Working short? What does your hosp. do about it??

imaRN · Jun 18, 2001

Our supervisors gave us PIZZA !! ( now that's the Answer food!!!!!!!!!)(NOT)

Our nursing union just settled on a contract and this weekend instead of catching rays on the picket line (which would have been much SAFER and much more fun) we had a weekend of "Hell on Wabash Ave"( the entire hosp. was short) a direct result of tremendously shortstaffing.The care was poor and risks of pt. safety were dramatically increased.There was no management brought in to at least attempt to help!(this was not the first and I am afraid not the last time) oh yea we filled out the paperwork Assignment Against Objection Forms. I just wonder how much more we can take and how much more our patients can survive?? We have closed beds, (due to staffing)They need to close more,,,,,,in an attempt to use humor to cope we were saying, "I demand a re-count and I want a re-vote" of course it did not work for AL Gore.....What is happening where you work???imaRN :confused:

PeggyOhio · Jun 18, 2001

Imarn,

I'm at Greater Cleveland Area Hospital. We work short a lot. Using agency more and more. Mandatory overtime is commmon on certain floors. We have no union.

I was disappointed when Akron settled. And really disappointed when I heard they only got 4% :rolleyes: I was hoping you'd get at least 6% x three years like Minnesota did.

No mention of mandatory overtime was made in our local news. Was that an issue?

Who represents you there? Is it the ONA, like at Youngstown.

I worked with a striking Youngstown nurse doing agency today.

She said mandatory overtime is the big issue there. I really admire the nurses that are trying to improve conditions. I'm beginnging to wish I was at a unionized hospital. Sorry you're not happy with your agreement. How much time are you guys given to discuss the offer before you have to vote?

PeggyOhio · Jun 18, 2001

Imarn,

I'm at Greater Cleveland Area Hospital. We work short a lot. Using agency more and more. Mandatory overtime is commmon on certain floors. We have no union.

I was disappointed when Akron settled. And really disappointed when I heard they only got 4% :rolleyes: I was hoping you'd get at least 6% x three years like Minnesota did.

No mention of mandatory overtime was made in our local news. Was that an issue?

Who represents you there? Is it the ONA, like at Youngstown.

I worked with a striking Youngstown nurse doing agency today.

She said mandatory overtime is the big issue there. I really admire the nurses that are trying to improve conditions. I'm beginnging to wish I was at a unionized hospital. Sorry you're not happy with your agreement. How much time are you guys given to discuss the offer before you have to vote?

oramar · Jun 18, 2001

My brothers union just settled for a 35 cent increase and a no mandatory overtime clause. Does that stink or what! He protested and was told that 20 years ago a strike resulted in the union and the nurses being trashed by the newspaper. Apparently the union is terrified of that happening again. I think things are different now but all the union leadership remember the incident very well and are fearful. He is angry and thinking about moving on to another job. I told him to stay and run for union office, the rest of the members must be pretty angry also.

oramar · Jun 18, 2001

My brothers union just settled for a 35 cent increase and a no mandatory overtime clause. Does that stink or what! He protested and was told that 20 years ago a strike resulted in the union and the nurses being trashed by the newspaper. Apparently the union is terrified of that happening again. I think things are different now but all the union leadership remember the incident very well and are fearful. He is angry and thinking about moving on to another job. I told him to stay and run for union office, the rest of the members must be pretty angry also.

Zee_RN, BSN, RN · Jun 19, 2001

Non-union hospital. They do what they want. On med-surg, they try to bring in agency nurses. They close beds. In ICU, they tell you "awwww, you poor nurses! we know it's tuff! we know you're overworked! You're doing a great job! Here's your fourth ICU patient...."

They'd like to bring in agency nurses (so they say) but they tell us there are no critical care agency nurses available....

Zee_RN, BSN, RN · Jun 19, 2001

Non-union hospital. They do what they want. On med-surg, they try to bring in agency nurses. They close beds. In ICU, they tell you "awwww, you poor nurses! we know it's tuff! we know you're overworked! You're doing a great job! Here's your fourth ICU patient...."

They'd like to bring in agency nurses (so they say) but they tell us there are no critical care agency nurses available....

Brownms46 · Jun 19, 2001

Originally posted by Zee_RN:
Non-union hospital. They do what they want. On med-surg, they try to bring in agency nurses. They close beds. In ICU, they tell you "awwww, you poor nurses! we know it's tuff! we know you're overworked! You're doing a great job! Here's your fourth ICU patient...."
They'd like to bring in agency nurses (so they say) but they tell us there are no critical care agency nurses available....

I bet you they can't get any agency nurses to come in, because they have probably all heard about the pt./nurse ratios there, and are steering clear!

Brownms46 · Jun 19, 2001

Originally posted by Zee_RN:
Non-union hospital. They do what they want. On med-surg, they try to bring in agency nurses. They close beds. In ICU, they tell you "awwww, you poor nurses! we know it's tuff! we know you're overworked! You're doing a great job! Here's your fourth ICU patient...."
They'd like to bring in agency nurses (so they say) but they tell us there are no critical care agency nurses available....

I bet you they can't get any agency nurses to come in, because they have probably all heard about the pt./nurse ratios there, and are steering clear!

imaRN · Jun 19, 2001

PeggyOhio, To answer your questions, We actually got 4.5%/4.0%/4.5% (3 year contract) we had a 66% turnout to vote-I think it should have been much better. We have a letter of agreement about mandating nurses, the hosp. will not use mandation, they don't believe in it basically but they did not remove it totally from the language of the contract. We are represented by O.N.A. We had a very good attorney(Susan) working with our people.We have language protecting us from being pulled when we go in "extra" to work (they used to pull you to another area once you got there)and we have language protecting us from being replaced by travel nurses who want to work in certian areas, they will have to work where needed.We have a small bonus for each extra 4 hours worked $25.00, and we refused a 40 hr.week (they wanted us to have to work 40 hrs. before we got overtime)Which meant I could have worked 16 hours for straight pay! NO WAY,Most of us work 12 hr. shifts and we do self scheduling, which is another good thing, Our hosp. will not use regular agency nurses, they want the same people for weeks at a time, so travel nurses seem to work OK. We had our first two travel nurses , they seemed to work out, I guess. We did give in and say new grads could come to the units, the hosp. was pushing that one big time, but we did not except rotating shifts! (thank God for that)When you compare us to what Youngstown Nurses are dealing with, I have to admit we have it MUCH BETTER, I hope Youngstown can get a good contract, because they get mandated and have rotating shifts along with other issues.We are starting a scholarship fund that the hosp. will match dollar for dollar, that is IF we can find people who want to go into nursing.Retiring Nurses got some good items, (I will probably die before I can retire!) Our union collected hundreds of dollars at our voting polls last week for the Youngstown Nurses. I hope to go and support them in person soon. I think our Union has taken good steps to raise the standards in our hosp. but some of it will HAVE to come from the administration!It seems we can only do so much by ourselves.I know we did not WANT to strike, the wounds take sooooo long to heal in an instution from striking, but now, MANY of OUR nurses are working for agencies in much less critical units to get away from the stress of our units.Just tonight a bunch of us were working a concession stand at the Akron Aeros game (our union gets 10% of the money) and we were saying we would like to bus in the Youngstown Nurses to work with us until their strike is over. Of course I'm sure our hospital wouldn't do that! (by the way the concession stand was really fun)It seems that there is only a certian amount of nurses and they just move around, some come and some go, can't seem to get ahead of the game. hummmmmmm ...and the shortage is only beginning!...imaRN

imaRN · Jun 19, 2001

PeggyOhio, To answer your questions, We actually got 4.5%/4.0%/4.5% (3 year contract) we had a 66% turnout to vote-I think it should have been much better. We have a letter of agreement about mandating nurses, the hosp. will not use mandation, they don't believe in it basically but they did not remove it totally from the language of the contract. We are represented by O.N.A. We had a very good attorney(Susan) working with our people.We have language protecting us from being pulled when we go in "extra" to work (they used to pull you to another area once you got there)and we have language protecting us from being replaced by travel nurses who want to work in certian areas, they will have to work where needed.We have a small bonus for each extra 4 hours worked $25.00, and we refused a 40 hr.week (they wanted us to have to work 40 hrs. before we got overtime)Which meant I could have worked 16 hours for straight pay! NO WAY,Most of us work 12 hr. shifts and we do self scheduling, which is another good thing, Our hosp. will not use regular agency nurses, they want the same people for weeks at a time, so travel nurses seem to work OK. We had our first two travel nurses , they seemed to work out, I guess. We did give in and say new grads could come to the units, the hosp. was pushing that one big time, but we did not except rotating shifts! (thank God for that)When you compare us to what Youngstown Nurses are dealing with, I have to admit we have it MUCH BETTER, I hope Youngstown can get a good contract, because they get mandated and have rotating shifts along with other issues.We are starting a scholarship fund that the hosp. will match dollar for dollar, that is IF we can find people who want to go into nursing.Retiring Nurses got some good items, (I will probably die before I can retire!) Our union collected hundreds of dollars at our voting polls last week for the Youngstown Nurses. I hope to go and support them in person soon. I think our Union has taken good steps to raise the standards in our hosp. but some of it will HAVE to come from the administration!It seems we can only do so much by ourselves.I know we did not WANT to strike, the wounds take sooooo long to heal in an instution from striking, but now, MANY of OUR nurses are working for agencies in much less critical units to get away from the stress of our units.Just tonight a bunch of us were working a concession stand at the Akron Aeros game (our union gets 10% of the money) and we were saying we would like to bus in the Youngstown Nurses to work with us until their strike is over. Of course I'm sure our hospital wouldn't do that! (by the way the concession stand was really fun)It seems that there is only a certian amount of nurses and they just move around, some come and some go, can't seem to get ahead of the game. hummmmmmm ...and the shortage is only beginning!...imaRN