St. Vincent Nurses Demand Contract Resolution, Better Patient Care
Friday, October 03, 2014
Nurses at St. Vincent are currently working to negotiate a contract, a process that is ten months in the making. Nurses are also advocating for better patient care throughout the hospital by adding more staff.
“We are certainly frustrated; ten months is long enough,” said Marlena Pellegrino, RN, co-chair of the bargaining unit at Saint Vincent. “We are optimistic that we can work something out but we are really trying to stress that we are serious about addressing safety issues for patients.”
According to Pellegrino and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, there is currently a nursing shortage in several key units, including the emergency department, the intensive care unit (ICU), the maternity unit, and the medical-surgical floors.
A Long Battle
This is not the first time that nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital have been upset, as they were on strike for a period of 49 days in 2000.
While the nurses are nowhere near striking at this point in time, the picket was designed to send a clear message to the owners of Saint Vincent, Tenet Healthcare, saying that the nurses are fed up with the lack of movement on their contract and the lack of action on improving patient care.
A Wealth of Support
While it was said at the picket that most of, if not all, units were represented at the event, there was also a lot of support from nurses throughout the Commonwealth.
Timing the picket during the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United Annual Convention – which was held at the nearby DCU Center – the event was able to pull an event greater amount of support.
"When a fellow union member needs help, we are here to support them,” said Karen Duffy, an RN from Brockton. “We will go hospital to hospital if we have to. These changes may benefit the nurses, but the intention and the real goal is to help the patients and to get them the care that they both need and deserve.”
Related Slideshow: Nurses Picket in Font of Saint Vincent Hospital
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