overtime to be the most volatile
of issues.
Nurses at Rhode Island Hospital have scored several points in negotiations under binding arbitration, but mandatory overtime remains the key bottleneck between union and hospital officials.
Rick Brooks, director and negotiator for the United Nurses & Allied Professionals, the largest health care union in Rhode Island representing nurses and professional technicians at Rhode Island hospital, said there have been about seven negotiating sessions since contract arbitration began in November.
The sessions are held at Audrey’s, a Johnson & Wales facility in Seekonk, Mass. and led by professional arbitrator Larry Katz, a Newton, Mass. lawyer whose background is in labor relations.
Of the approximately 15 issues that were originally under dispute “10 or 12 have actually been settled” and have been implemented immediately into the union contract.
The mood at the sessions so far has “been fairly cordial,” Brooks said, although they’ve yet to address the “hot button” issue of mandatory overtime.
Issues that have been settled have been “very minor,” including tuition reimbursement improvements, severance benefits for laid-off employees and the establishment of staffing and quality review committees composed of employees and managers.
“The only one of any significance is mandatory overtime,” Brooks said. “Clearly that will be the biggest challenge.”
So far, only one meeting has focussed on mandatory overtime and Brooks predicted they’ll need at least a half dozen more before it’s finally resolved. There is no time limit on binding arbitration, and the next arbitration hearing is set for Thursday, Feb. 8.
R.I. Hospital President Joseph F. Amaral called for a professional arbitrator after months of labor battles over overtime, wage and health benefits prompted a majority of the union’s 1,700 workers at Rhode Island Hospital to strike on July 1.
Under arbitration, both sides present their final, best offer on each contract provision and leave it to the arbitrator to choose — meanwhile, both sides are still bound by the old contract and “both the hospital and the union are free to agree” at any time to negotiate an issue out of arbitration.
Rhode Island Hospital spokesperson Linda Shelton agreed last week that “negotiating a settlement is preferable,” but that “arbitration is proceeding” with a number of sessions scheduled through March. On the bright side, she said, “we’ve been very pleased we’ve been able to negotiate a wage package” with the union.
In September, hospital officials asked to reopen talks on wages, Brooks said, a move that followed the union’s request in August that the Department of Health restrict admissions to Rhode Island Hospital, the state’s largest, because if what the union contended was inadequate care.
At the time, the hospital had more than 100 bargaining units or professional staff vacancies “and people were leaving faster than they were able to hire them,” Brooks said. (The health department report released in December did cite the hospitals for such issues, the most glaring a higher incidence of bed sores because of patients not being turned frequently enough, and patients leaving the hospital without proper discharge plans.)
Hospital officials agreed in September to “significant wage adjustments” for nurses, respiratory therapists and lab and radiology technicians, increases that were significantly better than anything the hospital had been willing to offer previously, Brooks said, but “they were under significant pressure.”
Hiring rates and wages for current employees were increased and an annual longevity step increase was approved, resulting in an annual across-the-board increase of between 12 and 42 percent, Brooks said. “Nobody got less than 4 percent a year,” he said, and “some as much as 35 to 40 percent.”
Other economic issues were also resolved in September, including an agreement by the hospital that workers’ health benefits couldn’t be replaced with inferior plans to save money. A current full-time worker contributes 15 percent to the health insurance premium, Brooks said.
Meanwhile this winter, Brooks said, as union talks roll on, “there has been significantly less mandatory overtime” at Rhode Island Hospital, a fact the union attributes to increased public scrutiny on the hospital to find other staffing alternatives.
This winter the hospital has hired more than 90 agency or “travel nurses,” from down South and the Midwest and is paying them “top dollar,” Brooks said, citing estimates that agencies are paid “in the neighborhood of $40 an hour.”
Although it’s definitely a help, Brooks said the transition to travel nurses is “not seamless,” since temporary nurses don’t know the hospital or the way things are done there. “There’s a learning curve. A travel nurse is not as experienced” as a Rhode Island Hospital nurse, Brooks said, adding that travel nurses are being used throughout the hospital, including the trauma center. Temporary nurses currently represent about 9 percent of the hospital’s nursing staff.
The hospital also dealt with staffing shortages by recently negotiating “temporary premiums” of an additional half time for workers who pick up hours. Brooks said these measures are short-term incentives that will run through March 31.
In the long run, he said, the union will push for legislation this session, to be introduced by Rep. Rene M. Menard from Manville and Sen. Catherine Graziano from Providence, that would curtail mandatory overtime and prevent hospitals from requiring more than 12-hour shifts. He said this is in addition to arbitration issues and is a proper use of government intervention because “public safety is involved.”
“Unlike your traditional free market” where it’s buyer, beware, in health care people aren’t “free to pick who’s cutting corners.”
