Norwich ? Coordinators of an attempt to
unionize the biggest employee group at The William W. Backus
Hospital publicized their movement Monday in a statement disseminated
to fellow hospital employees.
The statement declares that registered nurses are undertaking to
form a local affiliate of AFT Connecticut, the same union that
embodies RNs, LPNs, and other Lawrence & Memorial Hospital's
staff in New London and seven other hospitals in the state. The
statement was signed by sixteen Backus RNs.
The statement reads: "At Backus Hospital those of us
responsible for providing the care have seen respect steadily eroding
away."
Shawn Mawhiney, the hospital's spokesman, said Monday that Backus
thinks a union would be detrimental.
"We believe representation by a union is not necessary, and
not in the best interests of the hospital. We continue to communicate
fairly and honestly with staff," he said. "We are working
to preserve jobs and we believe we are one of the best places to work
in Eastern Connecticut."
He said, demand on all hospitals to function
more scrupulously means
even financially stable hospitals like Backus must go through
changes. The hospital's fiscal 2010 closed with an operating margin
of $12 million. The figure represents 4.5 percent of profits over
expenses, one of the strongest among the state's 30 hospitals.
Mawhines said, to keep up its financial strength Backus must be
proactive rather than reactive.
Three of the 16 RNs who signed the statement revealed the
organizing effort was started by the nurses several months ago, and
has widespread support. Eric Bailey, the union spokesman, claims he
believes the nearly 480 RNs at Backus will be voting on whether to
join the union later this year. The hospital boasts of its 1,800
employees housed at its main building, and several dozen more are
stationed at its satellite locations.
Undertakings by AFT to unionize the RNs concluded before a vote
started in 2007. The initial successful union vote at Backus came
about when nearly three dozen security officers, dispatchers,
switchboard operators, shuttle bus drivers, and traffic control
officers gave the go-ahead to join the International Union, Security,
Police & Fire Professionals of America in September.
The RNs admitted that the effort to unionize is due to increasing
frustration at decisions the senior management made that influence
how nurses execute their jobs, in addition to being given little or
no say in those decisions.
Gail Rogers, an operating room nurse at Backus for 20 years
revealed, "They quit asking for our input." This is the
reason why they are organizing, so they can have a say in their
community hospital and see it continue to thrive.
It was after David Whitehead was named president in April 2009
and made use of a consulting firm to bring forth cost-cutting
measures and changes in hospital procedures that the RNs dismay
started.
John Brady voiced out that it used to be a hospital that was also
a business, but now it's a business that happens to be a hospital.
The registered nurse in the Emergency Department for 17 years
explained to his managers that they were not the problem. It is the
senior management that he's having problems with.
Brady's feeling has been reverberated by LPNs since the
announcement made by Backus earlier this month that the jobs of 15
senior LPNs assigned in patient care areas would be abolished by the
end of the year. Though, their decision to organize started before
the LPN announcement, it was the announcement that reinforced it.
"It's wrong," added Brady, referring to the decision to
eliminate the LPN jobs. "They're great nurses. It's a good
example of how senior management doesn't understand health care."
Mawhiney refused to respond to nurses' comments regarding senior
management or specific staff members.
Wage and benefit concerns are not the reason of their organizing
efforts, according to the nurses. However the hospital, "has to
pay enough and offer good enough benefits to attract and keep good
people," Brady added.
Here are the following examples of the kinds of changes the nurses
say have motivated them.
-
A newly introduced routine of bringing patients back to their
original hospital unit after surgery, instead of keeping them in the
recovery room. Hunter explained recovering patients need to be
within distance of the stores of emergency medications in the
recovery room and the nurses with specialized training and
experience to detect and respond to indications of danger after
surgery.
-
In spite of nurses' complaints, a new type of IV catheter is
being utilized. Nurses say insertion is more exacting and more
agonizing for patients.
-
Little or no notice given when policies on use of sick time
and other employment issues are changed.
-
The new practice of assigning nurses from a general nurse
pool to staff specialized departments such as oncology or
orthopedics, rather than exclusively retaining staffs of nurses with
specialized training.
Nurses already expect the hospital will boldly attempt to convince
their co-workers not to support the union, just like it did in 2007.
A wall of an office leased by the union is dedicated to dozens of
memos sent by the hospital to employees with the subject of them
rejecting the union.