Tenet: Update on St Vincent, 8 months

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

The last issue to address is rehiring nurses who have maintained their strike for eight months now…. If you can, support them by donating to strike support at the Mass Nurses Association. 

 

from https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/95319?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2021-10-29&eun=g1151836d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily Headlines Top Cat HeC 2021-10-29&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_dual-gmail-definition

In a record-long strike approaching 8 months, nurses at Tenet Healthcare's Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts said a return-to-work agreement is now the sole issue standing in the way of its end.

The strike started in March, after nurses at the hospital alleged unsafe staffing practices. In August, the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) said that the nurses agreed to staffing improvements negotiated during the strike and were ready to return to work to provide care. However, an end to the strike was scuttled over a return-to-work agreement put forth by the hospital.

According to the agreement, more than 100 of the nurses on strike may not be able to return to the exact same positions they left, a move the MNA called retaliatory in nature.

"Our strike has been about safe patient care, and it has morphed into almost 8 months," Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a longtime nurse at Saint Vincent Hospital and co-chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit with the MNA, told MedPage Today. 

"We were not able to give our patients medication on time, we were not able to turn our patients on time, and we couldn't even feed our patients on time," said Pellegrino, leading to her decision to go on strike with more than 600 of her colleagues.

In August, "we felt that what was across the table [in terms of staffing] was enough," she said, referring to the improvements negotiated, including having only four to five patients per nurse on medical-surgical floors.

Pellegrino and colleagues were ready to return to work, she said, especially in light of rising COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant. But the return-to-work agreement halted things.

In a letter to Tenet Healthcare's CEO Saum Sutaria, MD, sent last week, Democratic leaders from Massachusetts, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, along with Reps. James McGovern and Lori Trahan, wrote, "We are alarmed and dismayed by Tenet's efforts to prolong this crisis with their demand that nurses be denied a return to the positions they held, many of them for decades, prior to the strike."

"Tenet's approach violates long accepted standards for the conclusion of a work stoppage and jeopardizes the safety of the patients who will be subject to care from more inexperienced replacement staff. Of more concern is Tenet's decision to purposefully close desperately needed beds and eliminate services as a punitive ploy to force the nurses to end their strike, using patients and our communities as pawns in their anti-union strategy," they continued.

Tenet Healthcare has denied that the return-to-work agreement is punitive, including in a letter responding to the elected officials. They claim the reason behind the agreement is its hiring of permanent replacement nurses beginning over the Summer and its commitment to not forcibly remove any of them.

Saint Vincent Hospital also said that it takes concerns regarding nurse staffing seriously, and that it has consistently staffed within guidelines and comparablywith other hospitals nearby.

Of the 111 beds temporarily closed as a result of the strike, Carolyn Jackson, CEO of Saint Vincent Hospital, told MedPage Today that the hospital "will need to determine post-strike" what it can reopen.

Jackson noted that of the more than 200 permanent replacement nurses the hospital has since hired, over 75% have at least 6 years of experience, and 35% have more than 20 years of experience.

She agreed that it is unusual that the strike has lasted as long as it has. "That's why we would like MNA to poll its members to determine who is coming back," she said. She added that there are options of preferential hire lists and enhanced severance packages for nurses who may be dissatisfied with what they're returning to.

"They just need to offer us our jobs back, and then they will see who's coming back," Pellegrino said. "I think they will see that many Saint Vincent nurses are coming back."

Of the return-to-work agreement's potential impact amid the ongoing strike, "we're not leaving one nurse behind," said Pellegrino. "They're a big company with billions of dollars. But we're standing, we're standing strong."

Jennifer Henderson joined MedPage Today as an enterprise and investigative writer in Jan. 2021. She has covered the healthcare industry in NYC, life sciences and the business of law, among other areas.

 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Thanks for keeping AN readers updated.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Today:  big surprise here  S/

– “Saint Vincent Hospital nurses’ strike reaches eight months while Tenet announces $448M third quarter profits,” by Tom Matthews, MassLive: “The Saint Vincent Hospital nurses’ strike hit a record eight months Monday, Nov. 8, after its corporate owner Tenet Health announced $448 million in profits for its third quarter due to increased emergency room admission and surgeries.”

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

The strike has been settled after nine months. A modest pay raise, but : 

***Tenet has agreed to hire back ALL THE STRIKING NURSES IN THEIR ORIGINAL JOBS, SCHEDULES, AND PAY RATES and to keep on the nurses they hired as strikebreakers.***

This will allow the safe staffing that was the prime issue. 
Tenet had closed 30% of St Vincent’s psych beds, 25% of their ICU beds, and 80 m/s beds; these will all be back (just in time for the new omicron variant that is already straining hospitals). 
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the MNA for support.
For details: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/17/metro/nurses-union-st-vincents-hospital-worcester-reach-agreement-end-9-month-strike/?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the update. Glad the union was strong + won.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Me too. The membership formal vote is today, and nurses will start returning to St V as soon as humanly possible. Lord knows with omicron they need to get those closed units open asap.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

The vote has been taken and the St Vincent’s nurses strike is ended after 301 days, the longest nurses’ strike in MA history. 
Massachusetts nurses vote to end 301-day strike at Tenet-owned St. Vincent