UPDATE: Unsafe Staffing Grievance Denied by Management
Only after months of meetings and conversations with Management regarding unsafe staffing, the SEIU leadership team filed second step grievances (#08-007 and #08-008) for S&T and RN units on April 28th. Due to the Memorial Day holiday, both parties agreed to a short extension for Management's response.
On June 4th, the grievance was unilaterally denied. It was signed by Sue Harris, Chief Nursing Officer, who heard the grievance along with Carolyn Shipley.
The following are highlights and excerpts from Management's response to the grievance:
|
The Union leaders spent a significant amount of time during the hearing addressing scheduling challenges faced by MMC during the month of February, 2008. The Hospital hasn't denied the fact that February was a difficult month. In fact, there were shifts where staffing did not meet leadership's expectations. MMC staff, as well as our managers and directors, often went above and beyond to help meet the needs of our patients. This administrative decision was made at a time when MMC is aggressively seeking increased patient volume. This decision also had the potential to negatively impact our physicians. In March, members of MMC administration personally visited various shifts to express leadership's appreciation of all the teamwork exhibited by our caregivers and support staff during the month of February. We have discussed MMC's staffing challenges in Classification Committee (Feb. 20), the J.E.C. (Mar. 17), and now in the grievance setting (May 12). I have personally outlined strategies that we are currently evaluating to address staffing needs in each of these previous meetings. In addition to these strategies, MMC:
- Created 10 new "transitional positions" for grad nurses in an attempt to have nurses trained and better oriented when actual RN vacancies occur.
- Added 6 new externs at MMC with plans to recruit the best upon their respective graduation.
- Participated in several months of $4000/$2000 sign-on bonuses for RN positions at MMC for FT/PT respectively.
- Engaged in dialogue with Covenant staffing to have more access to agency nurses in times of staffing needs. However, I'm confident you will recall in the past, the Union has repeatedly asked that Management eliminate utilization of agency nurses as much as possible in an attempt to save money and give MMC nurses the opportunity to pick up extra shifts and overtime.
In our previous meetings, it seems to me the Union's expected response was for MMC to guarantee we would always have the exact number of staff requested. While MMC and SEIU at times may disagree, I believe we share the common goal of wanting to meet our patients' needs. Based on SEIU's own information, MMC did meet all contractual staffing requirements 96.5% of the time. In today's healthcare climate, I believe this is phenomenal. Realizing healthcare is changing, I remain open to discuss alternative staffing models. I disagree MMC has violated our Labor Agreement with respect to the Articles cited. This grievance is denied.
- Susan Harris RN, MSN, CNAA, BC |