HPAE local 5089 UH Staffing, Rights to a Rep, and Mental Health Updates
We hope that your summer is going well. We are reaching out with important Union updates:
New Staffing Ratios and Short Staffing Forms
The Union-negotiated staffing ratios went into effect at the beginning of July. All medical-surgical units, are to be staffed at 1:5 nurse to patient ratio (excluding PCU). Since last year, we have been meeting with management to discuss short staffing in the monthly Staffing Committee, but we consistently don’t get enough short staffing forms to discuss short staffing hospital-wide. If your shift is short-staffed, please fill out the form below. Please make sure you provide the correct information regarding your unit, shift, and census.
You can also use the Short Staffing QR Code, which leads to the same form:
We strongly prefer that you fill out this online form as opposed to the paper form for data collection ease. Please do not fax the online form to us.
We are looking for more Staffing Committee volunteers who would represent their units in our meetings with management. Email [email protected] if you’d like to join the committee.
It was brought to our attention that there is a lot of misinformation out there with regards to the financial penalty that the hospital will pay if they short staff a unit. Please note that they penalty only comes into effect if the unit is short-staffed more than 50% of the time during a two-week pay period. In order to make that claim we have to have correctly filled out short staffing forms on file. Please also note that unplanned absences, or callouts, allow the hospital to not pay the penalty.
Weingarten Rights
We want to remind you that you have the right to Union Representation in any meeting that seems like it may lead to a discipline. This includes investigatory meetings and disciplinary meetings. While your supervisor may present the meeting as non-disciplinary, you have the right to a Union Rep if you feel like the meeting may end up becoming disciplinary or lead to a write-up or another form of discipline in the future. Additionally, if you are asked to provide a written statement, you should also ask to consult with a Union Rep. Please reach out to Anna Klebanowska at [email protected] or 640-466-86-32 or any of your colleagues who are Reps across the hospital if you need representation.
Mental Health Resources
We are hearing that a lot of our nurses are experiencing burn out or face other mental health struggles, which may be the result of combined stress at work and at home. If you need mental health support, please reach out to Marthe Leville from UH Cares For You at [email protected]
In solidarity,
Local 5089 Executive Board