September 2004 Newsletter
Contents
Why an Informational Picket
Information is a vital commodity, but factual information is rare. Just because you hear something from a news reporter, it doesn’t mean it’s true. Yet when something comes from the horse’s mouth, people have to listen. As veterans and civilian employees who staff the VA, we are in a position to observe and experience the effects of our government’s budgetary decisions. You could say that we are in a privileged position because we are privy to this vital information.
But with privilege comes responsibility, and it is our responsibility to inform the public about the serious neglect that is taking place. It is happening on a national level, and we are feeling it right here. We feel it in the form of stress in our jobs because we are under-staffed. Departments are working at full capacity – primary and specialty care clinics, diagnostic and laboratory services, wards, and operating rooms. Physicians and administrators feel the increased bureaucratization of certifying, tracking, and rationing imposed by a condition of scarcity, or managing contracts for sevices that we can’t afford to provide anymore. Veterans feel it in bureaucratic hoops and long waiting times, and they sense the stress that employees are under. One could rightfully ask why management doesn’t speak up.
One does not need to employ political rhetoric to state the obvious. Few need to be persuaded that veterans have a right to assistance from a nation that sent them to war and imposed upon them lifelong disease and disability—all the more burdensome in the context of the intensely competitive economy that our nation also has cultivated.
It is up to employees and veterans to take this message to the public. Unfortunately, the ultimate message is that there is something very wrong with our nation’s priorities when the only infrastructure dedicated to taking care of war veterans is allowed to decay, while simultaneously and into the future a whole new generation of sick veterans is being created.
We will be picketing every other Tuesday until the end of October (September 14 and 28; and October 12 and 26) from 3:00 - 5:30 PM, directly across the street from the Columbian Way VA entrance. Please join us for a peaceful demonstration to show passersby that we are a community of workers who cares, and who speaks with one voice.
Nursing Labor Management Meetings Initiated by Union
The nursing shortage is affecting nurse staffing, patient care, employee morale and costs at our facility. In the “VISN 20 Mission Critical Occupations”, RN’s are listed as the #2 priority, only after physicians.
PSHCS has seen the employment of undesirable measures that have significant adverse impact to patient access, such as closing beds, closing wards and regularly diverting our patients to outside hospitals because of the lack of sufficient nursing staff.
It is proven that reliance on overtime and contract labor for nursing personnel, has adverse impact on patient care.
Employee perceptions that influence job satisfaction and retention include excessive use of overtime and all mandatory overtime, floating to different units, tour of duty changes, support staff availability and staffing mix. Also, employees want evidence that managers support them and that they be treated with respect and dignity.
The Nursing Labor Management meeting forum has been called by the Union, Local 3197, to address system or global issues brought to the Union by the employees we represent. Local 498, has been invited to be a partner in this process.
Following Are Some Agenda Items From Union and Responses From Management.
Union: Is PSHCS Nursing Service recording use of voluntary overtime vs. mandated overtime?
Management: All overtime by nursing staff is mandatory. If there is not enough staff, someone has to stay. We are not recording whether staff volunteer or are mandated.
Union: Have safe limits on overtime use for nursing personnnel been established by PSHCS or VA Central Office?
Management: No.
Union: Repeatedly staff on several inpatient wards tell the Union, “every day is a crisis,” because of staffing shortfalls. And further, that when their ward has enough staff, one of them is mandated to float to another unit that is short. This impacts morale and leads to burnout on the staff who report to work.
Management: “I expect every nurse to be able to float anywhere in this medical center and take care of patients and if they can’t or won’t they shouldn’t work here.”
Union: In a Nursing Recruitment and Retention meeting, on 5/6/04, a Human Resources Representative stated that although the RN turnover rate for long time VA nurses is low, the turnover rate for new RN’s within the first four years of employment at PSHCS is 70% (seventy percent) from 1996 through 2000. The data from 2000 through 2004 is not yet available. The causes for this are being examined. This shocking statistic merits Union involvement in indepth examination of root causes and remedies. We would like to be involved in the investigation and have shared with us the information found from it.
Management: The Union will be notified of new information. H.R. will give a briefing on the findings at the next meeting.
Union: The new Nursing Admission Assessment Template or NAAT, was recently rolled out by Nursing Service, at PSHCS. Nurses who are required to use this template, working on the extremely busy medicine and surgical inpatient wards, are reporting that it takes approximately 90 minutes to complete and is an added burden impacting their ability to provide care to Veterans. What can be done to “fix” this new program which is negatively impacting patient care because it is so slow? (This was brought up at the first meeting and the response is from the second meeting)
Management: Thanks to the Deputy Director (Sandy Nielsen) and Chief of Staff (Dr. Starkebaum) resources were diverted to “fix” this problem (the NAAT now has 20 fewer clicks and reports from floor nurses are that it IS less timeconsuming and onerous).
Labor Neighbor
Why are political action and Labor Neighbor important to the survival of our jobs and unions?
Our union relies on political and legislative action to protect our benefits, salaries, jobs, and institutions. The past four years have seen record job losses, record numbers of people with no healthcare benefits, record numbers of insolvent retirement funds, record highs for CEO salaries and bonuses, record numbers of government contracts, and record highs for oil prices. In general, the right to unionize, overtime, healthcare benefits, retirement, and safety in the workplace have come under unprecedented attack by this administration and their cronies in private industry.
This administration has proposed the privatization of half our jobs, the closure of three of our VA Hospitals in Washington, and threatened to veto our raises. We fight back by becoming active politically. We lobby our Senators and House Representatives every year for our raises and benefits. The more powerful we become politically, the more clout we will have in Congress. Our voice is heard locally by Congressman McDermott, who stopped the TSA bribe scandal at SEATAC after we at AFGE brought this to his attention. The shouts of concern and outrage of three of our VA locals in Tacoma, Vancouver and Walla Walla, have been heard by Senator Patty Murray as she used her influence to save those hospitals from proposed CARES closures. Congressman Inslee heard our voice as he helped stop the closure of the Lynnwood Social Security office.
How do we gain this power? And how do we become more powerful? Our ultimate strengths are in our votes and in our voice together as Union brothers and sisters. Each and every one of us needs to be registered and vote. We also need to get out there and let people know what issues are important to us, who has fought for us, and who has fought against us. This is where political action enters the picture. The larger our Politcal Action Committee (PAC) fund becomes, the larger are our donations to political leaders who act to protect and defend the rights of workers.
The AFL-CIO’s “Labor Neighbor” program is another effective form of political action we can use. Labor Neighbor is designed to inform union workers on which candidates unions support, and why. Using member databases provided by the Washington State Labor Council, Labor Neighbor participants visit known union households with literature on labor issues such as healthcare, privatization, the exportation of jobs overseas, protection of overtime, and how candidates have voted on these issues. We do not go to argue, but only to educate others on these concerns.
AFGE is asking members to volunteer four hours to this program. Our local, 3197, has signed up for Saturday, September 11 as our day of action in Seattle. Other volunteer unionists report that Labor Neighbor is effective and a lot of fun. Please talk to other members of your local who have already hit the streets for this program: Barbara Phinney, Wendell Skiffington, Brian Anderson, and Cheryl Kelso. Please ask any of the four about how to sign up, what is involved, or anything at all.
Better Salaries for VA Physicians and Dentists
Last month, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was scheduled to vote on legislation to improve the pay schedule for physicians and dentists. Salaries that are not competitive with private industry make it difficult for the VA to attract and retain staff. Pay rates can be as low as 35% behind in the areas of anesthesiology, radiology, cardiology, urology, oncology and orthopedic surgery. When the VA cannot hire in these areas, it must contract for these services! The proposed plan calls for a 15 step pay system with base salaries for all physicians ranging from $90,000 to $133,000. Higher pay would be based on surveys of comparable private sector salaries. The Committee ordered the bill to be reported on July 20, 2004.
“This bill is going to ensure that you don’t get paid anymore than you currently are, so put your heads back in the sand and forget about it.”—anonymous physician administrator at VAPSHCS.
Note from Editor: AFGE is not supporting S 2484 as drafted, because it allegedly does not represent an improvement over the current system.
See a Labor Movie
"Blue Collar" 1978, written and Directed by Paul Schrader. Cast: Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto. “This film explores racism, friendship, union corruption and the defeat of working class militancy. It accurately portrays life on the assembly line in the automotive industry. It also paints a depressing picture of unionism as a scam for enriching it officers.” (Tom Zaniello, Working stiffs, union maids, reds and riffraff : An expanded guide to films about labor, 2003.) “This film delves into the underbelly of the auto industry by focusing on the fears, frustrations, and repressed anger of three factory workers. It is the social comment and intense drama that makes this a highly effective and memorable film. Good music too.” (Martin & Porter, Video movie guide 1999.)