Stage set for Temple University Hospital strike by PASNAP

[NRSKarenRN]

stage set for temple university hospital strike

philadelphia business journal - by [color=#234b87]john george staff writer

the pennsylvania association of staff nurses and allied professionals held a rally outside temple university hospital monday to protest what they are describing as the health system's "bad faith approach" to contract negotiations.

the union, which represents 1,500 nurses and other workers at the north philadelphia hospital, is threatening to hold a three-day strike starting oct. 2 if a new contract is not reached by the time the current agreement expires sept. 30

we have worked many hours at the bargaining table, but the hospital seems intent on ignoring the needs of patients and the dedicated staff here at temple," said maureen may, president of the nurses' union. "nobody wants a strike, but we are concerned about the future of patient care and the retention of professional staff."

union officials said the health system wants to increase employee health-care costs and forgo its promise to cover dependents' tuition at temple university. pasnap officials said staffing levels also remain a "serious concern."...

...temple said its nurses are paid "among the highest rates" in the delaware valley, making an average hourly rate of $39.80."

it proposal for the next three years is for no increase in the first year, followed by 2 percent increases in each of the following two years. for allied health professionals, the offer is no increase this year, following by 2 percent increases in the second and third years and 2.5 percent in the fourth....

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

until the public was informed about unsafe pca pumps the hospital did not do the right thing to protect patient.

they did threaten to fire the nurse who e-mailed the cno about the dangerous curlin pumps.

...in february 2009, a ucimc nurse member of the cna/nnoc professional practice committee emailed ucimc chief patient care services officer lisa reiser of an instance of a curlin pump failing by over-delivering narcotics to a patient, resulting in overdosing of the patient, and of the need to immediately address these malfunctioning pumps because of the potential of life-threatening narcotics overdose to patients.

on march 6, 2009, ms. reiser sent an email to all ucimc rns about the malfunctioning pumps. nurses were told, "our current pumps do not have software that is now available to protect patients from an error that would expose them to high levels of narcotics and potentially compromise their respiratory status."

she concluded, "we know this and we are rapidly moving forward with smart pump technology to provide you and our patients another level of protection....in the meantime please know that you as the nurse are that last level of protection....i have confidence that you take this aspect of patient care seriously and understand that you, as the registered nurse, are accountable to the patient to be their advocate and do these double checks as defined."...

[color=#660000]http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/july/nurses-file-dph-complaint-over-use-of-life-threatening-medical-devices-at-uc-irvine-medical-center.html?print=t

uc irvine hospital uses faulty narcotics pumps, nurses union alleges

the union files a complaint with the state over what it describes as continued use of malfunctioning devices after they delivered overdoses to patients. the hospital disputes the allegations....

[color=#660000]http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/10/local/me-uci-pain-pumps10

a cardiac care nurse at uc irvine who raised questions about faulty narcotics pumps, proper nurse rotations and mandatory breaks was notified by management that she could expect to fired in early july, according to the [color=#660000]california nurses association.

ethel mark, who's worked at uci medical center for seven years, and a nurse's committee at the hospital have been pushing their managers to curb unsafe "floating" conditions, (nurses who aren't properly trained to operate patients' heart monitors are required to work shifts in the unit), to give nurses -- who work 12-hour shifts -- their proper breaks, and to replace faulty narcotic pumps (six months ago uci pulled one third of all of these pumps because they failed mechanical tests). as of now, according to the nurses association, the remaining malfunctioning pumps still haven't been replaced or fixed....

[color=#660000]http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/breaking-news/uc-irvine-to-fire-whistleblowe/

university of california, irvine medical center was faulted for several deficiencies in a report from the cms and the california public health department, based on the results of a survey team's visit in october 2009.

according to a jan. 21 letter distributed to staff by ceo terry belmont, the surveyors concluded the 363-bed hospital was out of compliance with three of medicare's conditions for participation: oversight, quality assurance and pharmacy services. the cms also asked for improvements in several other areas, including patient privacy, medical staff oversight and nurses' administration of drugs and infection control...

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100122/news/301229960#

[cabanaboy]

Chico David and Herring,

Your examples were 1) the union (not staff in the sense that the hospital could have singled them out to punish) threatening to go public, and 2) the union filing a complaint and then releasing news releases about it. Both work for me. And unless I'm misunderstanding what the gag-order was about, but your examples still would have happened with it in place.

As I thought the so-called "gag" order was addressed about nurses or staff on their own speaking out to the public, I was looking for examples of that. Or, do I have a misunderstanding of what the "gag" order was?

Both of your examples further my point that employees of a company don't need to publicly disbarrage the organization they work for and that there are other, more productive ways to make changes.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Chico David and Herring,

Your examples were 1) the union (not staff in the sense that the hospital could have singled them out to punish) threatening to go public, and 2) the union filing a complaint and then releasing news releases about it. Both work for me. And unless I'm misunderstanding what the gag-order was about, but your examples still would have happened with it in place.

As I thought the so-called "gag" order was addressed about nurses or staff on their own speaking out to the public, I was looking for examples of that. Or, do I have a misunderstanding of what the "gag" order was?

Both of your examples further my point that employees of a company don't need to publicly disbarrage the organization they work for and that there are other, more productive ways to make changes.

You do in fact misunderstand what it was - it would have prohibited the union as a whole or any of its members from making any negative public comments about quality of care at the hospital. Neither of our examples could have happened if the nurses had agreed to that clause. You also misunderstand the fundamental nature of unions and how they work - at least the good ones. Had we needed in our case to go to the public with our concerns, it would have been the nurses most directly concerned, as members of their union doing the speaking, not some staff person who was less familiar with the situation.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Especially if it turns out that the state rules Temple does have to pay those benefits, Temple management is going to end up truly looking like idiots, having succeeded in:

1. Achieving virtually none of their bargaining goals

2. Greatly damaging their standing and reputation in the community.

3. Spending many millions on scab nurses

4. Unifying and strengthening their union

And maybe...

5. Having to pay unemployment benefits to the strikers.

What school of management did these folks go to anyway?

A late update on the Temple strike from a month or so back: I have just heard this by word of mouth, so no documentation yet, but am told that a ruling just came down that the strikers are entitled to unemployment benefits and Temple will have to pay in the neighborhood of $1.5 million for those benefits.

This, by the way, is NOT normal in a strike situation, but is the result of a quirk in Pennsylvania law governing strikes by public workers (apparently Temple is a public university, so its nurses count as public workers). If I understand it correctly, the party that wants to change the status quo is considered to be " at fault" for a strike under that law. In this case, the nurses were pretty much defending the status quo and management wanted to take things away from them, so the burden falls on management. Score another for not very bright management.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

[color=#4385b7]temple nurses eligible for unemployment during work stoppage

by jane m. von bergen

inquirer staff writer

posted on sat, jun. 12, 2010

temple university hospital's nurses and allied health professionals are eligible for unemployment compensation during their nearly month-long work stoppage, the pennsylvania bureau of unemployment compensation said in a decision released late friday.

and the hospital will have to foot the bill.

the workers are eligible for unemployment compensation, the five-page decision said, because their 28-day work stoppage in april is considered a lock out, not a strike. under the state law governing temple and its employees, workers are eligible for unemployment compensation when a company locks out is employees, but not when they strike. temple will have to foot the bill because, like many large employers, it is self-insured for unemployment compensation

whether a work stoppage is a strike or lock out depends on which side changes the status quo. a strike stems from the workers. a lock out occurs when the employer changes the terms of employment. in temple's case, the change had to do with a key component in the negotiations - the tuition benefit for dependents. in march 2009, temple had notified its employees that tuition benefits would be ended at the end of this month

read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20100612_temple_nurses_eligible_for_unemployment_during_work_stoppage.html#ixzz0qhcettgj

[dasmith]

This does not matter if you are a resident of Minnesota. You worked in this state, there are laws to protect you. The Minnesota Attorney General wants to hear from you if HealthSource Global didn't pay you for working in Minnesota: http://www.ag.state.mn.us/ElectronicForms/ComplaintForm.pdf Also there are provisions in state law which says you must be paid within 24 hours as a former employee. If you have made such a demand under state law, the Dept of Labor & Industry wants you to make a complaint with their agency so they can recover your wages: If you do not work for the company, please make a demand that your wages be paid within 24 hours. If wages are not paid in that time period, please call us to file a wage claim. If you are still an employee of the business, then the business must pay wages by July 11, 2010, according to Minnesota Statutes 181.101. If not paid by that date, please call us to file a wage claim. John Sti ffin Community Services Representative Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry 6five1-2eight4-5two4five 6five1-2eight4-5seven4zero (fax)

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

winners and losers:

temple health system chief notebaert is stepping down,

jane von bergen, philadelphia inquirer, july 3, 2010

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

more than one hundred thousand dollars a month!

...at temple, he earned $917,000 between his november 2008 arrival and the june 30, 2009, end of the fiscal year, according to the latest pay figures available....

temple health system chief notebaert is stepping down | philadelphia inquirer | 07/03/2010