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Unwarranted Cuts Underscore Call for Safer Staffing Levels
As of April 9th the layoff and bumping has been completed on both UMMMC campuses. Areas affected on the University campus by RN position cuts include: Cardiac Cath , EP, Cardiac Stepdown, Lakeside 3 ICU, GI clinic, as well as the PICU and 5 East.
On the Memorial campus there were RN cuts in Maternity, NICU, ICU, and on various of the Med/Surg floors.
While there were initially 24 nurses affected on the Memorial campus and 15 nurses affected on the University campus, due to bumps that occurred the number of nurses affected doubled on both campuses. The process was complicated further because there were fewer MNA position vacancies available for affected nurses then we have seen in recent years. Impacted nurses had the option to: take a layoff, a vacancy or they could elect to bump into another position. There were also a small number of nurses that requested voluntary layoffs which provided desirable job options for other affected nurses and there were instances of nurses donating hours to other nurses preventing layoffs.
The process was difficult as it always is. We are sorry for those nurses who lost their job by this callous action. We remind members that this was management’s decision and we think it was a bad decision that will leave those units and departments short staffed and ill equipped to safely care for patients.
We will be moving forward in the next few weeks, dealing with the fallout of these cuts, with fewer nurses and support staff in these units as well as changes in the hours of operation in a few areas. We are wary that management will push nurses beyond safe limits and we are concerned that nurses will be forced to stay late to care for patients in areas affected by changes in hours.. Advocating for adequate staff to safely care for our patients is a responsibility we all must share. Please take the time to fill out and submit unsafe staffing reports whenever you feel you have been given a patient assignment that compromises your ability to deliver appropriate care to your patients.. We meet and review all unsafe staffing reports with nursing leadership on a regular basis..
We also will be making staffing and working conditions a central focus of our union contract negotiations, first, because staffing was one of the top three concerns voiced by our membership in member contract surveys; and specifically in light of management’s efforts to slash staffing levels in the last two months.
Remember Staffing Cuts Don’t Heal!
We Need to Stand Up For Our Patients and Our Practice
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