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UMPNC News ArchiveClick a link below to jump to that story |
Prevent the Elimination of the Chief Nurse Executive Position Dear MNA Members: Please consider taking action on this issue and/or forwarding it to your nurse colleagues so that they too might consider contacting their Legislators. The House of Representatives is seeking to eliminate the Chief Nurse Executive Position as a means to help balance the state's fiscal year 2006 budget. The CNE position, however, is funded from the Nurse Professional Fund, which is funded solely by nurse licensure fees, and not from General Fund/General Purpose monies (i.e. tax revenue monies). Take action at http://capwiz.com/minurses/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7882611 by using the sample letter provided, or by crafting your own letter, to educate the Legislature that professional nursing fully supports the role of the Chief Nurse Executive, and supports her efforts to ensure a health care environment that provides safe patient care. The Legislature must not eliminate the Chief Nurse Executive position! |
New MI RN/LPN Relicensure
requirement I realize that some of you may not have heard about the following change in CE requirements for RN/LPN relicensure in Michigan: "An applicant for license renewal shall complete at least one (1.0) continuing education contact hour in pain and pain symptom management in each renewal period. Continuing education contact hours in pain and pain symptom managment may include, but are not limited to, courses in behavior managmeent, psychology of pain, pharmacology, behavior modification, stress mapnagement, clinical applications, and drug interactions. This subrule will take effect with the April 1, 2005 enewal cycle." This means that you must obtain at least one contact hour (50 minutes) for an educational activity that focuses on pain and pain symptom management. Whether this is a single contact hour or whether it is part of a larger program, save the information that shows that the focus was pain management, so that you have it if you get audited. For those who renew in 2006, the every-2-year requirement will start on April 1, 2006. Please send me an email ( cwms@umich.edu ) or call me at 764-6326 if you have any questions about this. There are many opportunities for you to find education on pain.
One of these is the 2005 Conference on Pain, which the UM is
co-providing with MSU, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and Henry Ford
Hospital on September 29, 2005 at the St. John Golf &
Conference Center in Plymouth. |
Thank Rep. John Dingell for Honoring Workers One week from today is Labor Daythe day America honors its working men and women. Your U.S. representative has honored working people in one of the most important ways possibleby co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act. Please take a moment today to say thank you and to urge your representative to continue fighting to restore workers freedom to form unions. Just click this link:
Fifty-seven million workers in America say they would join a union tomorrow if they couldbut you know the kind of war workers face when they try to form unions. Even though U.S. and international law say we have the right to form unions, every 23 minutes a worker is fired or discriminated against for exercising that basic freedom. The bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act would level the playing field for workers struggling to form unions. Under the act, workers could form unionswithout managements harassment, intimidation and firingswhen a majority signs cards authorizing union representation. The Employee Free Choice Act also would provide for mediation and arbitration of first-contract disputes and authorize stronger penalties for employers that violate the legal rights of workers seeking to form unions and negotiate first contracts. Your representative has taken a strong stand to support the Employee Free Choice Act, which could make a world of difference for working people trying to gain a voice on the job. Please click the following link to say thank you and to urge your U.S. representative to keep fighting for working people: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/EFCAThank Your representative has demonstrated a commitment to restore workers freedom to form unions. Thats a great startbut there is so much more to do. We need our elected officials to publicly support workers who are fighting to form unions and win fair contracts...to speak out to the media about the importance of restoring workers freedom to form unions...to challenge employers who block workers from forming unions...and to talk the talk at rallies and walk the walk on picket lines when working people need them. We need champions for workers rights at every level of governmentincluding the U.S. House of Representatives. When you click the following link and thank your U.S. representative for co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act, urge him or her to do moreto become a Congressional Champion for Workers you can count on every day. Please click here: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/EFCAThank Thank you for all you do for working families. In solidarity, |
Tell Congress: Stop Social Security Privatization Your members of Congress can give all their constituents a big Labor Day gift by pledging not to privatize Social Security Americas most successful family protection program. Shortly after Labor Day, Congress will begin work on President Bushs plan to replace Social Securitys guaranteed benefits with risky private accountsand in the process slash benefits, rack up massive new federal debt for our children to pay off, open Social Security up to corruption and possibly raise the retirement age. Please send a message to your senators and representative right now urging them to pledge to oppose Social Security privatization. Click on the link below:
If we convince enough members of Congress to sign the pledge, President Bushs plan to privatize Social Security wont stand a chance. It wont be easy, but together we can do this. When Congress gets back to work in September, the push for private accounts will begin quickly with the House Ways and Means Committee taking up H.R. 3304, a bill by Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) that privatization proponents claim is a new idea to stop the raiding of Social Security by Congress. Wrong! Our members of Congress need to STRENGTHEN Social SecurityAmericas most successful family security programnot privatize it. Click on the link below now to urge them to pledge to oppose Social Security privatization: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/PledgeforSocialSecurity Privatization plans would fatally undermine Social Security by tossing out the programs promised benefits in exchange for no-guarantee privatized accounts. More retirees would live out their years in poverty because of huge benefit cuts. In the first 20 years alone, privatization could add $4.9 trillion to the federal debt. And privatization would open Social Security up to political corruption and Enron-ization, because politicians would chose which Wall Street firms could make billions off privatized accounts. Tell Congress to protect workers and their retirement this Labor Day season. Urge them to sign the pledge to oppose Social Security privatization. Click on the link below: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/PledgeforSocialSecurity |
Here Comes Privatization Congressional Republicans headed home for the August recess with a propaganda packet on how to sell Social Security privatization dressed up with a new coat of paint. Dont let them succeed. Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) has introduced a bill (H.R. 3304) that privatization proponents are trying to pass off as a new idea to stop the raiding of Social Security by Congress. Thats baloney: The McCrery bill is the first step toward President Bushs plan to privatize and ruin Social Securitynothing more. Tell your members of Congress to oppose privatizing Social Security and not to be fooled by the McCrery bill. Click on the link below:
When Congress comes back from vacation in September, the push for private accounts will begin quickly with the House Ways and Means Committee taking up the McCrery measure. The bill creates private accounts, cuts guaranteed benefits and increases the national debt. And it does nothing to stop the raids on the Social Security surplus or keep the program solvent. Our members of Congress need to STRENGTHEN Social SecurityAmericas most successful family security programnot privatize it. Privatization plans would replace guaranteed benefits with risky private accounts, fatally undermining Social Security, cutting benefits drastically, probably raising workers retirement age and saddling our children with massive new debt. Now is the time to send a loud and clear message: No Social Security privatization, no way. Let your members of Congress know that millions of Americas workers reject Social Security privatization and attacks on retirement security. Click on the link below: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Dont_Privatize_SS Thank you for taking action for working families. Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO P.S. The 70th anniversary of Social Security
is Aug. 14. Tell your members of Congress to strengthen Social
Security for another 70 years by opposing privatization. Click
on the link below: |
Work 'Til You Drop? President Bushs bandwagon to privatize Social Security has a couple of broken wheels. Youve been doing a great job! The president has been unable to build public support for privatization and even members of his own party in Congress are backing away from this attack on our retirement benefits. But you should know whats coming next: They are going to try to raise the retirement age. Heres what The Associated Press reported June 14: Key Senate Republicans are considering gradually raising the Social Security retirement age as high as 69 over several years as they struggle to jump-start legislation that President Bush has placed atop his second-term agenda... Please take a moment now to let your members of Congress know you oppose raising the retirement age. Click on the link below: No one wants to be forced to work longer before retirement. But for some, raising the retirement age could be disastrous. Workers in physically demanding jobs should not be forced to work long after their bodies wear out to collect the benefits theyve earned by paying into Social Security for years. Please tell Congress not to raise the retirement age. Click on the link below: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Retirement_Age The good news is your work to stop Social Security privatization is making a difference. But the threat of massive benefit cuts to finance risky privatized accounts isnt overweve got to keep up the pressure. Send Congress your message now. Thanks for fighting for retirement security. |
Stop School Employee Attacks House Launches Attack on School Employee Pensions and Health
Care. It's clear that the pension and retiree health benefits under HB 4947 would be substantially less than current benefits for school employees and their families. Please click on the following link to send a letter to your state representative and ask them to vote "NO" on this attack on school employees. http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/87zWYn71Bc5e/ For more information on this attack on school employees go to http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/8dzWYn71Bc53/. Thank you for your help. |
Downing Street Memo petitions
delivered to White House Yesterday, Congressman John Conyers delivered 560,000 petition signatures to the White Houseincluding more than 360,000 from MoveOn membersdemanding that President Bush address smoking-gun evidence of deception in the Downing Street Memos.1 After holding nearly four hours of hearings about the Downing Street Memos on Capitol Hill, the Congressman went over to The White House accompanied by a dozen leading Democrats. They marched solemnly towards The White House gate as swarms of media clicked, filmed and shouted questions. As they approached the gate to White House grounds a lone, young Bush staffer met the delegationhe literally trembled when Conyers said they had come to deliver the signatures of 560,000 Americans demanding the truth about Iraq. The White House staff refused Conyers entrance to see the president but accepted the petitions. MoveOn members made a huge difference hereshooting up the number of petition signers at a critical time in the drive to bring attention to the Downing Street Memos. And thanks in part to your pressure and Congressman Conyers' high profile hearings andpetition delivery, the media has finally begun to cover the scandalous Downing Street Memoswe counted 1,600 news stories in Google today. The Seattle Times, Denver Post, Boston Globe, CNN, ABC and hundreds of other media outlets have been forced to report on the memos.2 Howard Kurtz, media columnist for The Washington Post, wrote about the surging coverage of the Downing Street Memos, noting that: A wide range of critics, including the ombudsmen of the NYT and WP, says the press bobbled the ball on the Downing Street Memo. The memo may not be the slam-dunk about the Bush administration fixing intelligence that its supporters believethe British author cites no specifics as proofbut it was a newsworthy and provocative development, as the press is belatedly realizing.3 Now the press is taking notice because they couldn't ignore it anymore. You played a big role here. Thanks so much for everything you do. Tom, Matt, Justin, Micayla and the MoveOn
PAC Team Sources:
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Continue getting hard copies of pay stubs We encourage UMPNC members to continue getting hard copies of their pay stubs. How do you continue getting hard copies of your pay stubs? Just fill out the designated form and fax or mail it to the U-M Payroll Office. Directions are below. This form must be received at least 10 business days before the pay date on which you want to begin receiving hard copy pay stubs. For example, if you would like to submit a request to continue receiving hard copy pay stubs before the new system takes effect, you need to submit the form by May 18, 2005 if you are paid monthly, or by July 8, 2005 if you are paid biweekly. If you use this online self-service system, but decide down the line that you want to resume receiving hard copies, just submit the form 10 days before the next pay date. To complete the form, follow these steps:
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UMPNC Celebrates 30 Years Thanks to everyone who attended our 30th Anniversary Open House reception at Towsley March 23rd and helped make it a great success. Food and conversation were enjoyed throughout the afternoon. Thanks to Steve Dorer for the great piano music. Thanks to Kristin Faust for the beautiful floral arrangements. Highlights of the afternoon included congratulations and praise for UMHS Nurses from Congressman John Dingell. Michigans first Chief Nurse, Jeanette Klemczak, was also in attendance, and read a special proclamation from Governor Granholm. Proclamations in honor of our 30th anniversary were also received from Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftjes office and the Michigan Congress. |
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History of the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council By John Armelagos and Jody Berney Recognition and the Initial Collective Bargaining Agreement In 1974 Registered Nurses employed at the University of Michigan Medical Center began their struggle to advance their professional aspirations and promote higher quality patient care through collective bargaining. On February 10, 1975, the employer recognized the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council/Michigan Nurses Association as the sole and exclusive representative of the Registered Nurses at the Medical Center. One of the major issues which drove nurses to organize was the need to improve their working conditions. Staff were exposed to an unlimited number of consecutive days worked, multiple shift changes within a week, and mandatory overtime without regard to nurses well-being. Further, in the process of organizing to improve their work lives in order to deliver better patient care, nurses discovered another insult. The employer was recruiting newly hired nurses with less experience at higher wages than those nurses who had long standing loyalty and service with the University. On April 12, 1976, the first Agreement was forged which covered the approximate 800 staff nurses, health nurses, nursing education coordinators, Clinical Nurse Specialists, and Nurse Anesthetists. The contract was a mere 83 pages, but a tremendous achievement in the lives of the Registered Nurses employed at the Medical Center. The Agreement provided for a grievance procedure and arbitration, safeguarded against unjust discipline, and established a more defined and objective compensation system by diminishing the strict merit system founded in favoritism and inequity. In addition to securing these basic protections, the members of Nurse Council with this first Agreement began their long struggle for professional autonomy. Margo Barron was the first Chair of the Nurse Council. Her fearless and fiery leadership was fundamental in the founding of the new organization and in forging the Agreement. Margo continued at the helm of the Nurse Council until the beginning of until 1991. Along with Margo, other union member signatories of the first contract were Debrah Hartwick, Phyllis Baldwin, Carolyn Siebert, Amy Goldberg, Beverly Pavasaris, Ozella Wadley, Leslie Stevens Pratt, Vickie Nubeig, and Ann OConner. Moving Toward the First Work Stoppage With the 1978 Agreement, nurses won language that noted their primary responsibly was patient care which did not require them to function in non-nursing roles on a regular and recurring basis. In regard to staffing and scheduling, the parties agreed that nurses should ideally be scheduled to work no more than two different shifts with only one change in a scheduled work week. In regard to overtime, the parties agreed that overtime should be ideally filled by volunteers first and an attempt should be made to give nurses two days notice if overtime needed to be assigned. In the early 1980s members of the Nurse Council continued to demand more clinical authority. While the battle against excessive workload and mandatory overtime continued, the concept of Professional Nursing was the impetus that lead the Nurse Council to directly confront the University. Members asserted that they not be solely accountable to the employer, but have the authority to exercise their professional judgment in the obligation of their duties on behalf of the patient. The University was unwilling to relinquish control, and the parties were at an impasse. The Nurse Council voted to conduct a work stoppage and duly informed the employer. To ensure safety, the Nurse Practice Committee offered to triage patients to determine which patients could not be transferred, and the Nurse Council offered to continue care for those patients who required ongoing care at the Medical Center. The University rebuked the offer. The strike of 1981 was one of the more defining actions in the history of the Nurse Council. The members had won recognition, negotiated two Agreements, but the possibility of withholding their labor was the most difficult decision the Nurse Council had yet to contemplate. Some of the members were scared, some were saddened, but the action was actively supported by 80% of the membership. In addition to a resolute membership walking the picket line, the Nurse Council was well prepared as Jody Berney, the Strike Coordinator, ensured that those members who sought employment at other institutions in the area could find nursing work. The Nurse Council also appreciated the support of the community, and other unions and workers at the University. For example, former patients donated money to the cause, Security Officers wore buttons of support beneath their lapels, and truck drivers did not cross the lines to deliver goods the Medical Center required to operate. The job action continued for three weeks culminating in the Nurse Council winning the ground breaking Article entitled Professional Nursing. Nurses were now recognized to assume the responsibility for nursing care including patient education within the resources of the employer. Also, policies and procedures affecting nursing care were to be developed with the input of those nurses relevant to the situation. With the strike and settlement, the Nurse Council transformed itself from a trade union concerned only with wages and benefits to collective bargaining agent founded in winning concrete measures to gain more professional autonomy for its members. Those negotiating for the Nurse Council were Margo Barron, Jean Dvorak, Sandra Merkel, Debrah Hartwick, Thomas Bissonette, Sandra Wilson, and Lawrence Miendorf. The Strike of 1989 When the parties began negotiating for a new Agreement in May 1989, the Nurse Council had grown to 1,800 members and at that point had bargained seven Agreements with the University. After three months of negotiations, the employer made a final offer to the Nurse Council on July 26. The membership rejected the final offer, and gave the University proper notice of the Nurse Councils intent to strike. After a nineteen day work stoppage, Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Melinda Morris ordered the nurses back to work and directed both the Nurse Council and the University to proceed to fact finding. In fact finding, the Nurse Council cited that nurses wanted more control over their professional and personal lives, asserting that employers inability to address issues mandatory overtime and extensive off shift and weekend assignments for higher senior nurses contributed to the impasse. Fact finder Barry Brown conducted nine days of testimony. Those who provided testimony for the Nurse council included Barron, Mark Kempton, Cheryl Johnson, Hartwick, Sandra Wilson, Jody Berney, and Deborah Stoll. James Chiodini, a well known labor attorney active in the nursing community, and Diane Davis Waller, the MNA Labor Representative were also instrumental in constructing the Nurse Councils case. Based on the recommendation of Brown, the parties agreed to two years of consecutive wage increases of 10% each year, and to substantially increase the off shift bonuses as an incentive to open up more straight day shifts for more senior nurses. Unfortunately, again the Nurse Council could not secure a prohibition on mandatory overtime. The significant wage increases did produce a positive effect on staffing, scheduling and overtime as the 250 open positions that existed before the strike were filled soon after the settlement. Toward a New Approach Even though the Nurse Council and University did eventually find their way to an Agreement, their relationship was virtually destroyed. The lack of communication and trust left both parties with little reserves to jointly tackle the daily problems they both needed to address. After the strike and settlement, the leadership from UMPNC and Medical Centers Human Resource Department and Nursing Administration began to explore whether there could be another model that could guide both sides in meeting their respective obligations to their constituents without the negative outcomes associated with the combative approach of traditional bargaining. The Nurse Council leadership understood the risks of exploring a different relationship with the employer in negotiating and implementing Agreements. Deborah Stoll was elected the second Chair of the UMPNC in 1991. She was responsible for overseeing the first Agreement reached under Mutual Gains Bargaining. Stoll with her counterparts in Human Resources, Deborah Childs, and in Nursing Administration, Beverly Jones, with facilitation of Edward Hartfield and Patricia Moore firmly established the new relationship. Some of the successful outcomes related to Mutual Gains Bargaining included the appointment of the Chair to the highest level decision making body in Nursing, the Nurse Executive Council; the salvaging of the Continuing Care Department; and the joint creation and implementation of a shared governance model concerning clinical practice, the Professional Practice Model. Another concrete benefit of this new approach was the creation of a unit based, nurse practice committee to confront the issue of having sufficient nursing resources to meet patent care needs. The Workload Review Committees were comprised of nurses and the Nurse Manager on each unit, jointly appointed by the Nurse Council and University, to address of problem of excessive workload to ensure the long term viability of the unit, including quality patient care and employee satisfaction. The third Chair of the Nurse Council, Cheryl Johnson, was elected in 1995. During her tenure as Chair, the University embarked on the austere Cost Efficiency Program which cut millions of dollars from the nursing budget, resulting in the elimination of about 70 nursing positions. Despite such challenging times, the Nurse Council preserved the gains of previous Agreements. The 2001 Agreement With the 2001 Agreement and Stoll again as Chair leading the negotiation team, the Nurse Council finally gained tangible limits on mandatory overtime. The contract provided that nurses could not be forced to work more than 8-16 hours above their appointment fraction in a month, and any hours that nurses volunteered for counted toward the limit. Further the Agreement stated that volunteers must always be sought first for overtime, and if nurses volunteered beyond the limit, those nurses could earn up to 2 1/2 times their wages. Further, because of continued effort to stabilize units, some of the limits have decreased to 6-12 hours in a month. Also, because of the stabilization of many units, the little amount of overtime that exists on those units is filled only by volunteers. Finally, with this Agreement, wages increased between 20-26%. Those members on the first table Negotiating Team for the 2001 Agreement in addition to Stoll were Marianne Aranda, Helen Baumgartel, Stephen Dorer, Chris Brown, Suzanne Lewis, Christine Anderson, John Armelagos and Fred Vocino. The 2004 Agreement and Onward In August 2004, the 3,000 member Nurse Council ratified a new four-year contract. The contract was approved by a 4 to 1 margin with the highest turnout in the unions history. The Agreement secured compensation increases between 12.5 to 26 percent over the life of the Agreement. The Agreement also provided that the methodology for determining the shared health care cost between the Nurse Council members and the University and the costs of prescription medications could not be altered. The hallmark of the 2004 Agreement is the Framework for Professional Development that will recognize RNs based on objective patient care behaviors. The new Framework eliminates barriers that prevented RNs from advancing within the former clinical ladder system that limited promotions to unit budgets. The present Chair of the Nurse Council is John Armelagos. Current members of the first table Negotiation Team include Stephanie Minerath, Lisa Sylvest, Katie Oppenheim, Suzanne Lewis, Mary Tierney, Felicia Kieme, Theresa Thompson, and Marty Fuhrmann. Roberta Duda serves as the Nurse Councils Treasurer. During this teams tenure, the Nurse Council has improved the Nurse Council website in an effort to increase communication within the organization, reinforced its ties with the MNA, and reestablished relations with other bargaining units at the University to address the common concerns of securing affordable health care and protecting access to retirement. The University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council is the largest bargaining unit within United American Nurses, the labor arm of the American Nurses Association. Nurse Council members are leaders across the state and nation. Nurse Council members are active as delegates to MNA, members of the MNA Board of Directors, Officers of the MNA, members on the MNA Economic and General Welfare Cabinet, and delegates to the UAN and American Nurses Association. The UMPNC/MNA as an advocate for the professional aspirations of its members is a strong example of the power of collective bargaining for nurses to improve their work lives and promote quality care for the patients they serve. |
