St. Michael Medical Center (RN) - Management is out of touch with reality
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“Management has failed to seriously address any of our concerns, proving that serious action will be required to win a fair contract.”
-Bargaining Team: Brett Moore, Cindy Franck, Kimberly Fraser McMillan, Michael Nord, Tammy Olson, and Janice Jones.
Our Bargaining Team met with Management again on February 15, continuing contract negotiations for nurses at St. Michael Medical Center.
Management finally provided our Bargaining Team with a counter to most of our proposals, but it was not worth the wait. As you’ll see with some of our proposals below, the general theme of their proposal was “NO.”
Union Proposal : Safe Staffing Standards
Management Response: REJECTUnion Proposal :Staffing Committee Improvements
Management Response: REJECT, countered with more Management control over committees.Union Proposal :Financial Penalty for Cancelled Committee Meetings
Management Response: REJECT, countered by offering to have a meeting about canceled meetings.Union Proposal :Instant Use of Extended Illness Bank (EIB)
Management Response: REJECTUnion Proposal: Low Census Standby Improvements
Management Response: REJECTUnion Proposal: Better Union Representative Access to Hospital
Management Response: REJECT, countered with more restrictions to union access.Union Proposal: Charge Nurse Improvements
Management Response: REJECTUnion Proposal: Increased Per Diem Protection from Discipline
Management Response: REJECTUnion Proposal: 14 Day Resignation Notice
Management Response: 28 Day Resignation Notice
Management’s response to our safe staffing standards proposal was “[we] reject staffing ratios in its entirety.” They even had the audacity to demand more authority over our staffing committee, which they have been working to undermine for years in an attempt to take our voices out of the conversation about safe staffing.
Your Bargaining Team was infuriated by their behavior, directly confronting management during joint session by declaring they are ignorant and completely out of touch with the reality. During this heated exchange, management followed up with their concerns that the Union seems to have looked at every corner of the contract and just tore it apart, nearly re-writing the contract.
They’re right! The status quo is not working, and radical change is necessary if we are going get St. Michael Medical Center out the crisis we’re facing today. We’ve combed through our contract and proposed many solutions to our problems. All we ask is that Management work with us to create a safer medical center for both nurses and our patients but apparently that’s too much ask. With that becoming increasingly clear, we’re going to have to explore alternative methods to force them to listen.
We are scheduled to meet with Management again on February 23 with additional dates scheduled through April. We hope Management will have responses to our other proposals ready when we meet again next week.
You’re Invited! Attend our next Contract Action Team (CAT) meeting to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure Mangement, and learn how to get your co-workers involved.
Wednesday, March 9
10 AM
Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep for Zoom meeting details.
