Strike Averted

-jt · Jun 1, 2001

But the nurses and hospitals started returning to the bargaining table Wednesday and Thursday, with negotiations for some stretching into the early morning hours today. By 5 a.m. today, nurses had reached tentative agreement with all the hospitals.

"We showed them (the hospitals) we were serious.">>

And THATS exactly how its supposed to happen after serving a strike notice.... back to the table, force them to address the issues, & there is no strike.

the sheer strength of numbers, unity & conviction cinched this for the nurses.

I am not at all surprised that the hospitals backed down.

Congratulations Mn!

Jenny P · Jun 1, 2001

Well, the votes aren't in yet; so who knows what has been negotiated yet? I did have to work last night, and as the negotiators talked long into the night, we were trying so hard to get our patients stable and ready so we could be able to report off and leave at 5:30 AM. When the word finally came, I think the whole unit let out a sigh of relief: not so much that there isn't a strike, but that these patients will have an extra day or 2 to recuperate.

I've asked our AHN if we could get combat pay for working last night--- or a week's vacation (R&R!)because we worked last night-- for some reason, they laughed at me!

PeggyOhio, the whole strike negotiations started to crumble when 3 of the hospitals decided to break away from the group negotiations and talk to their nurse negotiators on their own. Then the docs at the Childrens' Hospitals demanded that the hospital negotiate with the nurses there because their patients were too sick for scabs to care for them. That left 7 hospitals holding the bag, and the nurses stuck together and were shown in the media as a solid, determined group-- making picket signs, at a nurse rally, etc.

It all boils down to lasting just 1 minute longer than the hospitals, as one of the speakers said at the rally yesterday (which I attended). The rally was terrific, with many speakers:US Senator Paul Wellstone, both the President and Director of the UAN, local leadership of the Teamsters, AFL-CIO, MNA, Mn. Attorney Mike Hatch (he's the one who broke the news to the media about the one HMO buying gold golf tees and lavish golf trips and Waterford crystal, etc. for its' sales team), a woman Mn. Senator who is pushing through a bill at the state level outlawing mandatory overtime, and so many more I can't remember them all.

I truely believe that if our nurse community did not have such a firm resolve about striking, the hospitals would have made us cave in. I don't think they expected all of us to be so tough. But once again, I haven't seen or heard what the offer is yet, so there is still a possibility that we may strike yet.

I will miss that time off, it sure was getting tempting and so tantalizingly close! Even the person who was insisting she'd cross the picket line had decided to go out. And one of the things I heard was the number of nurses who would QUIT if the hospitals forced us to go out! I'm not sure how large the number was, but there were quite a few from my unit who had asked the NM about procedures for resigning during the strike. Maybe that caught administrations' attention also.

The other thing that may have been nudging the hospitals back to the negotiating table is no one seems to know exactly how many scabs they were able to get here. The numbers really vary from 750 to 3000 in the news here. I wonder if the hospitals found out there was a nursing shortage of scabs also?

-jt · Jun 1, 2001

The numbers really vary from 750 to 3000 in the news here. I wonder if the hospitals found out there was a nursing shortage of scabs also?

lol. If the hospital said it had 3000 scabs it was probably much much less. Giving out that kind of number is a scare tactic to make you think youre crushed. And since they came back to the table, they didnt have enough no matter what the number was.

Just proves the point.

nurs4kids · Jun 2, 2001

I'm curious, guys. These scab nurses that didn't get to work. Do they still get paid? Sure would be sweet revenge if they didn't!

lpnandloveit1 · Jun 2, 2001

I hope all the scabs took long unpaid leaves from their "real jobs" in hopes of making millions of bucks while screwing fellow nurses and get nothing for their efforts.

Jenny P · Jun 2, 2001

The scabs were promised (according to the media) 36-40 hours pay if they weren't needed, depending on their contracts. They were flown in free, got to stay in luxery hotels (or the hospitals) for free, and then paid for not working. It still adds up to $$$$$$ the hospitals could have paid their LOYAL employees that they were trying to cheat. And who knows how much the hospitals have to pay the scab agencies? To me it's a waste of money that could have been spent in the community instead of on scabs.

-jt · Jun 3, 2001

The scab agency offers a deal to the hospitals. It gives a break on the price depending on the number of days they are hired for. The more days you hire them for, the more of a break you get. Thats why if nurses announce a one day strike, you may hear they have been "locked out" by the hospital for another 3 days that they didnt plan to strike. Its not a punishment for the job action - its because it was more cost effective to the hospital to hire the scab agency for that number of days & get the discount than to hire them for just one day & pay higher fees to the agency. (the scabs get the same fee no matter what).

So instead of a one day strike, the strike is prolonged by strike-breakers for 4 days. The more weeks the hospital hires them for, the greater the discount. I saw the literature US Nursing sent to a hospital & it is full of incentives to keep the strike going. That price discount is just one of them.

There is also a stipulation that the scabs and the agency be paid for showing up & being willing to cross the line. So those nurses will be paid SOMETHING while they sight-see in Minnesota instead of work - but its the agency that comes out the winner... they get their full fee.

A lot of scabs take vacation time from their regualar jobs to work strikes for a week or 2 so while they are sitting in Minnesota doing nothing, they are using up their vacation days. Nice vacation.

One hospital there has announced that it will lay off 1000 other employees to recoup the losses they incurred by hiring & having to pay the strike-breaking firm. Imagine that. They make a bad decision & innocent people have to pay for it so the administration doesnt feel it in their own pocketbooks. As far as Im concerned, the administrators who made the decision to hire scabs in the first place should reimburse the hospital from their own wallets.

Jenny P · Jun 3, 2001

This should be under the Scabs thread, but I'll put it here also. I didn't see it, but I guess there were several scabs on the news Friday that were upset and complaining that all is not well for the scabs here. I guess several had to sleep in lounge chairs in the lobby of a hotel because their contracts with the scab agencies weren't completed. They complained that several hadn't eaten all day either (I think because they didn't get their per diem pay). Their complaints about taking unpaid LOAs from their own hospitals back home to earn big bucks here fell on deaf ears here in Minnesota. So being a scab may not be such fun after all. :eek:

Charles S. Smith, RN, MS · Jun 3, 2001

Originally posted by -jt:
The scab agency offers a deal to the hospitals. It gives a break on the price depending on the number of days they are hired for. The more days you hire them for, the more of a break you get. Thats why if nurses announce a one day strike, you may hear they have been "locked out" by the hospital for another 3 days that they didnt plan to strike. Its not a punishment for the job action - its because it was more cost effective to the hospital to hire the scab agency for that number of days & get the discount than to hire them for just one day & pay higher fees to the agency. (the scabs get the same fee no matter what).
So instead of a one day strike, the strike is prolonged by strike-breakers for 4 days. The more weeks the hospital hires them for, the greater the discount. I saw the literature US Nursing sent to a hospital & it is full of incentives to keep the strike going. That price discount is just one of them.
There is also a stipulation that the scabs and the agency be paid for showing up & being willing to cross the line. So those nurses will be paid SOMETHING while they sight-see in Minnesota instead of work - but its the agency that comes out the winner... they get their full fee.
A lot of scabs take vacation time from their regualar jobs to work strikes for a week or 2 so while they are sitting in Minnesota doing nothing, they are using up their vacation days. Nice vacation.
One hospital there has announced that it will lay off 1000 other employees to recoup the losses they incurred by hiring & having to pay the strike-breaking firm. Imagine that. They make a bad decision & innocent people have to pay for it so the administration doesnt feel it in their own pocketbooks. As far as Im concerned, the administrators who made the decision to hire scabs in the first place should reimburse the hospital from their own wallets.

You are correct JT..it is the agencies that really are the big winners here. There are incidents of strike agencies refusing to reimburse nurses for time and keeping the funds for themselves. There are and have been negotiations between hospitals and agencies that go months and even years before contract negotiations and all of these negotiations somehow get paid for, some in advance like a retainer. Nurses who deal with these agencies somehow really do get the short end of the stick often.

chas