At Talks With University Team Today
Management Made the Same "Last, Best and Final Offer"
With a Staffing Proposal Now Calling for Six Patient Assignments for Nurses on Evenings
With Management’s Friday Deadline Looming
Parties Agree to Meet Tomorrow to Continue Process
Please Note: the 1:30 p.m. Open Meeting at Coral Seafood
Will be Canceled As the Committees Negotiate
The 6 p.m. Meeting is Still On But May Be Canceled If Negotiations are Progressing.
We Will Send Out an Email and Post on Facebook Tomorrow to Keep You Informed
The University campus negotiating team resumed negotiations with UMMMC management today, where management presented the same "last, best and final offer" they made to the Memorial/Hahnemann team, along with the same ultimatum that we agree to this offer by noon on Friday or we would be forced to accept a lesser offer at any date thereafter.
At the end of today’s session the parties agreed that both committees will negotiate tomorrow , with the Memorial team negotiating from 8 -12 and University negotiating from 1 – 5 at the DCU Center As a result, we will need to cancel the open membership meeting at Coral Seafood scheduled for 1:30 to allow the committees to negotiate. We are planning on holding the 6 p.m. meeting, however, if we are making progress at the negotiating table,, we may need to cancel that meeting as well. We will be sending out an email blast tomorrow afternoon if there is a change, and will post on the Facebook pages. We will be looking for your help in spreading the word about these changes tomorrow to make sure members get the word.
As we reported yesterday, on the key issue of staffing, we were shocked to see that it was actually worse than any other offer they had made. Their proposal not only maintains their call for six patient assignments for nurses on the night shift, it also opens the door for six patient assignments on evenings, and creates a five patient assignment as the standard of care on the day shift. This proposal would establish worse staffing standards than are currently in place.
Their proposal calls for salary increases of 1% across the board retroactive to Jan. 1, 2012, a 1.5% increase January 1, 2013 and 2% January 1, 2014. They improved their pension proposal to base pensionable earnings to include base rate of pay for actual hours paid per year, where before it was based on hours worked up to 40 hours per week. They are also proposing a two tiered system of health insurance and time off benefits that would divide the bargaining unit by forcing these cuts on new hires going forward. This is a concept we cannot accept.
They continue to reject our call for a single bargaining unit and for protection of our union rights in the event UMass expands services into new areas.
We continue to do everything possible to reach an agreement however we have also made clear that we must have all the protections that our nurses and patients deserve or we will be forced to strike on May 23rd.
New Open Meeting Scheduled
Thursday,May 16 at 6 pm (1:30 meeting canceled)
Pre-Strike Rally on Wednesday, May 22 at 6 pm
Coral Seafood Restaurant
225 Shrewsbury St.
For updates on negotiations and strike preperation
What You Can Do
In the meantime, we encourage all members to stand together and to show their solidarity for this cause by:
- We understand that managers are calling nurses into private meetings to ask if you intend to strike. While they have the right to ask you this question, they cannot do so in a coercive manner, they can’t ask you to sign anything indicating your position, and you have the right to demand a witness be present if you in any way feel that management is trying to intimidate you. When asked the question, we urge members to answer: "absolutely I plan to strike for safe staffing now."
- Wearing black and/or blue scrubs every Wednesday, what we are calling MNA Black and Blue Day, to show our solidarity as nurses stand up against management’s dangerous staffing practices and onerous contract proposals.
- Wearing your "UMMMC Nurses Stronger Together" and the new "I Will" Button every day.
- Contact your committee representative to sign up for the strike picket schedule. We are hopeful for a strong settlement with staffing protections, but we must continue to prepare for a strike if management refuses to agree to the protections we and our patients need.
- Staying informed by signing up for our email blasts, or by visiting and joining our "University Messenger" Facebook group page, located at: https://www.facebook.com/massnurses#!/groups/152126544939667/?fref=t or our "Memorial-Hahnemann Messenger Facebook group page, located at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/529295190425023/?fref=ts.
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