Big pay cut at Orlando Health, please help your fellow Nurses

Nurses Activism

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Please help your fellow Nurses in Orlando they are desperate. Orlando Health has spit in the face of Nursing. Please help them by signing a petition to stop this huge pay cut at change.org http://www.change.org/petitions/orlando-health-stop-nightshift-differential-cuts-to-nurses

"Orlando Health announced Monday, August 5 that they will be cutting the night and weekend shift differential to thousands of employees, across 8 area hospitals, to go in effect September 8. These cuts are more than 50% of the current rate and will result to each an individual loss upwards of $600/month, $7000-$15,000/year. A majority of the employees affected are Nurses, who are already notoriously underpaid and overworked. Corporate members are denying any request for negotiations, and gave less than 1-month notice for employees to acclimate to this substantial financial blow. The Orlando health corporation decided they want to decrease pay significantly, with no decrease in employee workload."

PLEASE! Your help is desperately needed.

Several night shift nurses have left, given their notice or are actively looking for new jobs. The worst part is that these are the people with years of experience that us new nurses look to for guidance. I know a bunch were planning on going to the experienced nurses career fair at Florida Hospital on 8/22. I'm wondering what will happen when they purge the experienced nurses now, don't hire or train any new nurses and open the new 190 bed tower at ORMC next year.

I haven't seen anybody post about the complete mismanagement of the Lucerne closing. Maybe someone with first hand experience can explain how that went over.

An article from today's Orlando Sentinel info about unionization at OH:

Orlando Health workers meet to discuss forming union - OrlandoSentinel.com

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Specializes in OB / ED / ICU.

I find it very interesting according to the response to today's Orlando Sentinel article ORHS states that compensation and pay ranges for CEO's is "based on the market median for comparable health systems". (I'm sure that covers the top hospital systems in the US).. Why then in the 400 "hospitals" in the southeast that were used to find night shift market median for differential were there insurance companies like AFLAC, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, and senior living centers etc. If they are going to compare comparable health systems they should be comparing us to hospitals that are in urban areas with level one trauma centers, large NICU's (ours is one of the largest in the nation), OB hospitals that are among the top 5 busiest in the nation, etc. How can you compare nurses who work in a RPICC center and some of the busiest most high risk hospitals in the nation with nurses who work for an insurance company? What a load of BS !!!

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Yeah, doesn't sound like they are very transparent on where they get their numbers just so long as the numbers work for them in order to try to justify their actions.

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I was thinking that now would be an opportune time to unionize in light of all the baby boomers entering the healthcare market. It's probably part of why they are trying to get us to lower our wages- in order to be able to hire more staff that will be needed. I was reading at the change.org site that some don't know how or where to get involved. It's not really clear at the NNOC site either. I think there is a nursing shortage due to the fact that there is a hiring shortage. Hospitals take on more risk by increasing patient ratios to save money. Now they are trying to push nurses to accept less money after they put up with higher ratios. They will hire from outside the US in order to lower wages as well.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Sep 3, 2013, 2:10pm

Orlando Health employees send letter, with demands, to CEO Sherrie Sitarik

... According to the letter, employees are asking Sitarik to:

  • Rescind the current cuts without threat of layoffs, and provide full transparency to the events and a written timeline for Orlando Health's cost-cutting process.
  • Guarantee there will be no future cuts in pay or benefits, including a promise to maintain and improve nurse-to-patient ratios in order to maintain national nursing magnet status, which is a measure of excellence. The letter asks that the money saving process being attempted should focus on all other cost-cutting measures first, and that reducing pay should not even be considered until all other plans of action are implemented.
  • Agree to a fair process for employees to decide whether or not to form a union without interference from management. ...

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2013/09/03/orlando-health-nurses-deliver-letter.html?page=all

Video: Orlando Health workers move closer to unionizing as pay cuts loom | http://www.wftv.com

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Looks like Orlando Health just got busted. Check out the story below.

Note allegedly tells security to notify Orlando Health supervisors about union talk

Note allegedly tells security to notify Orlando Health... | www.wftv.com

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Here is the actual video of the news report about Orlando Health spying on its employees.

Note allegedly tells security to notify Orlando Health... | www.wftv.com

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Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU~CCRN,CNRN.

I truly hope they organize a union there and set a precedence for the rest of Florida hospitals!

I've worked in many hospitals across Florida and I have to say many have horrendous working conditions and are just plain dangerous!

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I am not so certain unionizing is the answer. When I was a new grad in Florida, I made $21.86 in Florida, but I did work for the 2nd best payer in town. I now live in DC, and in a unionized hospital where I make $29 and change now. Unionizing doesn't necessarily mean great things will happen. My wage is certainly not comparable to the cost of living here and I did much better in FL, non unionized and making $8/hr less, much better working conditions, and I didn't have the $77 a month fee associated with membership.

I don't know what the solution is, but the first answer should not be union, its not all its cracked up to be. The way I see it, it basically keeps bad nurses from losing their jobs and doesn't really benefit the good nurse.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I am not so certain unionizing is the answer. When I was a new grad in Florida, I made $21.86

*** Ya, I have always heard that Florida was among the lowest paying states, even relative to the cost of living. Thanks for the confirmation of that.

I don't know what the solution is, but the first answer should not be union, its not all its cracked up to be. The way I see it, it basically keeps bad nurses from losing their jobs and doesn't really benefit the good nurse.

*** I work in a union hospital and hope that my living never again depends on working in a non-union hospital. The benefits are huge. Our union certainly does not prevent our management from getting rid of bad or incompetent nurses.

Maybe after you have been fired for trumped up reasons, when the real reason you got fired was because you were too high on the pay scale, you will change your mind.

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*** Ya, I have always heard that Florida was among the lowest paying states, even relative to the cost of living. Thanks for the confirmation of that

*** I work in a union hospital and hope that my living never again depends on working in a non-union hospital. The benefits are huge. Our union certainly does not prevent our management from getting rid of bad or incompetent nurses.

Maybe after you have been fired for trumped up reasons, when the real reason you got fired was because you were too high on the pay scale, you will change your mind.

And thank you for proving that union bandwagoneers only see what they want to to prove their points.if my union was so awesome, my wage would be comparable to my cost of living, and my Florida lifestyle would be extended here. My rent in FL was $900/month for a 3/2 condo, here in DC its $1800/month for a studio. Yeah, my union does a lot for me.

I still have crappy ratios on a step down floor, 6 to 1 sometimes, 5 to 1 mostly, rarely 4 to 1. At my non union hospital, I had 4 to1 mostly, and 5 to 1 rarely, if someone called out. I had 4 PCTs to 28 beds, I am lucky in DC if I have 2, usually its 1 for 30 beds. I had 24 hr phlebotomy in FL, and none after midnight in DC,and I am super lucky if they showup before midnight. Tell me again, how great they are, where is my $77/month going?

No, I will never change my minds about unions. NEVER. The two people that I know that have actually been fired got their jobs back, because of the union. What did they do you ask? One of them stole a hoyer lift and sold it to a patient for $1,200, this was a federal union that fought for him, the other was defended by a national union and hit a security guard with her car, after he confronted her 3 times for illegally parking, she was just recently legitimately terminated again for bullying her colleaugues, abusing the time clock, and violating HIPAA, I hope federal authorities step in and imprison her before the union fights to bring her back. And of course, she has been there for 20+ years and "makes to much", so I am sure that's why the hospital was really out to get her {rolls eyes}

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