By Felice J. Freyer, The Providence Journal, R.I.
Jul. 18–Nurses at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, in North Providence, voted Wednesday to authorize their union leaders to call a strike if they feel such a move is warranted.
But union and hospital officials, who have been negotiating since May, gave different assessments of the severity of the dispute.
“I can tell you we are miles apart,” said Christopher Callaci, field representative for the Fatima Hospital United Nurses & Allied Professionals, which represents about 300 staff and per-diem nurses.
The hospital, however, released a statement saying it remains “hopeful that a fair and equitable settlement can be reached prior to the July 31st expiration of the contract.”
A bargaining session is scheduled for next week and two more for the week after.
In meetings held throughout the day Wednesday, nurses voted 156 to 8 to authorize a strike. If union leaders do call a strike, state law requires that they give the hospital 10 days’ notice, a step that has not yet been taken.
Callaci said there are two major areas of disagreement: staffing levels and benefits. He said that the hospital frequently assigns fewer nurses than needed for safe health care, and that nurses had complained in writing of “unsafe staffing” more than 400 times in the past 3 1/2 years, with no response. He said that the hospital was also asking for cutbacks in retirement and vacation benefits, and that its wage proposal was not competitive.
Callaci said the union will hold informational picketing on Wednesday. Additionally, the union plans leafleting and radio ads “pounding that hospital in the community” for its staffing decisions. “It’s going to get pretty noisy over there from now forward,” he said.
“The hospital has always been committed to a safe staffing environment,” said Otis Brown, Fatima spokesman. Brown said that the hospital had recruited more than 60 nurses and brought the nurse vacancy rate to “well below the national average.” Additionally, he said, the union has never activated a provision in the current contract that allows it to bring staffing issues to a staffing committee.
Brown declined to discuss the other issues, saying they were best resolved at the bargaining table. The hospital’s statement expressed “disappointment” at the strike-authorization vote. “The hospital is hopeful that UNAP will realize that a strike is not in the best interests of the hospital’s patients and employees,” it said.
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