Hospital policy vs. nurse's union contract

[MA Nurse]

To the point: manager told me she gave a nurse with 13 years less seniority than me a reduced hours position( instead of me )because the nurse is going back to school. Manager stated the union contract allows for this, when I pointed out the contract doesn't address this, she said hospital policy allows for it when the contract doesn't address the issue. The position was never posted, either. I asked for it 2 months ago and was denied. What good is a union in this case???:angryfire

[OC_An Khe]

First talk with your union representative and file a greivance. Your manager may or may nnot be giving you accurrate information. She may not have even talked with anyone about it. It has been my expirience that most managers are not fully cognizant of the nuances of the contract and side agreements. Just because it appears that the contract is silent on an issue doesn't automatically mean that the hospital policy is the determining factor.

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

Your union can help you to grieve the manager's decision. The grievance procedure allows both sides to discuss the differences between the contract and hospital policy. Even if it doesn't result positively for you, it may bring up issues that can be looked at during the next contract negotiations an perhaps prevent this from happening in the future. Good luck.

As a side note, I always find it interesting that mangement refers to the contract as the "union's contract", as if the hospital has no responsiblilty for what the contact states. In fact the contract is between both parties. I feel it should be refered to as the contact between the hospital and union.

[-jt]

When an item isnt mentioned in the contract, the contract is "silent" on it, & hospital policy prevails. When an item is in the contract, the contract prevails - even if it is different from the policy. And since seniority is a basic union tenet, I doubt that your contract is "silent" on that item.

Contracts usually outline clearly what seniority is & how it is accrued and when the accruals might be pro-rated (ie: for any years worked part time or per diem at the facility). And in my experience, nursing contracts usually say something about how to go about filling vacant positions ie: when to post & how long to keep the posting up. It might also mention exceptions like "appreciable difference" (that is if the less senior person is the most qualified & experienced for the position, that might take precedence over seniority). In that case, seniority might only apply when both are equally qualified.

The contract is the hospital's AGREEMENT with the nurses. So what is in the contract is what the hospital has legally bound itself to do. If it didnt do what it agreed to do, it's in violation & you have a grievance.

You should check your contract copy for the language on filling vacant positions & seniority & inform your rep right away to file a grievance. If the union doesnt know about a possible violation of the contract, they cant do anything about it. If they arent utilized for what they were intended to be used for, then youre right, what good is having them there. A grievance has to be filed as soon as possible in order to get the discussion going with the administration - not just the manager - and to get to a solution.

Bear in mind that contracts also usually detail a time limit for filing grievances on an issue. If yours has such a clause, once that time limit is passed, you might be forfeiting your right to grieve the issue if you havent done so within the set time period.