8/9/10: Letter Writing Campaign to County Legislators
We need to let our public officials know what is going on at NUMC. Please call or write your county legislator. We need to show our strength in numbers!
LETTERS TO THE MEMBERSHIP
July 19, 2010
Dear Members from Nassau University Medical Center:
Once again I feel compelled to address all of our members working for this disingenuous management team of the Nassau Health Care Corporation. If I began this update with a tinge of rudeness I do not apologize for it. It is now very clear what the mission of the Gianelli team is. They want the CSEA out so that the health care monopoly known as North Shore LIJ can come in. I don’t know if we will be able to keep the mega giant hospital network out, but I can assure you that CSEA is here today and we will be here long after Gianelli and his team are gone.
Let’s review a few things which we are dealing with today:
1. Nurses shifts- When management decided to utilize the ill conceived plan of changing our nurses shifts from 12 hours three days a week to 8 hours five days a week, on June 7, 2009, we did the math for them. We advised them they simply did not have enough nurses to cover three shifts a day. They told us they did and would save $7 million a year doing so.
Fact 1: As soon as the 8 hour tours began the hospital started mandating overtime at an alarming rate. This was in violation of NY State Law. We reported them to the Attorney General’s office and spoke with the Governor about it. The Governor’s office cited them for dozens of violations of the law. They continued to violate the law and were brought into the AG’s office to answer questions. They were warned that if they continued to violate State Law that legal action would be pursued.
Fact 2: Now that they cannot mandate nurses any longer they have made yet another major blunder by simply leaving areas in the hospital short staffed. In fact our critical care units are so understaffed that in our opinion there is a major risk to the patients’ care. They closed Area 3 for a while for the first time in decades because they could not staff it. We are going over the staffing in the ER and ICU’s and we are APPALLED that these bean counters are still being allowed to run this tremendous health care institution. Follow our weekly updates on staffing soon to come just to see how this hospital is really being run.
Fact 3: This management team continues to tell our nurses that they are ready to go back to 12 hour tours but the union is refusing to do so. They are leaving out just a little piece of the information. CSEA wants the nurses to be paid for the hours they will work. Simple enough right? Gianelli is insisting that he gets at least one week of work per year FREE of charge. In other words he doesn’t even want to pay the nurses straight time for the extra hours they would have work under his plan. That plan calls for one 12 hour make up day a month. Forget the fact that we believe the nurses would be eligible for overtime on the week they make up the 12 hours. He won’t even discuss that. He doesn’t even want to pay them their regular base pay on straight time for the extra hours. Well, that’s not going to happen, not as long as I’m the president of this Local.
2. Contract Talks- Not much better in this area. Today we are in the final stages of the negotiations process. Since this union declared an impasse a while ago we now find ourselves in the process of “fact finding”. A neutral arbitrator (fact finder) is hearing testimony from both sides and not long after all of the hearings he will come out with his report. His report will make recommendations for both sides to adhere to and if we do then we could have a contract. My personal feelings is that this is just another stall tactic by management since we have already heard from them that they are not prepared to offer any kind of enhancements unless you pay for them. As the year grows older and we remain without a contract we will step up our movement with rallies, demonstrations and media advertisement. It is my philosophy to keep what we have and try to help our members make it here on Long Island. We are not asking for the world, but instead we have been extremely reasonable while recognizing that the NHCC faces some tough economic times. Despite our reasonableness, management is looking to reinvent the wheel and wants to “restructure” our contract. I stand firm in the goal of achieving a fair contract for our members.
The Time Has Come to LET THE WORLD KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON
We have tried for a long time to keep the dirty laundry within the walls of this hospital out of the public eye. The time has come however for us to scream out to the world that things are simply not right here. I’m not just speaking about the horrendous labor relations issues. I’m talking about what matters most to all of you who put your careers, licenses and reputations on the line day in and day out.
The people and organizations listed below NEED to be contacted. They must know the truth about what is going here. We need outside help from those who are in a position and who have the authority to stop the deception and get back to real health care. Power point presentations and long speeches filled with half truths and underlying cryptic messages will no longer be allowed to rule the day. Now the facts will be brought forth.
The issues they must be told about are:
1. Understaffed areas in the hospital.
2. Effect on patient care as the result of staffing issues.
3. Continued overtime mandation of nurses which is against the law.
4. Employees who were forced to change official documents, such as overtime slips indicating they “volunteered” instead of being mandated.
1. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO)
800-994-6610-Complaint Number
2. New York State Dept. of Health Complaint Phone
1-800-804-5447
3. New York State Health Committee Chair, Thomas K. Duane
518 455-2451
4. New York State Assembly Health Committee Chair, Richard N. Gottfried
518-455-4941
5. Nassau County Legislator, 17th L.D., Health Committee Chair, Rose Marie Walker
516-571-6217
6. Nassau County Legislator, 13th L.D., Norma Gonsalves
516-571-6213
7. Nassau County Legislator, 12th L.D., Majority Leader, Peter Schmitt
516-571-6212
8. Nassau County Executive, Edward Mangano
516-571-3131
Sincerely,
Jerry Laricchiuta
CSEA Nassau Local 830
President
571-2919 ext. 19
May 14, 2010
Dear Nassau University Medical Center Nurses:
Since the last time I wrote to you less than a month ago, not a whole lot has changed on the 12 hour shift front. However, I did feel it was important to make a few things clear, specifically about CEO Art Gianelli’s recent town hall meetings. After speaking with dozens of nurses on Wednesday at Nurses Appreciation Day, it sounds like Mr. Gianelli was speaking a whole different language to you, than he has been to my team and I.
According to Mr. Gianelli, the ball is back in our court for the 12 hour shifts and if we want them, we can have them. But in fact, it is not that simple. He is asking us for several concessions in exchange for returning the 12 hour shifts back to us. Now, we had said from the beginning, that they had taken those shifts away from us unjustly, and for us to give up something to get them back would be a great injustice not just to the nurses, but to the entire membership. I cannot freely discuss what they would like us to give back, but let’s say they are things that will have a global impact on the 3,400 members that we have between NUMC, A. Holly Patterson and the clinics.
The bright side is that communication has been pretty good between administration and the union. In fact, I spoke to Mr. Gianelli after hearing about what he had said to the nurses at the town hall meetings. He didn’t deny making the claims I mentioned earlier, and couldn’t tap dance around the fact that he was wrong. But, we do plan on meeting with him again next week in an effort to make a final resolution to this matter.
With all my heart, I thank you for hanging in there for almost a year now. June 7 of last year, the shifts changed, and there hasn’t been a moment where we haven’t fought to get them back for you.. And to this day, we are continuing to do that.
The last thing that I ask, is if in the future that you hear of any claims by administration, that the union is holding anything up that could be in your favor, then to come and ask us. Call your unit office at NUMC at 572-6364 or visit them in Room 104. We will be in touch as soon as we have a concrete resolution on this. We are scheduling a general membership meeting very soon, so keep your eyes open for information on that.
Sincerely,
Jerry Laricchiuta
CSEA Nassau Local 830
President
571-2919 ext. 19
April 5, 2010
Dear All Nassau University Medical Center Nurses:
We understand that there is a great deal of frustration, anxiety and stress between our nurses and management here at NHCC regarding the work schedule. As you know, this union has been in constant talks with management since the ill-conceived plan to change nurses schedules from three 12 hour shifts to five 8 hour shifts went into effect on June 7, 2009. Recently, communication between the union and management regarding this has picked up dramatically.
You all must understand that it is my job to fight, defend and protect all our members. This union is fighting hard to protect your rights as workers, professionals, healthcare providers and members. Although we are somewhat closer today than a few weeks ago, we have not been able to reach an agreement with management that we feel would be in the best interest of all of our nurses.
Talks are continuing and in fact another meeting has been scheduled between the union and management in early April and we will continue to fight for your best interest at that meeting. We will report back to you in a letter soon thereafter.
Thank you for your patience during these very difficult times.
Yours in unionism,
Jerry Laricchiuta