Letter from a nurse at Providence St. Vincent: “Myself and many of my colleagues will be voting no on June 20th”
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The Entire world Socialist Website Internet site obtained the adhering to letter from a nurse at the Providence St. Vincent Professional medical Centre outside the house of Portland, Oregon. The hospital’s 1,600 nurses have been doing work without a contract for 6 months towards demands by administration to settle for minimal pay out, continuing staffing shortages, a deficiency of hazard spend and insultingly lower benefits.
The Oregon Nurses Affiliation (ONA) has worked time beyond regulation in an try to drive via a sellout deal. The union declared a tentative arrangement on June 4 that accepts the primary needs of the enterprise, together with wage raises decrease than inflation, no retroactive shell out, very little to no more paid out time off, and lessened positive aspects. The tentative agreement brought to nurses by the ONA also does not address the hospital’s staffing crisis.
The letter expresses the outrage of nurses at both of those management and the union for presenting the sellout arrangement to the membership. It also will make apparent that the only genuine way ahead is by way of the development of a Providence Nurses Rank-and-File Committee to elaborate needs for a strike, these as steep wage will increase, mandated written requirements for harmless staffing ratios, advancements to office conditions this sort of as certain breaks, enough compensated time off and retroactive fork out.
We invite other nurses at Providence St. Vincent and throughout the region to generate to us about the conditions they encounter as a result of the ongoing social crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Providence St. Vincent tentative agreement is horrible. In 20 several years of contracts at St. Vincent, retroactive pay back has constantly been bundled in the deal. It was not bundled in the tentative settlement. As an alternative, they provided a measly bonus that will be closely taxed and then divided it up into two components in hopes that the nurses won’t all get the reward and promptly give up, really should this poor agreement be ratified.
Soon after above a 12 months of advantage signaling about variety and fairness and how it was so critical to Providence that they last but not least recognize Martin Luther King Day as an official vacation, it’s not even stated in the tentative agreement as an official acknowledged holiday (Article VI, section A). MLK Working day is a footnote stating that if you do the job that day, you get paid time and a fifty percent, but if that happens to be your normal working day off, you never get the accompanying use of a holiday break to benefit from 30 days just before or immediately after the getaway. It’s just about like Providence does not actually consider it a genuine getaway.
In Report XIV–Professional Advancement, portion D, the union fought to get nurses money for continuing education functions. The tentative agreement now exhibits the addition that we will only be reimbursed income “in accordance with organizational specifications for enterprise journey.” These organizational criteria for enterprise vacation are included in Policy Stat ID #8684883, and are intended for govt business journey on behalf of Providence. They involve requirements for use of a particular travel web-site and software for and use of the Providence American Specific card for all fees.
Not a one employees nurse has ever been asked to employ this plan prior to Chief Nursing Officer Tina Mammone demanded it whilst heading by way of deal negotiations at the end of last calendar year. The language in this part now expressly forbids finding reimbursement for breakfast, lunch or dinner for any distant class perform accomplished mainly because we should really have meals at residence and need to not have a need to have to order out. Providence truly just wants to pinch pennies and limit us on how a great deal reimbursement we can choose so that they can keep producing money.
There is no language in the contract that incorporates education time for all nurses on how to follow this business travel plan. Providence won’t agree to improve the accrual premiums for Paid Time Off/Holiday vacation time. They want to pawn off a solitary PTO/Getaway dump of 20 hrs as fantastic plenty of when Oregon Health and fitness & Science University (OHSU) and Kaiser Permanente present larger accrual rates. The wage raises proposed would nevertheless go away many nurses underneath fees of OHSU and Kaiser contracts.
Providence even now doesn’t understand or pay back an greater wage for these registered nurses who have a bachelor’s degree. OHSU pays those with greater levels far more for each hour, and Legacy Wellness provides a 12 months-conclusion bonus for people with increased levels based mostly on how quite a few several hours they worked through the year. The tentative settlement does not address health and fitness treatment costs, reduce deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. In simple fact, the tentative agreement specially states that Providence can elevate our well being insurance coverage premiums by close to 7 per cent in 2023 and by 8 p.c in 2024.
General, I and a lot of of my colleagues will be voting no on June 20th.
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