By Lisa Vernon-Sparks, The Providence Journal, R.I.
Jul. 24–NORTH PROVIDENCE — Beneath foreboding skies yesterday afternoon, nurses from Our Lady of Fatima Hospital and their union leadership marched with picket signs to protest recent contract negotiations, future benefits and what they say are unsafe staffing levels.
About 300 staff members and per-diem nurses at the Catholic hospital are represented by the United Nurses & Allied Professionals.
Talks have bogged down over staffing numbers during shifts, which union officials say are far below what is needed. The numbers are also not in sync with what the hospital has been reporting to the state Department of Health about staffing levels, according to union officials. The union says management has trimmed health and pension benefits in its proposed offer, which it says will hinder efforts to hire more nurses.
Negotiations began in May; the current agreement is set to expire midnight July 31.
“In the last 3 1/2 years, nurses have filed 400 unsafe staffing forms,” said Christopher Callaci, a field representative for the union. “The significance of that number [of complaints] should not be underestimated. These guys are out of touch.”
R. Otis Brown, a hospital vice president, said “Staffing is not a problem. We stand behind our care. There are no federal or state mandates,” he said. “We have to have flexibility in staffing because of our volume and acuity.”
Brown said the hospital has included 14 new registered nurse positions and 9 observational assistant positions to assist nurses in the monitoring of select patients. The hospital has 84 nurses in its per-diem float pool to provide flexibility in handling staff absences or increases in the number of patients, he said.
“We are anxious to get back to the bargaining table. Any issues that need to be addressed at all are better addressed at that setting than out here or in the newspaper, or on the radio,” he said.
Yesterday, a few dozen nurses, some family members and a former patient marched with signs that read: “Bad faith,” and “Where is the Bishop?” a reference to Bishop Thomas J. Tobin. They chanted, too, saying “More nurses.”
According to some unsafe-staffing forms filled out by supervisors, the patient-to-nurse ratio is higher than it should be. For example, a heart unit with 23 patients during an overnight shift should be staffed with four nurses, but was only staffed with two.
Lynn Blais, a registered nurse and the union’s local president, said the short-handed shifts have eroded morale.
“In my 24 years as a nurse, this has been the worse that I’ve ever seen. [Nurses] can’t understand why they won’t staff. They are worried that they are going to hurt a patient. They are worried about their licenses,” Blais said.
Members voted last week to authorize the union leadership to call a strike if needed. State law stipulates that the union must give the hospital a 10-day notice before a strike.
“A strike notice sets off a number of things. Nobody wins in a strike. We’ll do what have to reach a settlement,” Brown said.
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