Our latest discussions with management centered on one of the highest priority issues for our members: the current abuse of mandatory overtime.
To illustrate how harmful the practice of mandatory overtime is, we presented management with data-backed research on the dangers of working beyond 12 hours and examples of laws across the country that make mandatory overtime illegal. Other states have laws that protect against disciplinary action or threats of patient abandonment when refusing to work beyond the end of your shift. To help solve the issue, we proposed breaking into subcommittees to work on resolving the differences in our proposals.
Management declined our offer, preferring to avoid addressing it as a problem or offering any real solutions.
Their proposal so far has been to substantially diminish protections against the abuse of mandatory overtime, and when asked how they could stop using mandation as a security blanket for staffing issues, they stated that they want “the contract language to match reality.”
The “reality” management wants us to face is continued abuse of mandation with even fewer restrictions than those in our current agreement.
Our group also worked on proposals for incentives that mirror “trigger language” from past contracts. This is one way to bring incentives to our members based on solid data that looks beyond management’s arbitrary determinations currently in place. Calculations for triggering short staffing incentives need to include over-appointment, time for
M-learnings, and on-call hours.
Coming up this week, we are excited to hear a multitude of short staffing examples from our frontline nurses, as requested by the management team. Additionally, we have been promised their much-needed proposal for Nurse Practitioner compensation.
Stay tuned for further updates and don’t forget to wear RED tomorrow to show your solidarity!