Local 5058 Bargaining Update May 5, 2020

Yesterday was day 5 of negotiations.

In preparation for both parties’ proposals on wages, including a market rate adjustment, HMH is sending you a survey to gather your years of experience as an RN, including any international RN experience. HMH says that they don’t have records of this. We have reviewed the survey and encourage everyone to fill it out as soon as possible.

Yesterday, we made detailed proposals on staffing:

• Make the resource nurse position permanent at JSUMC and increase the numbers at both facilities
• More transport nurses at JSUMC
• Staffing ratios for every unit at both facilities
• Restrictions on the use of Agency staff

Meanwhile HMH proposed a 920 annual hourly cap for per diem nurses, while balking at our proposal that agency nurse contracts be limited to 36hrs a week. We have seen their hostility to per diem nurses before. HMH was not able to answer our questions last negotiations and ultimately withdrew the proposal. Let’s make sure that happens again.

Let your managers know what we want in these negotiations: We want well-staffed hospitals, including all the essential ancillary staff. We want nurses on their home units, not floated. We want a clear definition of a nurse’s responsibility, not obligating us to cover other job duties because the hospital isn’t staffed appropriately.  The Employer is pushing for us to exist in a constant state of crisis.  That’s unsafe for us workers and for our patients.