Nurses Union Launches PR Campaign Against CHS
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Television and print advertising, informational picketing and a new website targeting Community Health Systems Inc. in the Mahoning Valley represent the first joint effort between the Ohio Nurses Association and the American Federation of Teachers following their merger last week.
The new campaign (CLICK to download) calls attention to CHS’s growth and claims the publicly traded company is more focused on growing profits than improving patient care.
The Ohio Nurses Association, which is part of the National Federation of Nurses, voted Friday to affiliate with AFT’s health-care division, reported Eric Williams, president of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association.
YNGDA, an ONA affiliate, represents 450 registered nurses at Northside Medical Center. Northside is part of ValleyCare Health System of Ohio, which was formed by Nashville-based CHS following its purchase of assets of the former Forum Health system in 2010.
The National Federation of Nurses, an alliance of nursing associations formed in 2008, approved affiliating with the American Federation of Teachers last month. NFN counts 35,000 registered nurses as its members.
As health-care providers continue to merge and grow for economic purposes, bargaining with large employers becomes “much more difficult and complex and takes larger resources,” Williams said. In the same manner that health-care mergers and acquisitions are transpiring, “We’re pooling resources for efficiencies and economies” as well as to have a “national voice,” he said.
“It was important for ONA to find a partner who shares our rich history of advocating for the communities we serve and high professional standards,” said Kelly Trautner, ONA deputy director.
Nearly 80,000 AFT members work in health-care environments and 48,000 registered nurses are members so the ONA merger is “a natural fit for us,” said Darrin Nedrow, AFT national representative. “With their 35,000 RNs and our 48,000 RNs, it’s going to make us one of the largest RN unions in the country,” he remarked. “It just gives us a stronger voice to work on behalf of our members.”
The alliance comes as the Northside nurses continue their negotiations with CHS affiliate ValleyCare on a new contract. YGDNA’s most recent contract expired in July. The union is attempting to negotiate a variety of “contractual issues” including starting rates and step increases for nurses and “a health-care package that’s representative of nurses,” Williams said.
“Are there wage increases being offered by the employer? Yes, but their total package, if you will, provides nothing that would advance nurses economically,” Williams said. For seven years nurses offered concessions to help the former owner, which was economically struggling. “This employer is not struggling yet provides packages that do not economically advance the nurses,” he remarked. “Why should nurses not be economically advanced for a company that is making a profit?”
ValleyCare also wants the ability to do what staff calls “downstaffing,” or sending staff home after they have already reported to work, AFT’s Nedrow said. “What it comes down to is their ability to make more profit,” he said.
“[CHS is] interested in obtaining more hospitals without necessarily taking care of business after they obtain a hospital. There’s a lot of things that are not being taken care of,” Nedrow asserted.
The public relations and marketing campaign began last week with a television commercial airing locally that featured Northside nurses,. Additionally, a website launched this morning as part of the campaign.
Tomorrow a “national day of action” will take place, with informational picketing and leafleting taking place at Northside and other CHS facilities locally to call attention to “the struggle of trying to obtain a collective bargaining agreement” at Northside, Nedrow said.
Trish Hrina, director of marketing for ValleyCare, characterized the campaign’s timing as “disingenuous,” given that ONA’s chief negotiator advised on Friday that the union was bringing ValleyCare’s latest offer up for a vote today. She said it was “disappointing” that the union was “spending its energy on distracting tactics to garner publicity, rather than on productive negotiations.
“We hope that their campaign does not unduly influence the vote. Despite these tactics, we will continue to bargain in good faith and in the hope that a mutually acceptable agreement can be reached soon,” Hrina remarked.
“Other ValleyCare-related facilities have recently reached contract agreements with unions, including the Ohio Nurses Association, the very same organization that is now attacking Northside purely as a bargaining ploy,” she said. “ The nurses at Hillside have ratified a new contract with the ONA and Trumbull’s registered nurses have a new agreement with AFSCME. Trumbull’s SEIU-covered employees have ratified their agreement as well.”
ValleyCare also disclosed last week that the chief executive officer at Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Bob Wolleben, and TMH’s chief nursing officer, Cynthia Lewis, resigned their posts as of Friday. No reason was given for the resignations.
Last Tuesday the hospital system announced it has formed a "strategic alliance" with the Cleveland Clinic (READ STORY).
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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