We met with management on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. We offered to meet tomorrow and Friday as well, but management refused. We plan to continue negotiations next week.
Key issues remain unresolved at the table. Here are a few:
We still are not convinced that management’s proposal will end mandatory overtime. We have concerns that they might just be creating a new form of mandatory overtime through their “continuation of care” language.
Management wants to strip APRNs of their right to grieve discipline handed down through the “Medical Staff Bylaws.” This is a clear attempt to continue union busting by eliminating a core principle of union protection.
Management still refuses to bargain over our workload ratios, something that we know vitally impacts the working conditions and safety of nurses every day. Additionally, we know that these ratios also impact the safety of our patients.
We need clear consequences for when management ignores the needs of units and nurses are forced to suffer short staffing. As a team, we proposed reinstating trigger pay as a way of achieving this goal. Management rejected our proposal but has not brought any other ideas forward that would be as effective.
Management still is pursuing a more punitive attendance policy. We have tried to approach them with other ideas (including walking them through an entirely different process) without reaching an agreement. They want punishment, not problem solving. After years of a pandemic, it is unacceptable for the University to try to blame short staffing on attendance rather than their own decision making.
Wages are not in alignment with our members' priorities and do not take inflation into account.
While we remain apart on these important issues, we have been able to reach a number of areas of agreement on non-economic issues including time for bereavement for non-family members and bulletin board use. We hope that the University will also be willing to embrace a spirit of collaboration when it comes to being willing to give nurses the resources we need and deserve.
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