Grievances

• The union and management have settled a class action grievance regarding management's failure to rotate charge responsibilities in the ER. The settlement provides that all qualified ER nurses will take an 8-hour course on charge responsibilities and will be precepted for one 12-hour shift. While all RNs who successfully complete the training must be included in the charge rotation, nurses may opt out of accepting the charge assignment provided that they take charge at least once per quarter to maintain competency. This is a pilot program, which will expire on June 30, 2008 unless both parties agree in writing to its continuance.
  
  Meanwhile, the union is filing other class action grievances against OR management for their failure to rotate charge, post vacancies, maintain nurse/patient ratios and comply with the no overtime provision of our contract. We believe that Pam Turner (Assistant Director), Jennifer Whiffen (Team Leader?) and other OR managers are intentionally disregarding the rights of the OR RNs. However, on the off chance that they are ignorant of our contract provisions or do not even realize we have a contract, we are forwarding a copy to them along with the aforementioned grievances.



• The union is grieving the unjust termination of an OR nurse who was physically assaulted by a scrub tech. After an inadequate investigation, management decided to terminate both employees. This is despite the fact that the nurse has an impeccable record, while the scrub tech has previously been suspended twice for threatening and aggressive behavior towards coworkers. The grievance hearing is scheduled for November 2nd.



• NYPNU has filed a grievance on behalf of a nurse who received a written warning for calling in sick 33 days after she had been given a verbal counseling. Under the attendance policy, management may escalate the level of discipline if there is a recurrence within one month of a verbal counseling/warning. Jennifer Wade, Nurse Manager, and Janet Kraus, Director of Nursing, maintain that a month can be 33 days. Back on planet earth, the longest month in any calendar is the 31-day month in the Gregorian calendar. In the Chinese, Jewish and Islamic calendars, the longest month is 30 days. The managers in question are in charge of the psych unit.

Benefits Changes

The Hospital intends to change our health care provider from Oxford to Empire Blue Cross effective January 1, 2008. The proposed plan increases our deductible, our out-of-pocket maximum, and the co-pay on office visits. The prescription coverage has mandatory generic substitution, which means that an employee who wants to use a name-brand drug when a generic is available has to pay the difference in cost. On the other hand, no referrals will be required, all LHH facility charges are in-network, and the network includes almost 124,000 providers as compared to Oxford Freedom plan's 73,000. As per the contract, the union has requested to bargain over these changes. In addition, the union and management are negotiating the terms for incorporating the MEETH staff RNs into the LHH pension plan.

Attendance Excellence Incentive Winners

The Attendance Excellence Incentive drawing took place on Sept. 28th and determined who would receive the five $2,500 cash awards among the 271 eligible employees. Congratulations to the winners: Rose Aday (MEETH), Patricia Coyne (7 Wollman), Dawn Howard (CCU), Jennifer King (OR) and Margaret Mitchell-Pinkney (9 Uris).

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