GREENFIELD, Mass., Oct. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A
Community Town Hall on Wednesday night will feature registered
nurses from Baystate Franklin Medical Center sharing their concerns
about patient safety at the hospital and community members asking
questions and discussing their experiences at BFMC.
What: A Community Town Hall, sponsored by Franklin County
Continuing the Political Revolution, Hampshire/Franklin County Central Labor
Council and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
When: Wednesday, Oct. 25
from 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: St. James Parish Hall at 8 Church St. in
Greenfield.
"As we keep up our fight for safe patient care and a fair
contract, it is more important than ever that the community hears
directly from its local nurses," said Donna
Stern, RN and Senior Co-Chair of the BFMC MNA Bargaining
Committee. "This event will give everyone a chance to learn about
our specific patient care concerns and discuss the solutions nurses
have proposed during negotiations."
Bargaining Background
BFMC nurses held a one-day strike on June
26, 2017 after voting by a 93% margin to authorize the
strike. The nurses were preemptively locked out of the hospital by
Baystate management, who kept the RNs from caring for their
patients the evening before the strike. The lockout lasted for two
days following the strike and involved Baystate spending $1 million
to hire replacement nurses from outside the community instead of
allowing BFMC nurses to care for their patients once the strike
concluded.
Following the strike, Baystate gave its "best and final" to BFMC
nurses on July 21. That day BFMC
nurses spent hours revising proposals, including on their key issue
of improving nurse workload and staffing to protect patient care. A
few minutes after providing management with their revised proposal,
they flatly rejected it and gave nurses a pre-printed "best and
final offer."
BFMC nurses voted to reject that offer on August 15. The MNA has
filed more than 20 unfair labor practice charges against Baystate
on behalf of BFMC nurses for, among other reasons, failing to
bargain in good faith over mandatory subjects of bargaining such as
nurse workload and health insurance.
"Baystate has been refusing to bargain over our core issues of
safe nurse staffing, workload and health insurance," Stern said.
"We are trying hard to negotiate a fair contract that protects
patients and ensures quality of life and working conditions."
BFMC nurses began negotiating for a new contract in November 2016 to replace the contract that
expired Dec. 31, 2016. A federal
mediator is involved in negotiations.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the
largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members
advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of
nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of
nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view
of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies
on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association