Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital's
Nurses on Strike
Our Strike has ended.
Please go to the Update page or visit
About our Strike Site!
The nurses at Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital also known as MCP Hospital, are on strike in Philadelphia, PA. (268 of us). The strike started 11/11/03. We are out there 24/7 in cold, rain, and heavy wind and snow. This hospital is owned by the TENET Healthcare Corporation.
This web site was created to keep our nurses informed and updated. This site is also open to the public and nurses everywhere that are interested in our cause.
MCP Strike Facts!
First, some clarification. Three contracts will be used in this explanation.
1. Old contract- The contract we worked under for the past 2 years that expired November 7, 2003.
2. First proposed contract- This is the contract we voted down on November 11, 2003, therefore beginning the strike.
3. Second proposed contract- This is the contract we voted down on December 1, 2003, therefore continuing the strike.
There are several main points of the proposed contracts that are the reason for this strike. The first and MOST important reason is MANDATION. This is where the hospital can force a nurse to work past his/her scheduled shift for an additional 4 to 8 hours. At the end of an 8 or 12 hour shift, nurses are fatigued. Tenet does not care if working a 16 or 20 hour shift means that you have not slept in 24 hours. They do not care that there is a risk of medical and medication errors. Nor do they care about the risk of patient mortality skyrocketing when a fatiqued nurse works past a 12 hour shift. Tenet does not care that the nurse's ability to perform SAFE and ADEQUATE nursing care is seriously impaired. If a nurse refuses, they are threatened with "patient abandonment". . . . yet if a medical error or worse occurs as a result of an exhausted nurse being forced to work past her shift, it is a patients life and OUR license that is at jeopardy. It is OUR livelihood that is put at risk, with no backing from Tenet.
Under the old contract, mandation was paid for with double time. This served to curb Tenet's use of mandation. Under both the first and second proposed contracts, mandation will be paid with straight time until 40 hours is reached, then time and a half after that. This is now giving Tenet the financial ease to abuse the use fo mandation. It will then be less expensive to mandate then to hire agency nurses to fill the staffing holes. It will also be less expensive to mandate then to actively recruit new nurses to fill the 65-70 vacancies the hospital had prior to the strike. We have requested over and over that mandation, even if it is for double time, be REMOVED from hospital policy. It is not about the money. It is about doing away with an archaic and dangerous form of staffing. There are laws in place prohibiting pilots and truck drivers from working extended hours, yet our nurses who deal with life and death must be placed in situations that have the potential for disaster. What about the personal stakes of mandation? Tenet does not care that your daughter's birthday party is that night. Tenet does not care. . . .period. There are states like California and just across the bridge in New Jersey that deem mandation ILLEGAL. There are currently 3 bills in front of the Federal Government and 5 bills in front of the Pennsylvania Government regarding mandation of nurses. Would you want me to take care of you after I have worked a 16 or 20 hour shift? Would you want to be on the same road with me as I get behind the wheel of my car and drive the hour to my home? I know your answer. . . . . NO!
Under the old contract, we were allowed to outright refuse to be mandated 6 times a year. When you refused your turn to be mandated, it then fell to the next person on the list and so on. The last person on the list COULD NOT refuse under any circumstance. In both the first and second proposed contract, this "courtesy" was decreased to 3 times a year, further increasing the number of times we would be forced to stay. In the second proposed contract, Tenet stated that we would not be mandated more than twice a month for the first year, then once a month the second year of the contract. That means 24 times a year I am forced to stay against my will to work an additional 4 to 8 hours. Mandation is unsafe even ONE time. How much "unsafe" is Tenet willing to accept as "safe"? They are willing to risk their patient's lives in the name of money. It is greed that fuels the fire of Tenet. . . . not the dedication and loyalty of its 268 nurses.
Tenet has said over and over in the media that mandation is used only 2% of the time. Let me explain that number. In the past, if it was your turn to be mandated, one of your coworkers could volunteer to stay in your place. Thus, this was called voluntary mandation. I know, it seems like a contradiction in terms. However, if no one would volunteer to stay fro you, and your refusals were used up, you had to stay. This was called involuntary mandation. The 2% was the use of involuntary mandation. They do not count people volunteering to stay and help a coworker as true mandation. The truth be told, they knew that we nurses would pick up the slack for each other. However, we are saying NO MORE. No one WANTS to work a 16 hour shift. But I will do it if my friend/coworker has no one to pick up his/her children. Tenet used our loyalty to each other as yet another one of its weapons.
Under the old contract, we had a voluntary overtime bonus program. Because of the extreme vacancies we have, Tenet originally implemented this program to help us self-staff our nursing holes. There was a schedule of open shifts that a nurse could willingly sign up for over-time at his/her convenience thus reducing the amount of madatory overtime. It worked very well. In the first and second proposed contract, that is gone completely. So, if they are removing the one thing that was helping to staff our holes, I wonder how they plan on filling these needs? Yep, MANDATION will become rampant.
Now, the 11% increase that Tenet is so proud of. First of all, that is over the span of 2 years. It is not an immediate pay increase. It is in increments of 2-3.5% every six months. so the only time we would be receiving the full 11% increase would be in the last 6 months of our contract. They fail to state that. They also failed to state that our health benefits went up by 20%. That increase is IMMEDIATE. . . .not over 2 years. Furthermore, the weekend staff in the old contract received full time benefits. Which is the norm at most hospitals in the area. With the proposed contracts,these employees are now considered part-time employees and will completely lose ALL benefits. They no longer have health benefits for themselves or their families.
Under the old contract, if we called out, we were required to use 8 hours of our own personal earned vacation time before we could use our earned sick time. In the first proposed contract, they stated that we would have to use a full week of vacation time before we could use our earned sick time. In the second proposed contract, they lowered it back down to 8 hours and acted as if they gave us something.
We have nurses who have been at MCP for 20-30 years. Under the old contract, if a nurse had been employeed at MCP for a certain number of years a nurse would receive a longevity pay. The first and second proposed contract has eliminated longevity completely from the contract. It seems like Tenet does not value its experienced and dedicated nurses. They are more concerned with doing away with the little form of retention they had in place.
Also, in the first and second proposed contract, Tenet is requiring a nurse that calls out on his/her scheduled weekend (even due to illness) to work an unscheduled weekend to make up that shift or shifts.
These are our main concerns. The issue of mandation is not a MCP nursing issue. . . it is not a Philadelphia issue. . . it IS a NURSING issue across the country. We, the 268 nurses of MCP are saying "NO MORE!" We are David taking on Goliath -- 268 nurses taking on a corporate giant. We will continue fighting because we want the respect and dignity that nurses deserves. . . .because we believe that what we are doing is for nurses everywhere. . . .because we are patient advocates and we want to practice safe patient care. . . . because we want what is considered to be a basic human right. . . . to go home at the end of our shift.
We want to be able to provide the best possible care to our patients. Everyone will need a nurse someday. . . .whether it be because of illness, injury or just simply old age. Won't you be here for us, so that we can be there for you?
Support MCP Nurses during our Strike!
UNITED WE STAND
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