MACHIAS, Maine — The administration of Washington County’s Down East Community Hospital terms “misleading” allegations by a union representing 60 nurses and technical employees that patient safety would be undermined by proposed staffing changes.
The 25-bed hospital and the union are now embroiled in efforts to reach an agreement on a new contract. Those represented by the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses United union have been working without a contract since Jan. 12, 2012, when the old agreement expired. Talks have been under way since last November and now involve federal mediation, with the next bargaining session scheduled for March 27.
Julie Hixson, a spokesperson for the hospital, said in a statement released Thursday that the salary increases that have been offered to date are generous by regional industry standards.
“After a second negotiating session with a federal mediator in attendance, Down East Community Hospital’s offer to raise salaries of its nurses by an average of 11 percent and of its technical staff by an average of 8.5 percent over a three-year period has been rejected by their union, the Maine State Nurses Association,” Hixson said. “These offers are greater than what MSNA agreed to at [Ellsworth’s] Maine Coast Memorial for its nurses late last year and more than Millinocket and Houlton this year.”
Hixson contends the issues on the table are purely economic and that none of them would impact patient safety, staffing levels or the emergency room protocols. Those issues, she said, were addressed and resolved last year. For the second consecutive budget year, the hospital is implementing a number of initiatives to reduce operating costs, given that it finished its last fiscal year with a loss of $2.3 million on an operating budget of $35 million.
A union official disagreed Friday that safety is not an issue.
“The issue in this contract negotiation is absolutely a public health issue,” said Vanessa Sylvester, the Maine collective bargaining coordinator for the union. “A community relies of a well-staffed hospital. If there is a staffing shortage on any given shifts or in any departments, that becomes a problem. At the heart of this dispute are staffing issues.”
Hixson said a “sticking point” in the contract talks has been the issue of on-call pay and night shift differentials. What’s being paid now, she said, is “significantly above the prevailing rates paid by other hospitals.”
“Our current night shift differential is 11 percent of the individual employee’s base rate with an additional $5 per hour,” she said. “This creates an average differential of $8 per hour, which is equal to $15,000 annually. According to the Maine Society for Healthcare Human Resource Administration survey, the average night shift differential in the state is $3.35.”
Hixson terms “misleading” five claims made by the union in statements released by the bargaining unit this week, and she quotes those claims in her statement: “The hospital’s administration has proposed cuts that would risk staffing shortages as well as other proposals that have been divisive and harmful to the relationship between staff and the administration … they attempted to make cuts in the very areas that have had recruitment problems in the past … this could risk staffing shortages throughout the hospital … we feel the proposed cuts are bad for patients and unfair to employees … MSNA proposals have been about patient safety, recruitment, and retention.”
Hixson countered in her rebuttal, “First and foremost, there is no patient safety issue. We are staffed appropriately and have multiple applications on file of nurses who wish to work in our facility. Secondly, there are no proposed cuts on the table at this time. The proposed night shift reduction would only affect new hires into the organization. Night nurse wages will remain intact until the new wage scales catch up to them. The union’s stance is that if we make these changes people will leave, and that assumption is not based on fact. In these difficult times, we cannot make financial decisions based on unsubstantiated feelings or fear.”
Hixson notes that the union has settled for “less generous” contract terms from other area hospitals. “It makes one beg the question: Are we being treated differently because we are in the precarious position of building back consumer confidence and, therefore, more vulnerable than others?”
The response to the union’s claims also includes this comment by DECH President and CEO Douglas Jones: “We need to build upon a competitively compensated work force. Our very significant offer to the union does that. In this economy, we felt this offer was both generous and a necessary risk, given our current financial position. I remain optimistic that we will successfully negotiate a continued strong relationship.”
When the union agrees to let there pay rate be set based on the satisfaction of the patients let me know.
This hospital be mess for years now. Employees scared to talk, everyone whisper. It not last long, just cannot. Too many wound.
No union has any legal or moral obligation to anyone other than its members.
All their BS about patient safety and recruiting is just that…..BS. They are trying to usurp management’s responsibilities. The union should try telling the public exactly how much their own, self-interested staffing models would add to patients’ bills.
WOW what a good article in support of unions. This article states that the “techinical staff” will get raises too. For those of you that don’t like unions………take a look at how your job/pay rides off the shirt tail of a union!!!! Another point in this story that is totally insane……….2.3 million in the red…….baloney. What company continues to run after “losing” that much money in one year? Unions will be the only jobs left when the economy flushes the rest of the work world down the shi**er!! GO UNIONS
What was your point? The technical staff was part of the union too. You are crazy if you don’t think hospitals are losing money. The state still owes all hospitals millions of dollars.
Pay raises of 11% and shift differentials of $5.00/hr and the union is making noises of discontent in today’s market? GET OVER IT! In three years I have had a raise of one (1) % and had my health coverage cut. The shift differential alone is 30% of my salary let alone their base pay. A recent salary review of my position shows that statewide I would need a raise of $7,000 just to reach the bottom of the range band for the rest of the state yet nobody seems to be forthcoming with the cash to rescue me. These demands in an already stressed environment could collapse the hospital. No matter what anyones perception of the hospital is and no matter what anyone thinks about the staffing levels we need this hospital to survive for the well-being of the people of this area. Don’t start another fight and drag down a vital piece of this community!! Work together and find a solution!
PS: The place is not perfect and neither are all of the employee’s. Work together and make it better!
Management and union should compromise. Administrative staff seems excessive. Since the hospital is working in the red by nearly 10% of budget, Mr. Jones should go to half-time duty since he seems to be doing half the job. This would save more that $150,000 a year and public spokesperson should be a collateral duty. Where is the Board of Trustees? They were supposed to be pro-active but have not been openly critical of management. A lax administration has undoubtedly led to Union excesses. Board should enforce a balanced budget policy.
Unions have been ‘sticking it to the man’ and its come back to bite them in the a** all over the country. With all the government programs regulating wages and safety there is no need to have unions anymore.
When will headline writers learn the difference between “rebut” and “refute?”
It is not just the Union it is the Corrupt DECH Administration. I have lost count over the many years this so called Clinic called a Hospital has been sued and in trouble with malpractice from the State and Federal Health Authorities. It is due time to shut this aberration called a Hospital down. Enough Already, SHUT IT DOWN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if it shuts down, people could die trying to get to the closest hospital. Is that what the local people want for their family? I think not. I don’t know where you live but let’s see how you feel if it were you or your family in desperate need of medical care.. Another thing, I hear very good things about the changes that have taken place over the last 2 years with Mr. Jones. Seldom do we hear remarks like you just made anymore.
The insect infested operating rooms should be closed along with the 25 beds. Yes Machias needs a clinic with an emergency room to stabilize ill patients. Once the patient is stabilized they can be flown or transported by ambulance to a REAL Hospital whether Ellsworth or Bangor. Most very ill patients now are stabilized and transported to REAL Hospitals now, anyway. As I said before DECH has real problems with Staff and Administration. It has been in trouble with State and Federal Health Agency’s for many years now. Not to mention DECH is on the brink of bankruptcy. It is due time for a Machias Clinic instead of a Clinic masquerading as a so called Hospital.
I don’t know where you are getting your information but the hospital is not insect infested nor are they on the brink of bankruptcy. You are living in the past and should get a life and move on. I can almost guess who you are or who you are friends with. Get your facts straight before you write.
…..And so the MSNA drama begins again. Time to get rid of these unions that hold their own personal needs over that of their patients. The MSNA will say its all about the patient safety but we all know it is about union dues.
Didn’t we read this same story at EMMC not too long ago? The union got a new contract and we hat not a single word about patient safety since. Face up to the truth MSNA, your self-serving greed is what gives good nurses a very bad public image.
coment
Cant wait until the nurses union is busted at eastern maine. Give it 2 years watch and see