National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:October 2007 11/16/07 3:20 PM Page 8 NewsBriefs Make Room in Budget for Public Health, Illinois Nurses Say he fight to save Cook County's public health system reignited with the October release of the county's 2008 budget. Board President Todd Stroger unleashed a public furor by proposing significant tax increases to fund a system considered mismanaged and corrupt. While Stroger claimed his tax increase was needed to rebuild the healthcare system, CNA/NNOC's analysis quickly revealed that his budget ignores the nurse staffing crisis at the Cook County Bureau of Health Services. Over the past five years, bureau-wide nurse staffing has been reduced by 266 positions—a 15 percent reduction—while the county's clinic network has experienced a 32 percent cut. Stroger's budget actually rejects 109 of the 136 nurse positions requested by medical departments and further cuts nurse staffing in the primary care clinics. Nurses quickly mobilized to testify at public budget hearings, keeping attention focused on the healthcare crisis at CCBHS. Batu Shakari, chair of the bureau's stewards committee, unveiled CNA/NNOC's "patients' budget" at the latest hearing as an alternative to the president's political budget. Shakari observed, "When I think of the mission of the Bureau of Health Services—to provide healthcare with dignity and respect regardless of a patient's ability to pay—I am reminded of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane.'" CNA/NNOC's patients' budget consists of two components. The first component is a budget amendment which honors department requests to rebuild the bureau's primary care mission through the restoration of nursing positions. The second component reiterates CNA/ NNOC's call for a temporary trusteeship of the bureau. CNA/NNOC's work as a founding member of the Emergency Network to Save Cook County Health Services has brought unprecedented pressure to reform the bureau's governance. The network's call to temporarily trustee the bureau has been endorsed by all three major Chicago newspapers, and leading Democratic legislators in T Illinois are backing the network's position. Two days after the budget hearings ended, CNA/NNOC held a vigil at Fantus clinic, the county's largest primary care clinic which has been hit hard by the 2007 cuts. More than 50 nurses, patients, and community activists listened as ministers, nurse leaders, and county commissioners ILLINOIS 8 REGISTERED NURSE spoke of the need to enact CNA/NNOC's patient budget. County Commissioner Larry Suffredin announced his budget amendment to restore the 109 RN positions cut by Stroger. CNA/NNOC will continue its mobilization to enact its patients' budget. The fight will surely intensify as Stroger tries to force support for his tax increase by threatening further healthcare cuts.—frank borgers MAINE NURSES CONTINUE TO ROLL OUT IMPROVED CONTRACTS fter last month's spectacular bargaining victory at Eastern Maine Medical Center, nurses in Maine have followed up with an exemplary contract ratified on Nov. 5 at Houlton Regional Hospital. The win of several landmark provisions at EMMC, Maine's largest hospital and the largest employer in the Bangor area, established a solid precedent in negotiating with other employers throughout the state and will be largely influential in current and future negotiations. Houlton continues this pattern with a sweeping series of radical reforms meant to improve nurses' livelihoods and the safety of their patients. Houlton RNs won protection against reclassification and removal from bargaining units; assurances that technology would not degrade patient care or supplantnurses'professionaljudgment;and20percent wage increases over three years, in addition to more basic rights such as professional practice committees (PPCs) and paid union leave. "It didn't start out well—the hospital gave us an ultimatum to accept a fast-track proposal or face a reduced 4 percent raise," said Judy Eastham, RN, a member of the Houlton bargaining committee. "I thought if we went right back and accepted that, we'd be playing right into their hands. We needed [patient safety] contract language. Now we've got a good contract, and we can build on it from there." The contracts won at EMMC and Houlton are the first contracts to be negotiated since A Maine State Nurses Association affiliated with CNA/NNOC in 2006. Not all Maine employers are keen to follow suit, however, and some have been dragging their heels about discussing the implementation of changes crucial to patient safety. Two employers, Down East Community Hospital and Home Health Visiting Nurses, have been especially confrontational around the issue of reclassifying charge nurses as managers, effectively removing them from union representation. Bargaining teams have been intent on including protections against reclassification in all new contracts. Both companies filed unit clarification petitions, a preliminary step in reclassifying nurses, but withdrew those petitions later under pressure from the union. Nurses at EMMC and Houlton won the fight for so-called Kentucky River contract language, named for the U.S. Supreme Court case that prompted the NLRB decision. "They're frightened by the progress made by other Maine contracts," Bob Simpson, RN, a Down East charge nurse, said about management at his facility. "They want us to be good little nurses and techs, but they're mistaken if they think we're going to back down easily." The Houlton Regional Hospital contract goes into effect Dec. 1 and expires in 2010. Negotiations continue with Down East Community Hospital and Home Health Visiting Nurses. —staff report MAINE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G NOVEMBER 2007

• Cover