Union Advocate: Latest News from UWHC

A Voice for Quality Work and Care: Why I’m Active in My Union
Brita Kipper Nurse Clinician, AFCH P5

Like so many others living in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, I am enraged about the attack on collective bargaining rights and what it could mean for my wages, retirement, healthcare coverage, and working conditions. I also fear what changes are in store for my patients, because over the years we’ve fought to improve the quality of patient care at the bargaining table.

As a nurse in the UW hospital system I consider myself lucky. Because of my union I have had more available resources, and our staffing protections allow me to spend more time listening and personalizing care for my patients. Sadly, I know this may be changing soon with the looming possibility of increased nurse-patient ratios, fewer ancillary staff, and less collaboration with nurses on policies affecting patient care. In the past I worked at a non-unionized community hospital and it was a rare occasion not to leave work feeling overworked and burned out, but regardless of this I still went in giving my patients the best I had to offer.

In response to these attacks, many of my friends and coworkers have become more active in our community, state, and workplace governing bodies since last February. For me this meant marching at the capitol, writing letters to my elected legislators, attending locally hosted listening sessions, collecting petition signatures, and, most recently, becoming more involved with SEIU. It hasn’t always been easy, either—who really has extra time with a 40-hour work week, raising a family, and going to school? But talking to others and working towards change has made me feel hopeful that we can win back what’s been taken from us.

So for me, taking a more active role in my union seemed like the next natural step, as for the past year I have been searching for a more permanent outlet for my political activism. This is why I’m fighting to restore our collective bargaining rights. I know that we can and will still make an impact on what the future will look like for the nursing staff at UWHC and, ultimately, for our state as a whole.

Hello, union brothers and sisters, this is Matthew Hickel again, your friendly union steward from SEIU. I have been a nurse for fifteen years at UWHC, and have been in healthcare employment for 30 years. I started in 1996 when I transferred from the VA hospital next door and was hired into the medical/surgical float pool. I was in the float pool for 14 years before I found a home on D4/4. I have been there a year now, and am the team leader on the p.m. shift. A lot of people ask me how I have survived 15 years at UWHC, especially with 14 years of floating. Well, it hasn’t been easy, but we’ve won many important benefits and protections through our union that have really helped.

For me, the worst part about floating to different units was being split in one shift, which used to happen up to three times in a 12-hour shift. But we took a stand against this in bargaining in 2004, and management agreed not to force float staff nurses split three different times in a 12-hour shift without their permission. That helped a lot—it’s one of many areas where our union rights have allowed us to improve working conditions at UWHC.

The float differentials that we’ve won through negotiations have also been important. When I started here in 1996, there was no standard float differential pay. Our bargaining team did research with similar hospitals and found many examples of differentials up to $6-8 per hour. That makes sense, because most nurses like working on one unit, their own unit, with their friends. So, since 2001, we’ve bargained up to a $3.80 differential just being in the float staff.

I’ve also made sure to take advantage of educational and professional development opportunities that we’ve won in our contract.  During the time I was in float staff, I went back to school and received my Master’s in 2006 as a Nurse Educator and Clinical Nurse Specialist in Adult Health. I took the certification exam for Adult Health in 2007, and I have been a certified nurse for five years.

I enjoy teaching, and receiving my Master’s has changed my outlook on nursing. I consider myself an advanced practice nurse at the bedside, an expert RN with many skills to teach my colleagues and newer nurses. I went down to a 60% FTE in the float pool and taught clinicals in Milwaukee, St. Mary’s, Meriter, and Central Wisconsin Center for a while. This also gave me the chance to compare our contract and working conditions to theirs, and I discovered that no one can beat our retirement plan, our sick leave conversion, and our healthcare benefits. They are worth fighting for!

So that’s how I’ve survived for 15 years at UWHC. What’s your story? Let’s hear it!