Hospital Workers

Federal Legislation Pending to Eliminate Mandatory Overtime

Companion bills, called the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act, have been introduced in the House of Representatives (HR 2122) and Senate (S. 1842). They would ban mandatory overtime for all hospitals receiving Medicare funding but also have a common sense approach that would permit the lifting of mandatory overtime limitations in the face of a formally declared emergency. 

Studies have routinely shown that the use of forced overtime endangers nurses and their patients. One--published in the July/August 2004 issue of Health Affairs-- found that nurses who worked shifts of 12.5 hours or more were three times more likely to commit an error than nurses who worked standard shifts of 8.5 hours or less.

In addition, exhausted and overworked nurses simply are not as alert as nurses working regular shifts, increasing the risk of medical errors. The Institute of Medicine has reported that medical errors in the nation’s hospitals cause between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths each year. Mandatory overtime puts patient care at risk, but it is also contributing to the growing nursing shortage as more and more exhausted nurses leave the bedside due to poor working conditions.

Federal laws and regulations place limits on overtime in the interest of public safety for airline pilots, truck drivers, and air traffic controllers. Critically ill patients also deserve protection. There should be no mandatory overtime for nurses.

HR 2122 was introduced by Reps. Pete Stark (D-CA) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH). Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts sponsor the Senate version.

Workers Deserve Better From Clinton Memorial

For months, SEIU Healthcare Michigan members at Clinton Memorial Hospital have been fighting to win a strong contract.

Management has tried to divide us, but we’re working hard, standing together and demanding our voices be heard.

Most recently, the employer rejected our proposal without offering a counter-proposal. But we’re refusing to accept their divisive tactics. We are determined to see our negotiations move forward and we put forth a second proposal that includes: Regular wage increases through 2010, more employee say in our health insurance along with lower costs and increased pay in shift differentials.

We’ve come a long way together and we’re proud to say that the strong contract we deserve is in sight and our bargaining team is confident that soon they will bring a contract back that we can all be proud of!

“We are so close. Winning the contract we deserve is just around the corner if we stay together,” Geraldine D’Hondt, admitting clerk. 

1,200 Adirondack Hospital Workers Win New Contract

Twelve hundred 1199SEIU members at Champlain Valley Physician's Hospital ratified a new three-year contract on May 1. For the first time, the deal includes the 1199 Pension Fund in place of the employer’s old defined benefit plan.

Also included in the agreement were annual wage increases of three percent, with the possibility of up to an extra half-of-a-percent the second and third years of the contract, based on the patient satisfaction scores the facility receives.

Workers will also receive a one percent bonus this year on top of the wage increase. Improvements were also made in on call pay, shift differential and bereavement leave. A brand new weekend differential was added as well.

The issue that dominated these negotiations was the pension. Long before negotiations began, the hospital management announced that it needed to discontinue the old single employer defined benefit pension plan. Management insisted the workers should accept the defined contribution plan that NYSNA had accepted a few months earlier. But the bargaining committee and the rest of the members at CVPH were just as determined that they wanted to end up with the 1199 Pension Plan, a secure pension benefit that would guarantee their future.

"This is a win-win for both the 1199 membership and for CVPH,” says Roger James, an 1199SEIU Delegate at the facility. “We are now able to provide a great pension benefit from SEIU to all our members and offer an affordable plan that would help the hospital financially as well as improving recruitment and retention of qualified individuals."