Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/117874
WRAP-UP REPORT Left: Sutter Health RNs and other healthcare activists rallied at the California Hospital Association's headquarters in Sacramento, spelling out their protest of corporate profits over patients; Below: San Antonio, Texas RNs with Rep. Lloyd Doggett and his wife Libby at a Women's Day march. Doggett has signed on in support of NNU's proposal for a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street. California registered nurses at six Tenet Healthcare hospitals in California approved a new four-year contract in March that protects health coverage for their families, wins improvements in patient care and nurses��� standards, and provides for important economic gains. The agreement affects 2,700 RNs at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, Los Alamitos Medical Center, San Ramon Regional Medical Center, Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, and Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton. Nurses were able to protect existing health coverage under which they will continue to pay no out-of-pocket costs for their premiums and no increases in co-pays or deductibles; win improvements such as contract language guaranteeing full compliance with California���s new law, sponsored by CNA, to assure safe patient life practices; and raises of 10.5 percent over the next three years, with an additional 3 percent retroactive increase for 2011. ���Tenet nurses are proud to hold up this agreement as an example of what we can accomplish together when we stay united,��� said Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center RN Sherri Stoddard, chair of the CNA Statewide Tenet RN Council. ���We are moving forward as a profession without sacrificing a single protection for our patients or our families.��� Pennsylvania while workplace violence has always been present in the work of nurses and other healthcare professionals, Pennsylvania nurses have noticed a significant increase over the 8 N AT I O N A L N U R S E last few years. In an attempt to gauge the reach of workplace violence in health facilities across Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals (PASNAP) teamed up with the Massachusetts Nurses Association to sponsor a CE conference on the subject in November 2010. The response was staggering: more than 200 nurses, members and those not yet unionized, from dozens of facilities across the state came together to speak out about what was happening to them while trying to care for their patients. District attorneys from several counties came and listened to shocking stories of how mentally ill, intoxicated, or merely frustrated patients and family members have punched, kicked, bitten, spit at, threatened or otherwise assaulted caregivers, changing their lives and often ending their careers. PASNAP reacted immediately, setting up W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G a Workplace Violence Task Force that would raise public awareness of the issue, hold hospitals accountable for security, and get laws passed to protect nurses at work. With MNA���s language as a model, PASNAP drafted a bill that would require hospitals to proactively develop and implement programs to prevent workplace violence. House Bill 1992 was introduced in November 2011 by state Rep. Nick Micozzie, a prounion Republican and cosponsor of PASNAP���s safe staffing bill. Since the introduction of HB 1992, PASNAP members have been working hard to win the support of legislators, successfully assembling a broad array of lawmakers to cosponsor the bill. While nurses expect the hospital industry to resist the anti-violence bill, they are hopeful to win passage by the conclusion of the legislative session. ���Staff report MARCH 2012