Unionized RNs from Northeast Health Corp. to Picket at Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospitals on June 15

News provided by

Jun 13, 2011, 10:15 ET

Management Refuses to Guarantee Nurses Their Union Rights and Contract

BEVERLY, Mass. and GLOUCESTER, Mass., June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the Massachusetts Nurses Association:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060525/NETH016LOGO)

WHERE:

Beverly Hospital: 85 Herrick Street, Beverly, Mass.
Addison Gilbert Hospital: 298 Washington Street, Gloucester, Mass.

WHEN:

Wednesday, June 15 from 2 – 5 p.m. at both hospitals

WHAT:

For the first time in the bargaining unit's history, the registered nurses at Beverly and Addison Gilbert hospitals who are unionized with the MNA will conduct joint informational picketing on Wednesday, June 15 from 2 to 5 p.m. outside both facilities.

Members of the bargaining unit, which consists of nearly 700 RNs, recently voted to head to the picket line after negotiating with management for six months on key issues that—if left unresolved—will threaten patient safety, as well as nurses' union rights, job security and pension benefits.

The key sticking point is management's refusal to agree to "successor language" that, in the event of a sale, will ensure a new owner will recognize the nurses' existing union and adhere to all the provisions of the contract.

Hospital management has said repeatedly that it is looking to sell the North Shore-based health care network, but it has said just as often that it will not sign off on basic successor language that would protect the nurses' existing contract. The nurses feel strongly that this unfair to the patients they care for, since their contract provides protections that allow them to advocate for patients in a way that non-unionized nurses cannot. In fact, research shows that patients who receive care in hospitals where RNs are unionized have significantly lower mortality rates than patients in non-unionized hospitals ("Registered Nurse Unions and Patient Outcomes," Seago and Ash. JONA, March 2002.)

In the case of pensions, management is asking nurses to self-fund their retirement plans by adding nearly $80 of their own money to the fund per week. This comes at a time when NHC has offered the nurses a zero percent cost-of-living pay increase. The nurses consider this offer outrageous, particularly since recent fiscal reports showed numerous NHC managers received pay increases of as much as 65 percent.

In addition, management refuses to work in earnest on a fair proposal regarding nurses' "bumping rights" in the case of a layoff. Specifically, they want an affected RN to have one choice and one choice only—to bump the least senior nurse. This means an RN will have no say and no flexibility on what position they move into following a layoff, even if he/she is a 30-year veteran.

We encourage all nurses, and those who support nurses, to join these caregivers in their campaign to protect their contract and their union voice. For more information, visit www.massnurses.org.

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. The MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses union in the United States with more than 170,000 members from coast to coast.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association