Patients had to bring their own thermal blankets because the hospital cut back on stock, nurses cleaned equipment with sanitation wipes because sterile processing had been scaled back - and some nurses even made runs to Dunkin Donuts for patient meals after various food options were eliminated. (She has since left her job, and her last day was January 14.) These reported harms were a direct result of cost-cutting measures at the hospital, Andrews says. “Part of being a nurse is to do no harm, and when we think we’re doing harm, we don’t take it lightly as a profession,” says cardiac nurse Naomi Andrews, who worked at St. For nurses, an understaffed hospital means working harder yet being unable to prevent worse outcomes. Meanwhile, studies have linked nurse understaffing to a host of adverse healthcare outcomes for patients, including an increased risk of complications and infections, increased odds of readmission and a higher mortality rate. Understaffing has become a key challenge across the healthcare industry over the past two decades, as hospitals increasingly seek to maximize patient revenue with fewer staff members. The struggle for patient safety is not unique to St. Marie Ritacco, who has been a nurse at the hospital for more than 35 years, says that workplace struggles over pay are justified in themselves, “but we didn’t go on strike for fair compensation.” Instead, she says, “We went on strike for patient safety.” Vincent strike began after raises and better benefits had already been negotiated. Vincent nurses’ strike followed the template of a common good strike in both its demands and tactics, with patient well-being as its rallying cry and the broader Worcester community (“anyone who might become a patient one day,” in the words of one nurse) as the key beneficiary. In West Virginia, Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, teachers went on strike for the right to a robust public education. In Connecticut, care workers negotiated higher Medicaid funding for nursing homes to secure their communities’ right to age with dignity. Workers across the country have started “bargaining for the common good” over the past decade. After decades of concessionary bargaining focused on an increasingly narrow set of bread-and-butter issues (such as pay and benefits), more recent labor actions have shifted to “common good” demands that include the broader communities workers are part of, and serve. Vincent nurses’ strike reflects the labor movement’s rapidly expanding horizons. Their struggle paid off January 3 when they overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new contract - complete with staffing increases.Īs 2021’s longest labor action, the St. These nurses picketed through rain and shine and sleet and snow through December, rather than concede their key demand: a higher nurse-to-patient ratio. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass., on March 8, 2021.
Pellegrino, with 700 fellow nurses, walked off the job at St. “I have flip-flops in there, an umbrella and a winter coat,” she says with a laugh. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients.The supplies still sitting in Marlena Pellegrino’s car can help weather any season. Hochul should listen to frontline Covid nurse heroes and respect our federally protected labor and collective bargaining rights," NYSNA said in a statement. Kathy Hochul called for binding arbitration Sunday night to avert a strike, but union officials did not accept the proposal. perform emergency surgery only," "starting to transfer patients" to other hospitals and medical centers, and "working to safely discharge as many patients as appropriate," according to an internal memo obtained by New York ABC station WABC. Mount Sinai said it was preparing for the strike by "diverting a majority of ambulances," starting "to cancel some elective surgeries. She also claimed hospitals did not want to be held "accountable."
During a press conference Monday afternoon, Nancy Hagans, president of the NYSNA said the current contract does not address nurse/patient ratios - which they are calling for and has led to stalled negotiations.
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