(Boston Orange) 在罷工一天，被醫院管理層拒於門外四天之後，塔芙茨醫療中心的麻州護士協會護士們今天(17日)回醫院上班了。
早上7點左右，就有一些麻州護士協會的護士們離開抗議繞行隊伍，從波士頓華埠的華盛頓街走進了塔醫的主要入口。
這些數以打計的護士們，聚集在橘線地鐵站附近，等到早上7點時，就在支持者的鼓勵喊聲中，跨越那暫時封閉了的華盛頓街。
許多護士互相擁抱，有些眼中含淚。旁邊的支持者喊著MNA, MNA這麻州護士協會的簡稱。還有些人喊著”我們愛你”。
除了這些喊聲之外，護士們進入醫院時，和平常沒甚麼不一樣，但上週四，醫院管理層不讓他們進醫院時，那情景可完全不一樣。
醫院管理層為了讓醫院正常運作，簽了5天合約，請來320名替代護士，才造成直到星期一才結束的拒之門外。
塔醫及麻州護士協會的管理層，都預期著會重回談判桌，繼續討論沒解決的問題，包括護士們的薪水，退休金計畫，以及員工層級。
過去這五天，護士們得到許多公職人員的支持，包括曾是麻州行業工會領袖的波士頓市長馬丁華殊(Martin
Walsh)。上週六時，他向500多名護士喊話，希望護士和醫院繼續談判。
週日時，工會支持者聲稱，在離醫院數里之外的酒店，他們和替代護士起了衝突。靠近羅根機場那兒的酒店，有大約20人在州警出現時才因為沒有抗議許可散去，
塔醫和護士們都認為，在護士們回去工作時，可能會遭遇醫些緊張狀況。
注冊護士正計劃在7月12日發動24小時的罷工，
波士頓– 由1,200名塔夫茨醫院注冊護士選出的護士代表在7月12日星
“塔夫茨的護士們已經提出解決醫院人手和病人護理問題的方案，
“雖然不能照顧我們的病人，
7月12日星期三早上7時：如果塔夫茨管理層拒絕接受一個公平的
在2000年期間，在Worcester St. Vincent醫院一班麻州護士協會的護士曾經罷工，
以下可以瞭解更多有關這些病人安全問題
<https://www.youtube.com/
<http://massnurses.org/news-
“即使在正常的情況下，
最大爭議的問題：
擔憂工作人員和病人護理的安全
RNs plan 24-hour strike as nurses’ concerns over patient safety, lack of resources, retirement takeaway remain unresolved; Tufts threatens four-day lock out
BOSTON – The 1,200 registered nurses at Tufts Medical Center, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will conduct an historic one-day strike tomorrow as the latest round of negotiations held today at the federal mediator’s office failed to achieve a settlement that ensures patients have the highly skilled nursing care they deserve. The strike will begin at 7 a.m. on Wednesday and run until 6:59 a.m. on Thursday, July 13. It will be the first strike by nurses in Boston in over 30 years, and the largest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts history.
“Instead of caring for our patients, the nurses of this hospital will be out on the strike line tomorrow to demonstrate our resolve and our commitment to fight for what is best for our patients and our professional practice,” said Barbara Tiller, union co-chair and an IV/PICC/CRN nurse. “We have been trying for months to convince Tufts management that our patients and nurses are suffering because they refuse to provide us with the resources, appropriate patient assignments, and the compensation we need to ensure quality patient care. We will be on the street tomorrow, Tufts nurses will not back down.”
7 a.m. Wednesday, July 12: One-day strike begins. Nurses and supporters will gather outside the main entrance of the hospital at 800 Washington St. in Boston. Picketing will begin and continue through the duration of the 24-hour strike.
12 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 12: Rallies outside the hospital at 800 Washington St. in Boston with nurses, staff, community supporters, and local leaders.
6:59 a.m. Thursday, July 13: One-day RN strike ends. Nurses will gather outside the hospital at 800 Washington St. in Boston and those scheduled to work plan to enter Tufts to care for their patients. The hospital has threatened to lock out nurses for four days.
The Truth about Tufts Strike Replacement Nurses
During the planned 24-hour strike by Tufts nurses, TMC management plans to bring in mercenary replacement nurses from all over the country who do not know the hospital, are not highly specialized like the Tufts nurses, and who the Massachusetts Nurses Association believes will endanger patient care.
History, academic studies and unionized registered nurses can all testify to the fact that mercenary replacement nurses cannot make up for the temporary loss of nurses who are specialized in their fields and knowledgeable of their patients and the hospital systems. A 2010 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research<http://www.nber.org/
During the 2000 strike by the MNA nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, three replacement nurses recruited by the same strike replacement nurse agency Tufts plans to use were fired after separate incidents in which they left a patient alone after surgery and also gave the wrong baby to a nursing mother, according to news reports by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and WCVB Channel 5<https://www.youtube.com/
“It can take several weeks to train even an experienced nurse to provide quality care under normal conditions in a new hospital setting,” said HavlicekCornacchia. “How can they possibly expect to safely operate this hospital with nurses drawn from all parts of the country who have no experience with our facility? It is irresponsible. Instead of issuing ultimatums and spending millions of dollars to ignore us, they should have listened to us and offered a fair settlement.”
Key Issues in Dispute
The nurses’ key issues in these talks continue to be:
· The need for improved nurse staffing with safer patient assignments for nurses throughout the hospital
· The need for more IV nurses and clinical resource nurses
· The need to have charge nurses who are free of patient assignments at the start of all shifts, in all units. A charge nurse is an RN who is responsible for managing all aspects of nursing responsibilities during each shift, from processing patients in and out to delegating nursing rounds. Being free of an initial patient assignment will allow Tufts’ charge nurses to provide desperately needed support to patients and nurses at the busiest time (i.e., change of shift)
· The need for wage improvements that will make the hospital market competitive, thereby improving nurse recruitment and retention
· The need for pension protections/improvements that will make the hospital market competitive
華人前進會等支持塔醫護士機構早前發表如下聲明，為護士撐腰。
Tufts Medical Center Nurses Will Wage One-Day Strike on July 12 As Last-Ditch Talks Fail to Reach Agreement
塔夫茨醫院的護士會在7月12日進行一天罷工，
注冊護士正計劃在7月12日發動24小時的罷工，
波士頓– 由1,200名塔夫茨醫院注冊護士選出的護士代表在7月12日星
“塔夫茨的護士們已經提出解決醫院人手和病人護理問題的方案，
護士們正在尋求急需改善人手方面的問題，
“雖然不能照顧我們的病人，
注冊護士星期二至星期四的公共時間表
7月12日星期三早上7時：如果塔夫茨管理層拒絕接受一個公平的
7月12日星期三中午12時和下午5時：在醫院800號華盛頓街
7月13日星期四上午6是59分：注冊護士一天的罷工終結。
塔夫茨醫院罷工替工護士的真相
在塔夫茨的護士24小時罷工的期間，
歷史，學術性研究，和有工會的注冊護士全都能作證，
在2000年期間，在Worcester St. Vincent醫院一班麻州護士協會的護士曾經罷工，
以下可以瞭解更多有關這些病人安全問題
<https://www.youtube.com/
<http://massnurses.org/news-
“即使在正常的情況下，
最大爭議的問題：
護士們談判時最注重的問題仍然是：
· 需要改善現時的護士人手分配，讓全醫院有更安全的病人分配
· 需要更多注射護士和臨床資源護士
· 需要在所有輪班開始的時候有沒有病人被分配的護士長。
· 需要改善工資，才會令醫院行業有競爭性，
· 需要保護並改善退休計劃，讓醫院行業有競爭性。
擔憂工作人員和病人護理的安全
在現時塔夫茨的工作環境，
同時，
“我們已經提出過不同的提議，
市場競爭性的工資
除了是全波士頓有最差人手問題的醫院之外，塔夫茨醫院也是全市提
管理層還提議凍結大約350個注冊護士的制定福利養老金計劃，
護士已經提出過一項創新的建議，將會令所有注冊護士受益，
“塔夫茨的薪酬和退休福利並不具有競爭力，”Tiller說。 “我們知道，塔夫茨知道，而城裡的其他醫院都知道。因此，
Tufts Medical Center Nurses Will Wage One-Day Strike on July 12 As Last-Ditch Talks Fail to Reach Agreement
RNs plan 24-hour strike as nurses’ concerns over patient safety, lack of resources, retirement takeaway remain unresolved; Tufts threatens four-day lock out
BOSTON – The 1,200 registered nurses at Tufts Medical Center, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will conduct an historic one-day strike tomorrow as the latest round of negotiations held today at the federal mediator’s office failed to achieve a settlement that ensures patients have the highly skilled nursing care they deserve. The strike will begin at 7 a.m. on Wednesday and run until 6:59 a.m. on Thursday, July 13. It will be the first strike by nurses in Boston in over 30 years, and the largest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts history.
“We came to the table today hoping to reach an agreement, but Tufts management is determined to force a strike and a subsequent lock out of our nurses,” said Mary HavlicekCornacchia, an OR nurse and bargaining unit co-chair. “This decision really shows administration’s lack of respect for its nurses and for the safety our patients.”
The nurses are seeking much needed improvements in staffing levels to ensure nurses have more time to spend with patients as well as an increase in their salary to keep them competitive with other Boston hospitals (Tufts nurses are the lowest paid nurses in the city) and to preserve and enhance their pension benefit (which is also the worst in the city).
“Instead of caring for our patients, the nurses of this hospital will be out on the strike line tomorrow to demonstrate our resolve and our commitment to fight for what is best for our patients and our professional practice,” said Barbara Tiller, union co-chair and an IV/PICC/CRN nurse. “We have been trying for months to convince Tufts management that our patients and nurses are suffering because they refuse to provide us with the resources, appropriate patient assignments, and the compensation we need to ensure quality patient care. We will be on the street tomorrow, Tufts nurses will not back down.”
RN Public Schedule for Tuesday-Thursday
7 a.m. Wednesday, July 12: One-day strike begins. Nurses and supporters will gather outside the main entrance of the hospital at 800 Washington St. in Boston. Picketing will begin and continue through the duration of the 24-hour strike.
12 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 12: Rallies outside the hospital at 800 Washington St. in Boston with nurses, staff, community supporters, and local leaders.
6:59 a.m. Thursday, July 13: One-day RN strike ends. Nurses will gather outside the hospital at 800 Washington St. in Boston and those scheduled to work plan to enter Tufts to care for their patients. The hospital has threatened to lock out nurses for four days.
The Truth about Tufts Strike Replacement Nurses
During the planned 24-hour strike by Tufts nurses, TMC management plans to bring in mercenary replacement nurses from all over the country who do not know the hospital, are not highly specialized like the Tufts nurses, and who the Massachusetts Nurses Association believes will endanger patient care.
History, academic studies and unionized registered nurses can all testify to the fact that mercenary replacement nurses cannot make up for the temporary loss of nurses who are specialized in their fields and knowledgeable of their patients and the hospital systems. A 2010 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research<http://www.nber.org/
During the 2000 strike by the MNA nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, three replacement nurses recruited by the same strike replacement nurse agency Tufts plans to use were fired after separate incidents in which they left a patient alone after surgery and also gave the wrong baby to a nursing mother, according to news reports by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and WCVB Channel 5<https://www.youtube.com/
“It can take several weeks to train even an experienced nurse to provide quality care under normal conditions in a new hospital setting,” said HavlicekCornacchia. “How can they possibly expect to safely operate this hospital with nurses drawn from all parts of the country who have no experience with our facility? It is irresponsible. Instead of issuing ultimatums and spending millions of dollars to ignore us, they should have listened to us and offered a fair settlement.”
Key Issues in Dispute
The nurses’ key issues in these talks continue to be:
· The need for improved nurse staffing with safer patient assignments for nurses throughout the hospital
· The need for more IV nurses and clinical resource nurses
· The need to have charge nurses who are free of patient assignments at the start of all shifts, in all units. A charge nurse is an RN who is responsible for managing all aspects of nursing responsibilities during each shift, from processing patients in and out to delegating nursing rounds. Being free of an initial patient assignment will allow Tufts’ charge nurses to provide desperately needed support to patients and nurses at the busiest time (i.e., change of shift)
· The need for wage improvements that will make the hospital market competitive, thereby improving nurse recruitment and retention
· The need for pension protections/improvements that will make the hospital market competitive
Concerns over Safe Staffing and Safe Patient Care
In the current environment at Tufts, nurses across all units and floors are contending with unsafe staffing situations on a daily basis, with many units reporting constant unsafe staffing levels. The result is too many RNs are regularly carrying patient assignments that are too large and unsafe. Every day, the hospital sends RNs blast-text messages asking them to pick up shifts that are open due to the bare-bones approach management uses to staff the hospital.
In the current environment at Tufts, nurses across all units and floors are contending with unsafe staffing situations on a daily basis, with many units reporting constant unsafe staffing levels. The result is too many RNs are regularly carrying patient assignments that are too large and unsafe. Every day, the hospital sends RNs blast-text messages asking them to pick up shifts that are open due to the bare-bones approach management uses to staff the hospital.
Simultaneously, hospital management insists on using a fragmented and broken system of temporary reassignment as a way of trying to deal with its chronic staffing challenges. This results in RNs being directed to work on units and floors where they are unfamiliar and/or untrained to safely care for patients. In addition, there are not enough specialty nurses to help with patients’ IV needs or in an emergency.
“We have offered a variety of proposals — and amended proposals, and doubly amended proposals — that would address staffing,” said Tiller. “But management’s responses have been so inadequate that they don’t get to the heart of the problem. They insist on offering us staffing proposals that are disjointed and superficial. What we need from them is simple: more full-time RNs and specialty nurses, and charge nurses without an initial patient assignment. That’s what will keep our patients safe.”
Market Competitive Compensation
In addition to having some of the worst staffing conditions in Boston, Tufts Medical Center has also become the hospital that offers its nurses the lowest wages and retirement benefits in the city. “The hospital’s proposals have not adequately addressed these issues,” said HavlicekCornacchia. “Without market competitive wages and benefits, Tufts cannot recruit and retain the nurses it needs, and the staffing problem spirals downward.”
Management has also proposed freezing the defined benefit pension plan for approximately 350 RNs and instituting a divisive, inequitable, and complex catchup mechanism as part of a proposed higher-risk 403(b) matching program. That change would result in significant losses in retirement funding for most nurses. Meanwhile, RNs already in the defined contribution plan would continue to receive the lowest employer contribution of all nurses in the city.
In addition to having some of the worst staffing conditions in Boston, Tufts Medical Center has also become the hospital that offers its nurses the lowest wages and retirement benefits in the city. “The hospital’s proposals have not adequately addressed these issues,” said HavlicekCornacchia. “Without market competitive wages and benefits, Tufts cannot recruit and retain the nurses it needs, and the staffing problem spirals downward.”
Management has also proposed freezing the defined benefit pension plan for approximately 350 RNs and instituting a divisive, inequitable, and complex catchup mechanism as part of a proposed higher-risk 403(b) matching program. That change would result in significant losses in retirement funding for most nurses. Meanwhile, RNs already in the defined contribution plan would continue to receive the lowest employer contribution of all nurses in the city.
The nurses have countered with an innovative proposal that would benefit all RNs while still saving the hospital millions of dollars annually. This proposed plan, which is a multi-employer defined benefit pension plan, would add as much as $11 million to Tufts’ bottom line, would eliminate more than $85 million in pension liability. Management has refused to engage in any real talks on this issue.
“The pay and retirement benefits at Tufts just aren’t competitive,” said Tiller. “We know it, Tufts knows it, and the other hospitals in the city know it. As a result, we’ve become the nurse training ground for all the other facilities. New graduates come here, they get their experience, and they move on. This cycle won’t stop until the hospital makes us competitive. And in the meantime, our patients suffer.”
“The pay and retirement benefits at Tufts just aren’t competitive,” said Tiller. “We know it, Tufts knows it, and the other hospitals in the city know it. As a result, we’ve become the nurse training ground for all the other facilities. New graduates come here, they get their experience, and they move on. This cycle won’t stop until the hospital makes us competitive. And in the meantime, our patients suffer.”
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