Nurses at Leominster Hospital to Vote on One-Day Strike
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
According to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the vote is scheduled for today between 7 and 8 AM. The Leominster nurses have met with management 17 times since May, have held two informational pickets and are now using a federal mediator to help with negotiations on these issues.
“No nurse inside Leominster Hospital wants to strike,” said Natalie M. Pereira, RN and chairperson of the MNA bargaining unit at the hospital. “But we have spent countless hours with management over the last year and our concerns, our fears, are not being heard.”
Nurses will cast their vote by secret ballot at the Leominster Veteran’s Center. While the vote does not mean the nurses will strike immediately, it gives the nurses’ negotiating committee authorization to call a one-day strike if and when they feel it is necessary. Should the committee issue an official notice to strike, the hospital will then have 10 days before the nurses go out on strike.
“Management refuses to improve its RN staffing levels inside of the hospital, even after years and years of cutting nurse staffing to the bone,” said Pereira. “And although our nurses give quality care to all patients each and every day, it is becoming clear that if management does not improve its nurse staffing it will be very difficult to maintain that level of care.”
“We will not allow the hospital to put our critical care patients in that kind of danger,” emphasized Pereira. “We believe, and Massachusetts state law says, that every critical care patient must have one dedicated nurse. If the hospital insists on giving our charge nurses a patient assignment there is no way that our critical care patients will receive continuous one-to-one care.”
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