NEW YORK NURSE: October/November 2007
by Mark Genovese
NYSNA is concerned that Samaritan Medical Center is setting a bad precedent with the way it is implementing a pilot restructuring project.
Management of the Watertown facility started the “12 bed model” program in October, converting shifts on two med/surg units from eight to 12 hours. The medical center believes this model will decrease mandatory overtime and result in better patient care and RN satisfaction.
But NYSNA believes that management deliberately left four RNs who work on the units with no other choice but to accept a layoff.
“These nurses were laid off because they wouldn’t conform to the plan, and that’s unfair,” said Betty Oberton, NYSNA nursing representative. In discussions prior to the move, management refused NYSNA’s request to “grandfather” the RNs, who range in experience from two years to 35 years.
The RNs would lose between $4,000 to $11,000 per year because of the conversion of work hours and loss of charge pay. Although management offered to compensate these RNs for the loss of income, it refused to apply the offer to the entire bargaining unit.
A contractual policy on layoffs has been in place at Samaritan since the late 1970s. NYSNA contends the medical center deliberately misinterpreted and incorrectly implemented it in order to force through the pilot project, and has filed a grievance.
“Our main concern is that this model will spread through out the facility and result in more eight-hour RNs being forced into 12-hour positions or layoff,” Oberton said. “So we have to make sure management follows the letter of the contract right now.”