the two Lifespan facilities, according to the release. Lifespan owns both Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals and is the state’s largest hospital system. “We do not take this step lightly and urge Lifespan executives to return to the bargaining table as quickly as possible so that a fair and competitive deal may be reached,” Local union president Frank Sims said in the press release. UNAP Local 5098 has issued a 10-day strike notice to @RIHospital pic.twitter.com/YxIr2PVZNs — UNAP (@WeAreUNAP) July 13, 2018 Rhode Island Hospital issued a statement in response to the strike notice to “assure” state residents that “Rhode Island Hospital is fully prepared for this possible work action.” “Patient care is our highest priority,” the statement reads. “In the event of a strike, we will have contract labor to assist us in meeting our commitment to our patients and our community.” UNAP Local 5098 issued the strike notice as a result of last Thursday’s rejection of a contract proposal between the union and Lifespan. In the rejection statement, Sims said unions members rejected a deal that “devalues the critical role they play in providing world-class healthcare at Rhode Island’s only Level I trauma hospital.” “Lifespan’s short-sighted and punitive policies on everything from safe staffing to sick time have a direct correlation to the remarkably high turnover rate we experience at Rhode Island Hospital,” Sims said. “Health professionals are leaving at unprecedented rates because Lifespan fails to give caregivers the tools we need to do our jobs and offers a compensation and benefit package that is not fair to all healthcare workers.” Union nurses and technical staff at Rhode Island Hospital are among the highest compensated in the state, according to the hospital website. Currently, UNAP members with 10 years of experience or less are guaranteed 3.5 or 4 percent annual salary increases as part of the hospital’s compensation program. In the rejected proposal, the hospital planned to add another 3.5 percent in the first year of the contract, 2.25 percent in the second year and two percent in the third year. The hospital brought in a federal mediator to help reach a potential agreement before the strike date, according to their statement.
Rhode Island Hospital Workers To Submit Strike Notice After Rejecting Contract Proposal
Unionized healthcare professionals at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital voted Thursday to reject a contract proposal from their parent company Lifespan and plan to issue a 10-day strike notice, according to a report from Providence Journal. Members of United Nurses and Allied Professionals Local 5098 sent out a press release about Thursday’s vote to reject the tentative contract proposal. UNAP Local 5098 president Frank Sims said in the release that voting members rejected a “deal that devalues the critical role they play in providing world-class healthcare at Rhode Island’s only Level I trauma hospital.” UNAP Local 5098 members have voted to reject the contract offer from Lifespan and will issue a 10-day strike notice in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/ijwaWs0pKN — UNAP (@WeAreUNAP) July 13, 2018 Hospital officials responded Friday morning in a statement to Providence Journal and said they are “disappointed” by the vote on the three-year contract proposal, but that the hospital is “fully prepared to adequately staff our hospital and meet the needs of our patients.” Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital represent two of the largest acute-care facilities in the state. Additionally, Hasbro is the only Level 1 Trauma facility in the region, according to their website. You can read the full Providence Journal report here.