Grievances

• The Union filed for arbitrationon behalf of an OR nurse who was unjustly terminated after being assaulted by a scrub tech. In the grievance hearing, the nurse described in vivid detail the series of events that led to the assault. In essence, the nurse was in the holding area ensuring that the patient was fully informed before going into the procedure. Ironically, this nurse had been recognized with a recent thank you note and Starbuck's card as well as in previous evaluations for her attention to patient safety and patient comfort. The scrub tech, who should have been in the OR room, came out to complain about the delay in starting the procedure and later called the nurse a "stupid idiot" in front of the patient. When the nurse approached the scrub tech to ask her to keep her voice down and behave appropriately, the assault occurred. We had hoped that bringing these facts to light would cause management to reconsider their decision. Despite the nurse's impeccable record and the scrub tech having been suspended twice for aggressive and threatening behavior, management remained adamant in their refusal to distinguish this assault on an RN from a fight between two employees and thus upheld their incomprehensible decision.
• The Union will not have to go to arbitration over the meaning of "one month" in the attendance policy. In their response to the third step, management conceded that the policy does not permit an escalation in discipline when an employee calls in sick more than a month after receiving a counseling/warning. Although management refused to acknowledge that a month can be no longer than 31 days, they nevertheless expunged the grievant's record.
• NYPNU has filed two class action grievances on behalf of members working on 9 East/Lachman. One involves management's failure to provide both a monitor nurse and a charge nurse on a consistent basis. The other was filed on behalf of orientees who have been pulled off of orientation for a day to take a full patient assignment. We are in the process of scheduling both grievances.
• Between the dates of 10/22/07 and 11/13/07, the Union filed 4 class action grievances against OR management involving the following contract violations: failure to rotate charge responsibilities, mandatory overtime at the end of shift, failure to compensate time spent changing into and out of scrubs, and the failure to post vacancies in the Pink Sheet. To date, not a single one has been scheduled.

Health Insurance

It appears increasingly likely that the Hospital will stay with Oxford as their health insurance carrier. The decision will be made any day now. As soon as the decision is final, employees will receive a letter with the dates of open enrollment.

Deadline Extended for Employee Opinion Survey

In an effort to meet their goal of a 75% response rate, management has extended the deadline for the employee opinion survey to Dec. 7th. Like the NYPNU manager evaluation, this survey provides an opportunity to give anonymous feedback on your Nurse Manager. In fact, management will take the results of this survey more seriously since they commissioned it themselves. The response rate is well below the goal on most nursing units. Bucking the trend are MEETH Ambulatory, MEETH Recovery Room and Endoscopy, which are at 100% of their goal. The lowest response rates are on 7 East, 7 Lachman, 8 Wollman and 9 East/Lachman. Computers for taking the survey are available at the Nursing Resource Office (NRO), computer kiosks in the cafeteria and the Human Resources Department. 

You may also take the survey on your work or home computer by going to HERE. The password is "morehead". If you would prefer a paper survey, ask for one in the Nursing Resource Office.

Bargaining Unit Expansion

After a lengthy legal battle, there was an NLRB supervised election on November 13th enabling the two Social Worker Case Managers to join NYPNU. The first bargaining session is scheduled for Dec. 10th. We recently concluded negotiations to bring the Cardiovascular Nurse Practitioners under the union contract and are in the process of incorporating the Lactation Specialists as well.

Prospects for Health Care Reform in New York State (submitted by Anne White)

On November 2, I attended a public hearing convened by the Spitzer administration to solicit input for achieving health system reform and moving toward universal healthcare coverage in New York. The panel, which included representatives from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Insurance (DOI), heard testimony from NY State Assemblymembers and Senators, city agencies, health insurers, unions, doctors, lawyers, Nurse Practitioners, lay advocates, Medicare & Medicaid groups, among other. 
Recommendations include:

• Comprehensive, affordable and accessible health insurance for everyone,
• Improved continuity of care,
• Better disease management,
• Addressing the nursing shortage,
• Expanded and improved Medicare coverage,
• Improved utilization of emergency rooms, clinics and hospitals,
• Portability of health coverage, and
• Reducing health care administration costs.

For more information visit the web site CLICK HERE.