NY RNs Still on Strike

RNs still on strike - day # 61 - 26th negotiation session


So far, the Hospital has given in to:

the RN's demand for Safe Staffing Guidelines/ratios and the RNs will have the ability to enforce them thru the grievance procedure and binding arbitration

the RN's demand to keep 12 hr shifts

the RN's demand to improve health benefits

the RN's demand for additional pay for experience


Still waiting for finalizing:

the RN's demand to provide health benefits for retiring nurses

the RN's demand to provide health benefits for all part timers

the RN's demand to prohibit mandatory OT except for declared emergencies & to pay double-time wages in event such emergency is declared & mandatory OT is utilized

Strike continues....... negotiations continue

<<St. Catherine's RN Strike Passes 2 Months

NYSNA nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center have now been on strike for 70 days, with little movement by management at the negotiating table. RNs remain committed to a staffing policy that protects patients and respects nurses, inlcuding bans on mandatory overtime. Read the latest strike developments on NYSNA's website, www.nysna.org. >>

from the NY RNs still on strike on Long Island (day 75) -

<<To our Friends and Neighbors:

As you may know the Nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown are still on strike. We are in our 75th. day with no end in sight. We are represented by the NYSNA and they are 450 Registered nurses serving your community.

Our main issue is Forced Overtime - we believe it
must be eliminated if we are to survive as a profession.

On Saturday, February 16th, 2002
from 12 noon to 2 pm.
the Nurses of St. Catherine of Siena Hospital
are sponsoring a Parade for Quality Patient Care.

This event will be start on Main Street and Lawrence Avenue Smithtown and move west to the Hospital approx. 1.5 miles.

Many of our nursing colleagues have agreed to walk the walk with us and we would like to invite you to attend - bring your students, coworkers, friends and neighbors.

We expect 500 - 1000 people will be attending this event.

Make no mistake about what we are doing......

Without the incredible sacrifices being made today by these nurses, there may be no nurses of tomorrow.

Come lend your voice to the many that ask for an
END TO THIS STRIKE AND FOR THE EMPLOYER TO GIVE RNs A
FAIR CONTRACT.

So come, and walk into the future with the nurses of St. Catherine of Siena. As the longest nurses strike ever on Long Island, we are making history here.

Please RSVP to BC512RN@aol.com or to the NYSNA 212-785-0157 ask for Michael Chacon or Marilyn Bauer.>>

* NLRB Orders Hospital to Pay Nurses Back Striking RNs who opted out of the hospitals healthcare plan will now receive the full $500 they are entitled, as a result of charges filed by NYSNA.

Under an agreement with NYSNA, St. Catherines is to provide nurses who do not wish to take part in the healthcare plan with
two opt-out payments of $500 per year. RNs who opted out were supposed to have received a full $500 in January, but the hospital only sent them a partial payment, saying they would not pay the remainder because the nurses were on strike.

NYSNA filed a charge of unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board and won. The NLRB has ordered the hospital to make full payments - checks should arrive soon.

* To the people of Smithtown: Support the RNs - Say No to the Bishops Annual Appeal The registered nurses of St. Catherine's are asking for the community's support in our fight for safe patient care. If you recently received a letter from our Bishops Annual Appeal, we ask you withhold your donation until the strike is resolved.

* Nurses Parade Scheduled St. Catherine's nurses will hold a parade from 12:00 Noon to 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, February 16, 2002. The parade will travel Main Street and St. Johnland Road in Smithtown, from Lawrence Avenue to the hospital. The nurses will be joined by members of Long Island labor unions, NYSNA colleagues from area hospitals, and local elected public officials. NYSNA | Current
Collective Bargaining | St. Catherine of Siena Strike
http://www.NYSNA.org

From the nurses on strike on Long Island, NY:

After 100 days on strike.......

<<<<<
Strike update - Day 100

IT IS OVER.
WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT!!!!


It is 8:30 AM and we just completed our negotiations. We reached a tentative agreement. The following is our plan for this week Thursday we will hold informational meetings from 1 pm - 8pm at the Wyndwatch. Friday and Saturday we will vote 1pm - 8pm at the Wyndwatch.

Picket line will be maintained one hour a day until we vote on the contract 12 noon - 1pm. only

To the St Catherines Nurses fron their RN negotiating team:

Just a quick point, the hospital has agreed to allow any nurse who has resigned to recind her/his resignation if they write a letter stating their intent to do so ASAP.

Also, if you have resigned but want to remain perdiem you must also write a letter asking for the change in status bugeted to perdiem. (Date of hire - for seniority purposes - will be preserved.

You have shown to be a dedicated, cohesive and formidable group to deal with. I salute each and every one of you for every step you took at the bottom of the hill and every meeting you attended and every fear you expressed and every tear you shed.

It was not for naught -- we challenged the giants and the victory belongs to the people of this community. Who would have dreamed that we could actually accomplish what we did in the face of so much opposition?

Yet we did, without the white knights, without the doctors, without the media, without other unions without a doubt we earned this victory for ourselves, how amazing is that? You will never feel the same about yourself or us ever again.

NYSNA is arranging a celebration party for some time next week. The date, time and location to be determined.
It will be casual, at the Wyndwatch, we hope if they have the room. Buffet, around $23. each, I don't know how much of the cost we have to pick up, but I would ask you bring your spouse to this, they suffered every bit as much as we through all this if not more.

We did not compromise our members rights in any fashion. We got retroactives back to 5/16/01.

Some where in the back of my mind are the words I want to say to thank each and everyone one of you for your unyeilding support.

For as long as it takes,
Barbara
Remember, we only have to last
one day longer than management.........>>>>>>>>


Congratulations, Barbara!

Going Down to the wire.....
First came the last-minute side-swipe from the hospital:

Newsday
February 28, 2002

"In Strike Talks, A Snag? Or A Recess?

BY: Barbara J. Durkin. STAFF WRITER
EDITION: NASSAU AND
SECTION: News

It looked good that a settlement in the three- month-long strike by nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown might be within reach, as negotiations stretched from 10 a.m. Tuesday into the early morning hours yesterday.

But by 6:30 a.m., the talks were over - with no contract.

Depending on whom you asked, the talks either broke down in an angry dispute over "return-to-work" issues or simply adjourned as a matter of course so negotiators could iron out remaining issues when they were fresh.

The New York State Nurses Association, the union representing the 474 nurses who have been striking since November, said yesterday that it was filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board as a result of the latest talks.

The main issue that ended the talks, the nurses' union said, is a hospital request that nurses who crossed the picket line would not face any union charges. Twenty-nine nurses (out of the more than 450 on strike) have crossed the picket line since the strike began 94 days ago, union representative Michael Chacon said. All but three of them have resigned from the union, which means union charges cannot be lodged against them.

"This has made things 20 times worse than they were before," Chacon said. "They are essentially holding us hostage over three nurses."

But St. Catherine's president Jim Wilson saw the matter differently. "Talks did not break down. Talks were recessed," said Wilson, noting that considerable progress had been made in the last two prolonged bargaining sessions.

Both sides agree that virtually all issues have been agreed to except for the return-to-work issues. While the union could ask that members not file charges against the three nurses, he said, any NYSNA member can bring such complaints, under the union's bylaws.

"They asked us to waive our members' rights and violate our bylaws," Chacon said. "Even if we wanted to, we could not."

But Wilson said the hospital believed the union had the latitude to do that.

When the strike is over, he said, "There has to be forgiveness on everyone's part for all the things that have occurred during the strike."

Chacon agreed that healing must take place but he said the hospital's latest demand has hurt negotiations.

"The nurses are unbelievably angry," he said.

Union officials yesterday said the NLRB, just this week, upheld earlier bad-faith bargaining charges brought against St. Catherine's, including reneging on previous agreements, responding with inferior proposals and failing to pay nurses the vacation and holiday time they are owed.

Bringing the charges means there is sufficient evidence to bring the matter before an administrative law judge, who ultimately will decide whether the hospital violated labor law, said Al Blyer, regional director of the Brooklyn office of the NLRB.

Should a contract be agreed upon, however, such charges could be dropped altogether.

Blyer also said if the hospital were to insist on the union promising not to discipline nurses - if all other matters were resolved - that possibly could constitute an unfair labor practice.

He also noted that while union officials may not be able to stop individuals from bringing charges against the nurses, those officials likely would investigate the charges and could decide what actions should be taken.

Contract talks are set to resume on Sunday.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/lo...ws%2Dheadlines

THEN...........

"Tentative Deal for Nurses
St. Catherine’s nurses to vote

By Barbara J. Durkin
Staff Writer

It took 99 days and a final bargaining session that stretched through the early morning hours yesterday, but a tentative agreement finally has been reached in the nurses' strike at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown.

The hospital's nurses are scheduled to vote on the proposed contract Friday and Saturday, which the New York State Nurses' Association union is recommending they approve.

Neither side would discuss details of the contract yesterday, pending a meeting with the nurses Thursday to outline the deal.

Barbara Crane, the registered nurse who heads the St. Catherine's bargaining unit, said that nurses were "ecstatic” to hear that an agreement had been reached. She said she thought the proposal would be approved.

"I think they'll be very happy,” Crane said. "We got what we were hoping for.”

Hospital president Jim Wilson also welcomed the agreement, which he said paves the way for the nurses to return in the spirit of "peace and reconciliation.”

"We look forward to the nurses returning to work beginning March 17. We want all of them to come back,” he said. "It's a contract that will allow us to enhance the recruitment and retention of registered nurses.”

Among the major issues in the strike was the nurses' desire for staffing guidelines and reduced mandatory overtime. The nurses also sought health care retirement benefits.

People familiar with the proposed contract said it contains language on staffing guidelines and the limited use of mandatory overtime, along with incentives to limit mandatory overtime. The nurses set aside their request to join a union health plan instead of the hospital plan, settling for a retirement health benefit.

Last week, union leaders were angry over some "back to work” provisions the hospital had requested, including that nurses who crossed the picket line would not face any union charges. But that was worked out yesterday.

Thirty-three nurses have crossed the picket line since the strike began; all but three have resigned from the union as a result. Another 43 nurses have resigned from the hospital over the course of the three-month strike, union officials said. Some may return if the agreement is ratified, Crane said.

The union represented 474 nurses at the start of the strike, but with the resignations from the hospital and union, about 400 or so will be eligible to vote on the contract this week.

Pat Butera, an intensive care unit nurse who said she intends to vote for the settlment, said she she was eager to return to the hospital.

"I'm looking forward to going back to a place that is in my neighborhood, a place where we did work closely together,” said Butera, who added that the strike built camaraderie among the nurses. "We really grew together.”
http://www.newsday.com

<<<<

"THE REGISTERED NURSES AT

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA HOSPITAL
ANNOUNCE THAT

After 104 days on strike......

THE VOTE HAS COME IN

302 IN FAVOR
31 AGAINST

WE HAVE A CONTRACT !!!!!!!

we only had to last
one day longer than management.
And we did ......"
>>>>>>>