News
“Notice of Risk”: Union pushing back as patient safety issues increase
“Our staff is burning out!”
B4/4: “Very confused and agitated patient receiving blood products, trying to get out of lap restraint-required three people to get into ceiling lift.”
F6/6: “Not enough staff for acuity. Had to place pt with PSA due to safety. Did not have adequate NA’s to work the floor.”
P/5: “Child frequently de-saturating into low 70%. No extra staff.”
F6/6: “Flexed up 4 patients. Sup tried to give us additional patient, but was able to convince them we could not flex up to 5. No breaks, quick lunch and many interruptions.”
“Due to our patient acuity we could fill these out every day.” (more…)
Bargaining Alert: Contract Extension!
Management has decided not to extend our 2009-2013 union contract beginning April 27th.
While not ideal, the lack of an extended contract does not impact your current benefits or hardly any of the aspects of the system in place at Meriter. This is simply a tactic they are using to confuse the bargaining unit. If you are told conflicting information by management, please contact a Bargaining Team member. Let’s show them we’re not wavering and respond by attending bargaining this coming Thursday and Friday, May 2nd and 3rd.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Your wages remain intact and you will get paid.
- Your differentials and premiums continue.
- Your health insurance and all benefits remain intact and continue.
- All previous disciplines and grievances (dated before 4/27) will continue through the specified contractual process. However, for new disciplines and grievances (occurring 4/27 and beyond), the final step of arbitration can be denied by management. Fortunately, we have a very low rate of grievances going to arbitration.
- Other terms and conditions such as the Weekender Program guidelines, floating restrictions, scheduling conditions, ET, etc.,will not be affected.
Management still has a duty to bargain in good faith with us. We are scheduled to return to the bargaining table on May 2 and 3. Please attend our bargaining sessions and show management our strength in numbers.
I’m on strike in Chicago
A few hours ago, I joined hundreds of minimum-wage fast food and retail workers in Chicago and went on strike.
What we’re asking for is simple and fair: $15 an hour and the right to form a union without intimidation.
You can let us know you have our back by signing this petition in support.
Like the Walmart workers who went on strike on Black Friday, and the New York fast food workers who walked off the job soon after, we’re standing up to huge companies like Macy’s, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Victoria’s Secret, many of which are raking in huge profits.
These companies can afford to pay their workers enough to cover the most basic needs like food, rent, healthcare and transportation.
It’s outrageous. A national shame, and finally — today, right now – hundreds of us in Chicagoare out in the streets and doing something about it. Join us with your signature here.
Paying fast food and retail workers a fair wage and giving us a right to organize without indimidation will not only improve our lives, it will improve Chicago’s economy by giving us the ability to buy the goods and services we need. Today is a huge and exciting step in the right direction.
Health Insurance for Healthcare Workers!
We’re back at bargaining May 2nd and 3rd!
Management wants to take control over our health insurance by working to increase the amount you pay out of pocket for drugs, deductibles, and even ER visits. At the same time, they want less coverage for you and your family.
Here’s how:
- Management wants to keep ensure they are “restricted” to bargain ANY future changes to OUR healthcare plans. This will most likely result in less coverage in the future.
- The Custom Plan will come with MAJOR increases in maximum out of pocket expenses which will continue to increase up to 10% every year.
- Deductibles in the Custom Plan would go up to $325 single or $650 family. That’s money out of your pocket for basic health care coverage.
- Drug co-pays will increase up to 10% every year.
As healthcare workers, we deserve quality health insurance of our own – not expensive major medical coverage!
We will not stand for this. Quality health insurance is our right as professional healthcare workers. With your help can we protect our work and our families; join us in solidarity at bargaining and spread the word to your co-workers.
We need your support and input. Come to bargaining @ the Quality Inn on Fish Hatchery Rd. just after Copps. We’re there from 7:30am – 7pm every day, so come in and stay as long as you like! Kids are welcome to play in our Kids’ Corner too!
Meriter RNs say “Preserve Our ET!”
We’re back at bargaining May 2nd and 3rd!
Management is working to take control over our ET. For more information, consult a bargaining team member or union representative, NOT your nurse manager! The bargaining team represents you, and your nurse manager represents management.
Here’s how management is trying to take away your ET: (more…)
04/15 – Latest News at UWHC
The Union Advocate is member-produced publication for and by our members at UW Hospitals & Clinics.
Click here to download a PDF version of the newsletter.
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What’s Happening at UWHCA: Censorship & Bullying — Management Attempts to Break CBA
Labor Management Meeting Updates: |
Interested in Attending Labor Management Meetings? Join your peers at the labor management meetings which are held the 2nd Tuesday of each month in the main hospital. For information contact Larry at the union office at 277-1199.
Management Must Respond to Notice of Risk Reports
Our union members continue to file Notice of Risk (NOR) to patient care forms when they face unsafe staffing levels on their units. At the March 12th Labor Management Meeting NORs were discussed from D4/4, D4/5, and F6/6.
D4/4: A float nurse who was assigned three other patients was also assigned to care for the abusive patient referenced in the adjoining article. Since one of the two NAs was sitting the abusive patient there was only 1 NA for the other 17 patients. On the NOR the nurse who filed the NOR wrote,” 1 NA on floor overwhelmed, unable to assist at times when needed. Conditions prevented me from teaching, charting, and performing at level of job description.” Of the 5 nurses on the unit three were 2.5 floats and only 2.5 were core. During the course of the shift the Attending, Intern, Psych CNS, Nurse Manager, and CTL attempted to help care for the abusive patient in bed 74. (more…)
Nurses and NAs Required to Care for Abusive Patient
Patient Care Suffers on D4/4
For 73 days, nurses and NAs on D4/4 provided care for the patient in bed 74. This patient was verbally abusive and would wander throughout the floor, often requiring staff to limit their care to other patients to ensure that he would not cause a disturbance. NA staff used to sit with this patient and as a result, on multiple occasions, there was only one NA to care for the remaining patients on the unit. In one Notice of Risk (described in another article), there was only one NA for the remaining 17 patients. In describing the work atmosphere on D4/4 a nurse stated “It always looked like the floor was short because we sat our own. We did not feel that supervisors provided the resources that the patient needed.”
Management had no solution to this problem. However, at the Labor Management Meeting, where this concern was discussed, our union nurses offered some simple, reasonable solutions, such as:
- Look at formulating a plan to provide care to a patient with psychological and behavioral needs.
- Provide more staff support and a plan to discharge and place the patient in a one room unit that would be safer for both the patient and the staff.
UW Hospital prides itself on providing excellent patient care. Nightly, we are inundated with glossy television commercials that remind us that UW is a prestigious hospital. Nurses on D4/4 and other units are starting to ask the question, ‘Is this the same UW where I work?’
Censorship and Bullying
Management Attempts to Break CBA Amid Promises of “Listening and Engaging”
During the week of March 11th, UWHCA management pulled down flyers posted by SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin. These flyers gave helpful information about the work of AFSCME, AFT, and SEIU in the 5,000 Strong campaign, a coordinated effort aimed at harnessing the strength of the more than 5,000 workers and employees of UWHCA who currently have union representation.
The flyer worked to dispel the mistruths of the FAQ circulating by management. It is now clear that their FAQ could not stand up to scrutiny or questioning since management tore down and censored our union’s rebuttal We plan to make it absolutely clear that this sort of bullying will not stand and demonstrates exactly why we need to maintain union representation. If management is willing to attempt to censor basic and lawful speech, we need the union more than ever. It certainly does not found like the “listening and engaging” that was promised in their FAQ.
The good news is that our current collective bargaining agreement (or CBA) has provisions to protect us. This sort of restriction in communication between the union as a whole and each individual the union represents is a violation of our CBA. In Article II, Section 6 of our CBA, it clearly states that our union bulletin boards are important to communication and protected.
Let there be no doubt that our union filed a grievance against this violation immediately. Management’s attempts to stand in the way of something they had agreed to (in the CBA) has only made it more abundantly clear that they have no interest in standing by what they promise without one.
Back at bargaining: Thursday, April 11th, Friday, April 12th & Monday, April 15th!
Management is working to take control over the things that matter most to us: Health Insurance, Short Term Disability, ET, and Job Security.
- You will use 11 days of ET before using Short Term Disability which will only cover 60% instead of 70%.
- ET maxes will decrease and we’ll accrue less ETso that we’re all working more for less compensation.
- ER visits will cost $250 just for walking through the door.
All of this will be implemented if Management has its way. As healthcare professionals, we deserve high-quality affordable healthcare. (more…)
