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NewsBriefs_OCT 2/9/12 5:30 PM Page 8 NEWS BRIEFS Massachusetts nearly 100 registered nurses organized by the Massachusetts Nurses Association packed a state Joint Committee on Healthcare Finance hearing Jan. 25 to testify in support of two bills, HB 1469 and SB 543, that would call on the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to establish safe limits, or ratios, on the number of patients an RN can be forced to care for at a time. MNA RNs and other healthcare advocates have been pushing adoption of ratios for more than a decade and this most recent hearing raises hopes that one may finally be passed this year. Some legislators, a number of them registered nurses, showed support for the bills. Nurse after nurse spoke at the hearing about how they could not California CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OAKLAND NURSES SETTLE CONTRACT children's hospital of oakland nurses on Dec. 21 ratified a new contract expiring in 2015 which they believe will improve staffing, including language ensuring that a charge nurse without patient assignments will be on every shift, and allowing greater flexibility in break relief based on professional RN judgment. "It was a hard fight," said Martha Kuhl, a 30-year Children's RN and bargaining team leader, referring to the three strikes the RNs waged over a 20month negotiating period. "We didn't win everything we wanted, but the employer knows that we're willing to stand up for our patients and our rights. Thanks to my coworkers who remained unified in this struggle; we are now engaged in the ongoing fight for better patient care." ST. JOSEPH RNS WIN $12 MILLION LAWSUIT nurses at st. joseph's hospital of Orange recently won an award of $12 million stemming from a lawsuit over the hospital's attempts from December 2001 to June 2009 to circumvent paying overtime wages to which the RNs were entitled to under a new state law. Instead, the hospital lowered their nurses' base pay by 15 percent to offset the new law. The lawsuit affected 2,717 nurses. "For me, this was about much more than just money," said Mary Oberschlake, an RN who was one of the plaintiffs and donated her award money to the California Nursing Foun- 8 N AT I O N A L N U R S E From top: Orange County RN Mary Oberschlake donates a chunk of her award from a successful overtime lawsuit against her hospital; Texas RNs met in Houston to strategize about staffing ratios. dation to create scholarship program for Orange County RNs. "It's about upholding the law, protecting employee rights, and working to provide scholarship opportunities for nursing students in need from our community." MARIN GENERAL RNS WIN NEW CONTRACT after a concerted organizing effort resulting in unprecedented RN involvement, including record numbers voting to go on strike if needed, the nurses at Marin General Hospital in December won a new three-year contract that gave up no concessions and achieved new standards that RNs say will improve patient care, help protect patients and nurses, and keep experienced RNs at the bedside. Management pulled demands to weaken healthcare and retirement benefits after the nurses' strike vote. The contract grants across-the-board 3 percent raises each year, a bigger say in ensuring adequate staffing, and new protocols protecting against workplace violence. 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 adequately care for their patients given their high patient loads and that it was high time to enact such a law. "We continue to have a disturbing crisis in Massachusetts," said Donna Kelly-Williams, RN and MNA president. "Registered nurses are being forced to care for too many patients at one time." Texas it was the first meeting of the new year for Texas nurses as they met in Houston on Jan. 27. Nurses from Corpus Christi, Austin, the Rio Grande Valley, El Paso, Houston, and even Snook attended. A full day of discussion centered on NNOC-Texas political work as nurses prepare for the 2013 legislative session to reintroduce the Texas Hospital Patient Protection Act of 2013, a bill that would establish safe nurse-to-patient ratios, real protection for whistle-blower RNs, among other nursing rights and standards. —Staff report DECEMBER 2011