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Nurse/Patient Ratios Enforcement Campaign
NYPNU and management met on Friday, May 20th to review the actual staffing levels by unit for the 1st quarter of 2005. Thanks to those of you who diligently filled out the monthly staffing forms, NYPNU was able to compile data for most units. Management, on the other hand, did not have their data ready. They claimed that their data files were so huge that they caused the computer to crash. To date, management has not provided the contractually required data, and no follow-up meeting has been scheduled. If the staffing information is not provided shortly, the Union will file a class action grievance on management’s failure to comply with the contractual reporting requirements.
The data that staff nurses provided to NYPNU reveal that the staffing violations on some units were particularly horrendous. In January, for instance, the nurse/patient ratio on 4 Wollman was violated on 48% of day shifts and 71% of night shifts. As reported in the last Update, NYPNU has already filed a class action grievance on behalf of 4 Wollman nurses.
Grievances and Unit Issues
Management has failed to schedule several class action grievances in violation of the contractual grievance procedure: 1) 4 Wollman understaffing 2) ER understaffing and mandatory overtime 3) denial of conference fee reimbursement to RNs who voluntarily attend ACLS certification courses, 4) the denial of layoff and bumping rights to MICU/SICU nurses and the de facto reclassification of these nurses as float pool RNs. The delegates voted to take each of these unscheduled grievances to arbitration.
For the past year, MICU and SICU have been combined on one unit resulting in excessive floating. In response to a petition from MICU and SICU staff RNs, management agreed to freeze the hiring of ICU nurses until MICU and SICU once again become separate units.
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An arbitration over mandatory overtime in the EPS Lab was scheduled for June 7th. NYPNU agreed to postpone this arbitration after management committed to hire 3 additional FTEs and allow all incumbent RNs to convert to 11.5 hour shifts.
The arbitration over management’s failure to provide monitor RNs on telemetry units has been scheduled for October 11th.
Manager Evaluations
NYPNU mailed manager evaluation forms to all members earlier this month, and there has been a strong response. Rest assured that management will not see any of the original evaluations. For each manager, the comments will be typed up and the grades in each category will be averaged. Please submit evaluations to the NYPNU office by June 30th. If you did not receive an evaluation, please call the NYPNU office at (212) 988-5565.
Radiation Safety
In response to OR nurses’ concerns about radiation safety, NYPNU submitted an information request on the radiographical testing of lead aprons. We were informed in writing that the hospital Radiology Department conducts a Lead Protection Survey and Integrity Inspection every six months. Protective gear is flouroscoped as well as visually inspected on nights or weekends when usage is low. The results are recorded in a log, which is available to NYPNU for inspection. Management noted that lead aprons that are kept in employee lockers cannot be tested. To ensure that your protective gear is tested, please do not remove it from circulation.
Political Action
The Political Action Committee continues to meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 2:00pm. All NYPNU members are welcome to attend. NYPNU sent a letter to Senator Liz Krueger asking her to help amend the nurse/patient ratio disclosure bill in the State Senate to require the public posting of unit-based ratios on individual hospital units. Edna Igoe agreed to be NYPNU’s representative on the Working Families Party Manhattan Chapter Steering Committee.
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