Time to let our Patients and Community Know!

After a seven-week break we met with management to continue contract negotiations. We were hoping they would come back with comprehensive responses to our contract proposals, but they came back with only seven responses. We were unable to reach any tentative agreements today. See below for a summary chart of today’s responses by management.Our bargaining committee expressed frustration that over the last seven weeks since we last met, our biggest items have been left unaddressed: staffing, wages, and benefits despite nurses leaving every day and fewer nurses coming in to replace them.

Maternity nurses implored management to immediately stop the extremely dangerous practice of pulling from their areas in an attempt to alleviate pressure on
med-surg floors. We all know dangerous practices like these lead to preventable ICU admissions, injuries to mothers and babies, including life-long complications
for our smallest patients. One NICU nurse spoke about a baby who coded and was declared dead, but was fortunately brought back. Having experienced nurses able to care for babies to prevent a code and to deal with codes is the difference between life and death. These are the sort of experiences that nurses leave the profession
over, not just the hospital.

Frustratingly, management kicked the can down the road on this important issue even though maternity nurses have continuously expressed their concerns to hospital management.

RGH nurses are done with the excuses. Management is well aware of the patients (sometimes our own family members) stuck in a chair in the ED for a week. They know about the stable patients who end up in our ICUs because of inadequate staffing. They know that the moral harm, low pay and risks to our licenses have driven nurses away at a much higher rate than other hospitals (many units have over 70% vacancy rates).

OUR ORIGINAL PROPOSAL

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE

Personnel files and evals

Minor infractions dropped off after a year

All infractions stay and can be used in arbitrations against employees

Grievance and arbitration

Binding arbitration with more time to file grievance

Binding arbitration with post-hearing briefs

Discipline

Just Cause with clear progressive discipline and meaningful union representation

Just cause but progressive discipline is unclear and restrictions on union representation, also takes out “dignity and respect” from disciplinary action

Postings and Job Bidding

All bargaining unit jobs will be posted for at least seven days for bargaining unit priority, if qualifications equal, highest seniority (RGH) is awarded position, no continued prohibitions on transfers in order to keep nurses here

3 days for job postings for bargaining

unit priority, RRH seniority is used but CNO can determine who is most qualified, employees are prohibited from transferring in the first six months of employment or under discipline including a verbal warning
Floating

Floating can only happen when low staffing is unanticipated and cannot leave a unit short staffed below their grid and must be done within clinically appropriate areas (maternity unit closed, SICU to their own step down etc) Order is to be determined by a majority vote of nurses on that unit

Nurses can be floated outside of their own clinical areas, float nurses can be charge, floating order is volunteer, scheduled overtime, agency but only if they can be floated in their contact, per diems and non-per diems, floating restrictions don’t count under declared emergencies

Low Census/ Cancellation

Census has to be low for 36 continuous hours. Volunteers only and if no volunteers then a list of duties RN can choose to perform such as vitals or Health Stream Learning

When senior leadership determines it and nurses have been floated, RGH can cancel a nurse’s shift in 4 hour increments and can be placed on-call for the remainder of the shift.
Union Activity

Union nurse representatives can perform duties related to our collective bargaining agreement as long as activities don’t interfere with performance of work duties, Union staff can have reasonable access to RGH for the same purposes. RGH will maintain union bulletin boards. Union representatives will have an uninterrupted 45 min period in new employee orientations

Union nurse representatives must secure permission from manager before engaging in any union-related duties, union staff must notify HR before entering the hospital and aren’t allowed to engage with non bargaining unit staff, union bulletin boards are censored, union orientation is 30 min