The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) recently decided to postpone a
strike authorization vote for Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) nurses until March
22, so that the union can better inform its members about the issues involved in
the dispute and potential strike. Union officials say that a campaign of
intimidation has been conducted by Berkshire Medical Center management and
nurses are afraid for their jobs.
Originally, the vote for whether or not to strike was scheduled to occur today.
Gerri Jakacky, co-chair of the bargaining committee, said the postponement was
due to intimidation of MNA members at BMC by hospital administrators. Although
she did not provide specific examples of this behavior, she said that nurses
were becoming afraid that their jobs were in jeopardy.
Union officials say the hospital administration has "called nurses away from
bedside duties to spread falsehoods, misinformation and outright lies in a naked
attempt to create fear and intimidate the members of the MNA bargaining unit."
The postponement would give the MNA, which represents about 600 nurses at BMC,
more time to provide alternative information to its members.
"We want to get the correct information to our members so that they have correct
information to vote on," Jakacky said.
BMC and the MNA have been in negotiations since talks began in July. In
February, a federal mediator was brought in to help arrange a new three-year
collective bargaining agreement. The two sides have met 16 times since July but
have not come to a conclusion. Vice President of Human Resources for Berkshire
Health Systems Arthur Milano said the hospital's offer was strong enough that he
felt it would have passed a membership vote but the union has instead voted for
a strike authorization. This the second time in a year that RNs in the county
have considered a strike to force management to make concessions. Last summer,
North Adams Regional Hospital nurses authorized a strike vote over scheduling
issues.
Disagreements have mounted over issues including health insurance coverage and
the phased elimination of four-hour premium pay for RNs working three 12-hour
weekly shifts a week.
Another contentious change is the elimination of the four-hour premium. As it
stands, nurses who work three 12-hour shifts a week get paid for 40 hours. This
practice was instituted because nurses don?t want to work 12-hour shifts, so
hospitals came up with the four-hour incentive. According to Milano, nurses will
have options to work four additional hours in the work week. The additional
hours will be removed after 15 months under the new contract and in the middle
of 2012, those nurses will receive a $5,000 bonus.
BMC's parent, Berkshire Health Systems, is offering incentives to use its
services but the union says there are penalties for employees seeking treatment
off-campus.
According to Milano, co-payments have been added for employees using other
hospitals for some procedures but the yearly premiums are actually lower. For
most procedures done in-house there will be no co-payment at all, he said.
"The onslaught from management was so pervasive and complete we decided we need
more time to counter the misinformation being put out by management," said
Jakacky in a statement. "We wish the administrators had put as much energy into
reaching a settlement as they have in trying to convince staff nurses the union
is wrong. We feel confident that after 10 days of reasoned discussions the RNs
will be better able to make an informed decision."
Diane Kelly, chief operating officer of Berkshire Health Systems, which operates
BMC, has been scarce. Berkshire Health Systems officials reported that they
wanted the nurses to vote because they are confident that the RNs oppose a
strike.