| March 3, 2016
Meridian Nurses Protest Health Benefits Contract Violation
More than 800 Registered Nurses from Local 5058/Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Local 5138/Southern Ocean Medical Center have joined together in a class action grievance and mass petition that calls on Meridian Health to restore health benefits as they were negotiated, and to reimburse employees who incurred additional costs because of Meridian’s violation of the contracts. Yesterday, the nurses at each hospital brought copies of the petition to management.
Read more here.
Palisades Is Now Part of the Hackensack Health System
HackensackUMC Palisades, as it will now be known, has become a fully owned part of the system that includes the flagship Hackensack University Medical Center. Commenting on the merger, Local 5030 President Michele Burlington said “As a union of healthcare professionals we view this merger as an important opportunity to improve and expand services for our community, and to focus on excellence. Our union contract has enabled us to recruit and retain qualified staff, and it was essential to us that the merger acknowledge our workplace rights, safe staffing, job security and a voice in patient care.”
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President Twomey: 10 Ways to Protect Privatization Mistakes at Bergen Regional Medical Center
Over and over, privatization schemes in New Jersey have failed consumers, workers, and taxpayers alike, often raising costs and diminishing services for the public. It is particularly concerning when the costs can be in the lives of our most vulnerable, elderly and residents with mental illnesses. The lease of Bergen Pines, NJ’s largest hospital, to a private company nineteen years ago was a particularly egregious example of a lopsided contract that gave millions in profits to a private company with little accountability to the taxpayer.
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News of Interest for HPAE Members
Check out our compilation of articles this week about the health care industry, politics, and the labor movement, including major organizing victories for a Pennsylvania nurses union and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to review a case involving the state’s failure to fund New Jersey’s state pension plans.
Read more here.
This Week in U.S. Labor History
CIO president John L. Lewis and U.S. Steel President Myron Taylor sign a landmark contract in which the bitterly anti-union company officially recognized the CIO as sole negotiator for the company’s unionized workers. Included: the adoption of overtime pay, the 40-hour work week, and a big pay hike – March 1, 1937
Read about other important struggles and events in U.S. labor history which occurred from February 29 to March 6, provided by Union Communication Services (UCS).
Read more here.
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HPAE Retiree Medical Trust
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