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Northside nurses may face a lockout
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Led by Nate Gunderson with the bullhorn, organizer for the American Federation of Teachers, Northside Medical Center registered nurses, represented by the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, marched during a one-day strike Tuesday in front of the hospital at 500 Gypsy Lane. The AFT is the national union with which the Ohio Nurses Association is affiliated. The ONA is the bargaining agent for the Northside nurses.
YOUNGSTOWN
Registered nurses at Northside Medical Center who conducted a one-day strike Tuesday planned to return to work today.
Trish Hrina, hospital spokeswoman, said Northside has no plan to terminate its registered nurses who participated in the strike, but it would be “communicating directly with our employees regarding their return to work.”
The nurses scheduled for the day shift today planned to gather at the hospital at 6:40 a.m. and report for work, said Eric Williams, president of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, which represents the hospital’s 485 registered nurses.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Williams said he had no information on whether the hospital planned to lock out the nurses who struck or allow them to return to their jobs today. He said he would not know how the union would respond until he sees what the hospital does.
Williams said, however, the 10-day strike notice delivered to ValleyCare Northside on Sept. 12 contains language that gives nurses the unconditional right to return to work at 7 a.m. today.
Registered nurses at Northside haven’t had an across-the-board wage increase in eight years. Nurses start at $23.94 an hour.
The top wage is $29.88, the YGDNA reported.
In her statement, Hrina, vice president of marketing and public relations for Northside, reiterated that Northside Medical Center continued uninterrupted operations Tuesday with all of its services operating on schedule and all of its patients receiving high-quality care.
“We continue to take issue with the ONA’s [Ohio Nurses Association] claims that our final offer would in any way prevent nurses from advocating for patients. There is absolutely nothing in the hospital’s proposals that would change the right and responsibility of our nurses to provide input, raise concerns and actively participate in efforts to advance quality or to speak up about any matter that impacts quality care for patients.
“In fact, our nurses actively participate – and would continue to actively participate – in daily safety meetings that take place in each department, as well as hospital committees focused on quality, staffing and safety,” said Hrina,
The nurses say that there is no specific language in the hospital’s final official offer that gives them the right to voice their concerns about patient care and safety, which is a major sticking point in negotiations with the hospital, Williams said.
The YGDNA president said the strike “enhanced and got our message out to the public.”
It also drew support from a number of representatives of local legislators and from state and national labor leaders including Youngstown native Francine (Peskor) Lawrence, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers.
The AFT is the national union with which the ONA is affiliated. The state nurses association is the official bargaining agent for the Northside nurses.
“Nurses are out here today standing up for quality patient care at Northside and for themselves,” Lawrence said.
“I came to Youngstown today to stand with the nurses in my hometown in their effort to get a contract that recognizes their professional standards and values, that advances the hospital, and that serves the community.”
Other labor leaders who spoke in support of the Northside nurses included Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO; Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers; and William Padisak, president of the Mahoning-Trumbull Central Labor Council, who worked several years in the blood bank at Northside.
“We have out-of-town bureaucrats trying to take patient care decisions away from those who should make them,” Padisak said.
“This is not just your fight,” Burga said.
“You are rejecting the ‘new normal’ of substandard wages and loss of worker rights. You are drawing a line saying enough is enough ... the new normal is not acceptable,” Burga said.
On Aug. 2, the YGDNA membership, which has been without a contract since July 19, 2012, authorized its bargaining committee to call a strike. The committee delivered a 10-day strike notice to the hospital on Sept. 12.
The hospital filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board challenging the validity of the strike notice. Williams said union attorneys believe the notice is valid.
Williams said the strike was peaceful even though hospital security guards called the Youngstown Police Department when some strikers inadvertently gathered on a sidewalk on hospital property.
The strikers didn’t realize the sidewalk was not public property, where strikers are permitted, he said.
Wlliams said the YGDNA is ready and willing to bargain round the clock to reach an agreement.