To:                   RN’s working in Baylor positions

From:               Michael Pepe

                        Chief HR Officer

Subject:           Baylor positions

Date:               January 23, 2012

In order to address the concerns some of the Baylor Nurses are raising, Virtua and JNESO are requesting that all Baylor Nurses please indicate your position selection and your vacation preferences on or before January 31, 2012. While the issue is being discussed at negotiations, the parties would like an indication of position status preference so that we can forecast future position needs. We would like to re-confirm that there are no weekend only positions and no one can be asked to take a weekend only position without premium compensation. 

Today was our third day in negotiations. You should be receiving a negotiations brochure with relevant information. There is a list of contacts on your bulletin boards for negotiation information. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Congratulations Pocono Medical Center for ratifying your contract on Monday January 16!! Special thanks for all the committee members for their hardwork!!  The contract itself will be available on the hospitals Intranet shortley. 

Bargaining began yesterday at Virtua. We have presented our proposals and expect management to present theirs at our next session January 18.

Nurses must sign a declination for the flu shot or get a flu shot by January 2. They need to contact employee health by January 2. 

Congratulations on ratifying your contract!!

JNESO, District Council 1 IUOE/AFL-CIO has represented the Registered Nurses at Virtua Health, Inc (West Jersey Health System) since their first agreement in June 2000. That contract followed a rather contentious organizing effort, election and subsequent litigation that took over four years and untold dollars spent by both sides.

Virtua operates four acute care hospitals, three of which are under the West Jersey umbrella, in Berlin, Marlton, and Voorhees. Memorial Hospital in Mt. Holly is represented by another union. They also operate a free standing Surgical Center in Voorhees on the hospital campus and a home care agency whose corporate offices are located in Mt. Laurel, caring for populations throughout Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties. They also host the South Star Aero Medical Program (flight nurses).

Over the six years the nurses at Virtua have been under contract, the union has been able to make strides in recovering benefits such as paid time off, shift differential and medical insurance costs, which were some of the issues that generated the organizing effort. Recruitment and retention of licensed professional health care providers, in particular Registered Nurses, has been extremely difficult in what has become a very competitive market. The nationwide nursing shortage has taken its toll and researchers predict the shortage will grow. While unions like JNESO work very hard to improve the working terms and conditions for nurses and other organized employees, hospitals look for ways to cut costs and have nurses’ care for larger groups of patients sometimes in extremely diverse settings. These cost cutting attempts can have a negative impact on patient safety and the overall patient care experience on a day-to-day basis. By increasing the number of patients, any single nurse must care for without regard to the individual level of care required by each patient (acuity) the risk of omission or error increases exponentially. Expecting Nurses to be “flexible” and competent to work in many specialty areas without constant upgrading and experience is like going to a Pediatrician for adult cardiac problems and expecting a good outcome.

These patient safety concerns coupled with an aging work force that continues to do the increasingly complex intellectual and physically intense work of Nursing. In the long term, it becomes more difficult for hospitals to recruit and retain nurses in sufficient numbers to work under these conditions. This situation becomes a vicious cycle causing the hospital to pay agency and contracted traveling nurses much higher hourly rates to fill the holes and provide the care needed in their facilities. Unions, like JNESO work to improve these conditions to make the positions much more attractive in terms of wages, pensions and staffing acuity measures that help nurses consistently provide safe quality care to their patients.

Patient care and safety are and always have been the primary concern of the nurses. Nurse satisfaction comes second. It is impossible to one with the other.

The St. Michael’s Local Chapter of JNESO originated in 1980. Our first contract was negotiated and ratified by the membership in 1981. It provided for representation of staff GN’s and RN’s.

Prior to being organized and joining JNESO, many issues and problems plagued the nursing staff of the Medical Center. Nurses were forced to float to any area of the hospital regardless of their practice, expertise or education, non-nursing duties occupied more time than actual nursing function. Frequent rotation of shifts contributed to a state of constant exhaustion. Salary differences between old versus new and American versus foreign nurses provided a chaotic salary system filled with inequities.

Since that first contract the members of the Local Chapter have been able to see real progress and many changes in the issues that motivated the establishment of the Local Chapter. An equitable pay system that has provided one of the leading salary scales in New Jersey is just one of the many economic improvements. Improved benefits and control of practice through mandated orientation and in-service, as well as restrictions on rotation and floating have helped to improved working conditions here at St. Michael’s.

In some ways we have just begun, because negotiating a contract is like building a house, you start with the foundation and work your way up. The leadership of the St. Michael’s JNESO Local Chapter feels we have laid a good foundation, but we also recognize that we need to be committed to continued growth.

Only by accepting the challenges of protecting our rights and being involved participants, always listening and looking to our membership for input and new ways to improve conditions, can we be a “good” union.

As we set our goals for the future we are ever mindful of our changing profession and the health care delivery system.

We continue to educate ourselves, our membership and our management in the hope of enforcing, protecting and expanding the process we have made. We continue to encourage unity, for that has given us strength. And we look to you, our membership, to help building our future.

****    Only STRAIGHT PAY with a day off was paid for holiday work, including  

            Christmas & New Year’s.

****    Nurses who worked 8 hrs 29 min were only paid for 8 hrs, while the rest of

            the hospital employees were paid overtime after 8 hrs 15 min.

****    Vacation was about to be reduced to three weeks due to financial constraints.

****    Nurses working nights waited up to six (6) years to bid into a day position,

            because management was filling day positions with new hires rather than

            transferring current employees.

****    In 1981 some nurses were hired at $8.54 per hour, while nurses currently

            working for three (3) years at P.G.H. still only earned $6.76 per hour.

****    In 1981, after years of requests, most nurses were still without lockers.

****    There were no education differentials.

****    There were no weekend differentials.

****    Salary raises were never on any scheduled basis – waiting 1 to 2 years for a

            raise was not uncommon.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW FAR WE’VE COME

BECAUSE OF OUR UNION??

**** OUR UNION KEEPS US STRONG****

The staff RNs first organized for the purpose of collective bargaining in 1982 at what was then named "Pocono Hospital". Since our efforts to unionize were resisted by the Hospital, our first contract came following a strike, which lasted over two (2) months. This job action remains the longest RN strike in Pennsylvania history.

Prior to organizing, the starting salary for any RN was $6.52/hour with very little reward for experience or seniority. Nurses rotated shifts and work areas with little or no regard to expertise, experience or personal welfare. The bargaining agent from 1982 to 1994 was PNA.

In 1994, it became apparent that a change was needed for improved representation.   Following a lengthy research and interview process, JNESO was overwhelmingly elected August 4, 1994.

We have embarked on a new and challenging journey as the first JNESO local in Pennsylvania. We need YOUR help and support to make OUR workplace and OUR local strong and respected among our peers and community. OUR local is only as strong and as respected as WE the members make it. Be a strong and active member and help to make our future brighter at PMC and a better place to work.

Lois Cusick

President

Richard Ressler

Vice President

Reba Mathais

Secretary/Treasurer

Barbara Barbato

President

Jennifer Henning

Vice President

Eileen Shown

Treasurer

Meredith Larson

Labor Representative

Barbara Jones

President

Diane Williams

Vice President-Camden

Kathy Bommer

Vice President-Berlin

Kathy Hunter

Vice President-Summit

Shirley Faddis

Vice President-Marlton

Christina Pease

Recording Secretary

Valerie Clary-Muronda

Corresponding Secretary

Carol Mueller

Treasurer

Machelle Woolston

Labor Representative