Nurses at St Vincent’s in Massachusetts are in their eighth week of a strike against the Tenet-owned hospital, demanding safe staffing and better working conditions. Tenet, which made more than $90 million in profit in the first quarter of this year, is putting a huge amount of money into travelers because they know nurses in their other facilities will do likewise if the St Vincent’s strike succeeds. The St Vincent’s last strike in 2000 resulted in improved pay and conditions.
Thanks to the California Nurses Association and the Massachusetts Nurses Association for donations to the strike fund. Especially appreciated since the nurses are not represented in their negotiations by the MNA.
Recently I attended an online meeting held by the union and it was amazing. At the time of the meeting they had been out on strike for over 100 days. It prompted me to write this letter to my local paper and it got published!
6/30/21
On March 8th over 700 nurses at St Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester MA went on strike. That’s more than 100 days ago. They are striking for better patient care and safer staffing levels. As an RN this situation is not news to me. As a former member of the bargaining team for United Nurses and Allied Professionals at the Brattleboro Retreat I know that no one takes going out on strike lightly. The nurses there are currently being threatened with termination if they don’t get back to work.
St Vincent’s is owned by the Tenet Hospital Group, a Fortune 100 company and the second largest hospital corporation in the country. Healthcare in the US is a tangled web of profiteers. To put it simply; hospital administrators and corporations like Tenet will consistently put profit and budget goals ahead of patient care. While behind the scenes the Relative Value Scale Update Committee is busy setting the market prices for healthcare in the US and then the insurance companies decide who gets what treatments and for how long. These factors drive treatment decisions every moment of every day. I’ve been on the inside and I’ve seen it at work.
Less staff means more profit. More patients means more profit. Sicker people mean more profit. I’ve only been a nurse for the last twelve years and I’ve seen the decline in patient care and the increase in acuity. There is no research study that shows that fewer nurses results in better outcomes for patients and I can’t imagine that it even results in good long term outcomes for the hospitals. But still the cuts continue and the work loads ramp up. Nurses burn out and leave the profession exacerbating the shortage of qualified healthcare staff.
There is a way out. Single payer, Medicare for All, Universal Heathcare, whatever version can get enacted will be a good enough start for me. We need to take the steps towards getting profit out of our healthcare system and make it humane. A healthcare system that is not focused on profit will naturally focus on prevention and wellness. It’s cheaper that way. There would likely be less need for inpatient staffing and a greater need for nurses in community health settings.
With a new administration in the White House and some advocates for real change in the Nation’s Capitol we finally have some true potential for movement towards a healthcare system that really does prioritize health over profit. Let’s keep the momentum going.
You're arguing the wrong thing. My point is people can go to another hospital for care and boycott Tenet. You came and made it about Medicare. That's not the argument. Medicare is accepted everywhere. You're arguing something not the subject of what I said.
Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
Five months.
Tenet has just made what they say is their final final final offer…. It’s nonresponsive and unacceptable, quelle surprise. They have just started hiring 100 nurses for St Vincent’s.
They have sunk $100,000,000 into trying to squash the Union and now refuse the mediator’s offer to take it to the Federal mediation resource in DC. Doesn’t sound like good faith to me.
Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
On 5/9/2021 at 4:18 PM, NurseBlaq said:
I don't get it. Hospitals would rather pay exorbitant amounts for travelers than pay the staff that's there.
They are playing the long game. They are willing to bite the bullet for now in order to avoid long term commitments down the road. It's bean counter behavior, pure and simple.
I once worked for a Tenet hospital, and they did pretty much everything on the cheap. If they were making money, they sure weren't putting it into equipment or staffing. The group who bought them out was worse, so there's that.
Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
The strike, now in its sixth month, is the longest in MA history. The union has appealed to the feds to have Tenet deemed to be “negotiating in bad faith,” which would mean firing the 124 replacements they hired. The Tenet response is as expected, saying that unions always allege that and the nurses can go pound sand.
If you can spare it, send a contribution to the Mass Nurses Association to support the striking nurses. That’ll also send a message to the feds … and to Tenet.
Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
Update on St Vincent Hospital (Tenet) nurses strike, now at 7 months
St. V doctors back CEO Jackson, health care workers union supports nurses
Cyrus Moulton
Telegram & Gazette
After a week with plenty of input already, more parties weighed in on the St. Vincent Hospital nurses’ strike Saturday, with hospital doctors backing CEO Carolyn Jackson and the United Healthcare Workers East union backing the nurses.
“We are writing this letter on behalf of the medical staff of St Vincent Hospital, to express support for the hospital and our CEO, Carolyn Jackson,” members of the St. Vincent Hospital Medical Executive Committee wrote in a letter Friday afternoon.
Getting back on track
Meanwhile, nurses garnered support from 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents more than 70,000 health care workers across the state.
“The healthcare workers of 1199SEIU believe this strike must end to ensure the dedicated and experienced striking nurses can return to their original positions and restore the safety and quality of patient care at St. Vincent Hospital,” Tim Foley, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU MA, wrote in a letter to elected officials.
Nurses at other hospitals also offered their striking fellow nurses support, according to a press release from the MNA.
“As a nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center and the co-chair of the local bargaining unit on the Memorial campus, it is important to know that the nurses at our hospital stand with the St. Vincent Hospital nurses and support them in maintaining their strike for as long as it takes to achieve the staffing levels and back to work provisions they need to properly care for their patients,” Colleen Wolfe said in the press release.
The letters and press releases came after a period of increased calls to settle the strike, which hit 210 days on Sunday. The strike has prompted a shortage of hospital beds in the region and comes amid a resurgence of COVID.
Impasse over return-to-work agreement
While initially focused on staffing levels, the negotiations remain at a standstill over a return-to-work agreement. Nurses wanted a provision that would enable them to return to their old jobs; the hospital said it would not displace permanent replacement nurses that it had hired, although all striking nurses would be guaranteed a job.
But while earlier pleas by UMass Memorial Health CEO Dr. Eric Dickson and Gov. Charlie Bakerstayed neutral in favor of a general appeal to end the stalemate, more recent statements have begun to take sides.
Officials take sides
Democratic State Reps. David LeBoeuf and Mary Keefe on Tuesday called for Jackson to "step aside" from bargaining with nurses in order to bring a resolution to the strike. The lawmakers characterized the hospital’s position on a return-to-work agreement as “a tactical move out of a union busting playbook…”
On Wednesday, Mayor Joseph M. Petty and District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera, chair of the city's public health subcommittee, urged the CEO of Tenet Healthcare, the owners of St. Vincent Hospital, to visit the city and reach a settlement with nurses. The local leaders also criticized Tenet’s position on the return-to-work agreement as “unprecedented” and said the “demands” “violate the standard practice in any and all strikes and the high labor standards that we expect from all employers in the city.”
Statements Saturday continued this trend.
“As our CEO has stated, we are currently overwhelmed with patients due to the surge caused by the Delta variant, but no nurse places the blame on the nurses or the MNA, as it is Tenet that has abused these nurses, closed beds and services, and is spending millions to avoid accountability for providing safer patient care,” Wolfe, of UMass Memorial, said. “The St. Vincent nurses are heroes and their struggle is being followed and applauded all over Central Mass. and yes, the world. They deserve our support as they are fighting for all of us.”
Several other nurses from Central Massachusetts offered similar support.
Meanwhile, 1199SEIU said striking nurses are, “ready and willing to bring this strike to a close, pending a fair back-to-work agreement that returns them to the positions they held prior to the strike.
“We call upon our elected officials and all stakeholders to do whatever they can to compel Tenet to settle the strike,” Foley wrote. “If that doesn’t happen, we call upon everyone to hold Tenet and its leadership accountable for the impact on the communities we care for.”
And although the doctors described "all parties’ shared goal" as "bringing the strike to a close," they took the side of the hospital’s negotiating position.
“We honor and respect all nurses and do not believe the MNA should be trying to forcibly remove the permanent replacement nurses, many of whom are MNA members, from their jobs,” the doctors wrote. “They deserve the opportunity to continue to care for you and your loved ones. As we have publicly stated, the medical staff of Saint Vincent Hospital implores all striking nurses to come back to work, so our community can have greater access to the care it so desperately needs. We are confident in Ms. Jackson’s leadership and satisfied that she has demonstrated the ability to lead our hospital in the safe care of patients both through the pandemic and the strike thus far. We join her in her commitment to welcoming back our colleagues with respect.”
Interestingly, the only voice not weighing in were nurses on the picket line. All declined comment when approached midday Saturday.
Eileen J Glover RN
1 Article; 4 Posts
Recently I attended an online meeting held by the union and it was amazing. At the time of the meeting they had been out on strike for over 100 days. It prompted me to write this letter to my local paper and it got published!
6/30/21
On March 8th over 700 nurses at St Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester MA went on strike. That’s more than 100 days ago. They are striking for better patient care and safer staffing levels. As an RN this situation is not news to me. As a former member of the bargaining team for United Nurses and Allied Professionals at the Brattleboro Retreat I know that no one takes going out on strike lightly. The nurses there are currently being threatened with termination if they don’t get back to work.
St Vincent’s is owned by the Tenet Hospital Group, a Fortune 100 company and the second largest hospital corporation in the country. Healthcare in the US is a tangled web of profiteers. To put it simply; hospital administrators and corporations like Tenet will consistently put profit and budget goals ahead of patient care. While behind the scenes the Relative Value Scale Update Committee is busy setting the market prices for healthcare in the US and then the insurance companies decide who gets what treatments and for how long. These factors drive treatment decisions every moment of every day. I’ve been on the inside and I’ve seen it at work.
Less staff means more profit. More patients means more profit. Sicker people mean more profit. I’ve only been a nurse for the last twelve years and I’ve seen the decline in patient care and the increase in acuity. There is no research study that shows that fewer nurses results in better outcomes for patients and I can’t imagine that it even results in good long term outcomes for the hospitals. But still the cuts continue and the work loads ramp up. Nurses burn out and leave the profession exacerbating the shortage of qualified healthcare staff.
There is a way out. Single payer, Medicare for All, Universal Heathcare, whatever version can get enacted will be a good enough start for me. We need to take the steps towards getting profit out of our healthcare system and make it humane. A healthcare system that is not focused on profit will naturally focus on prevention and wellness. It’s cheaper that way. There would likely be less need for inpatient staffing and a greater need for nurses in community health settings.
With a new administration in the White House and some advocates for real change in the Nation’s Capitol we finally have some true potential for movement towards a healthcare system that really does prioritize health over profit. Let’s keep the momentum going.
Eileen J Glover RN