May 29, 2013
Dear CHA MNA Member:
The Chairs at the three CHA hospitals recently began discussions with senior CHA management on their plans to re-organize the Peri-Operative areas of the respective hospitals. On May 14, we received a detailed proposal from CHA on the reconfigured Peri-Op areas with new schedules, start times and job responsibilities complete with nurses’ names.
CHA claims that this is necessary because the surgeons’ schedules are changing, that there is too much non-productive time in the OR and because their financial situation requires it.
While this may or may not be a necessary step, the problem with their proposal is that there are many senior nurses whose schedules will change, whose hours are reduced or whose length of shifts change. One of the biggest problems with their proposal is that they want to be able to move nurses from one hospital to another. When we pointed these issues out to management and requested that they give us a revised proposal that addresses our issues, they refused.
We simply asked for a procedure that is in compliance with the contract in which seniority is honored and, if nurses are to be impacted, it be done on the basis of seniority. We also asked that the Voluntary Resignation Program be completed before they begin to impact nurses’ jobs. Again, they refused. Their alternative to this proposal is a layoff in the Peri-Operative areas. We expect that as many as fifty nurses in all three facilities might receive layoff notices, but it is likely that only a small number of nurses will see their hours reduced or be laid off. We continue to believe, however, that this is an unnecessary step. We even suggested that they seek volunteers to reduce their hours. They were not interested in that either.
The hospitals want to proceed to have the process completed by July 1. The next step is for MNA Representatives to meet with management to get lists of vacant positions, get updated seniority lists for each facility, job descriptions, etc. According to the MNA contract, there can be no layoffs for the next three weeks. It is clear though, that management intends to complete this by July 1.
In the interim, if you have questions or would like more information, please contact a Chairperson at your facility or contact Tom Breslin at the MNA office at 781 830 5749. Thank you for your support and we will continue to keep you informed.
In Unity,
Betty Kaloustian (Cambridge) Diane Roberto (Somerville) Gail Middleton, (Whidden)
Donna Mondeau (Cambridge) Lisa Valley-Shah (Somerville) Carla Cerrato, (Whidden)
