Local representatives of the National Union of Hospitals and Health Care Employees walked out of negotiations with UNM Hospitals last Friday.
The walkout started after “UNMH’s refusal to discuss meaningful staffing issues, the hospital’s Magnet-status application and other reasons” resulted in a “breaking point” for the representative body.
Lorie MacIver, president of the union's District 1199, said instead of cooperation, UNMH was present only to dictate on its own terms.
“(UNMH) is not there to negotiate, they’re there to tell us what they have, (rather) what they don’t have, what they are going to give us,” she said. “We wanted the opportunity to actually negotiate, in good faith, for the members that we represent. They were very reluctant to do that.”
An official statement from UNMH expressed a commitment to providing the highest quality care to patients, which would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of staff, as well as a commitment to continued productive discussions with union representatives.
“While we do not comment on ongoing contract negotiations,” the statement reads. “We will continue to participate in good faith negotiations to reach an accord.”
As it stands, no further negotiation dates are scheduled until after the establishment of UNMH’s budget, which would essentially leave employee representatives out of the budgetary loop, MacIver said.
“We want to negotiate before their budget is passed, and sown and approved,” she said. “Because under the Public Employees act, employees can’t go back and ask for an extra appropriation. So what they get appropriated, that’s it.”
The group wants to negotiate in January, MacIver said.
“Last year, it wasn’t a problem because the hospital had money, they wanted to give raises, so there was no issue. This year, they didn’t have money,” she said. “Which, again, didn’t come as a huge surprise to us, because we are healthcare providers, we understand the fiscal reality that is in front of the hospital this year.”
The employee representatives were already considering the possibility of receiving any raises at all with managed expectations.
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“The straw that broke the camel’s back was not only were they not going to give raises; they were going to start charging employees more for their health insurance,” MacIver said.
Instead of negotiations taking place last Friday, union members were informed of impending increases in costs to employees’ co-payments and deductibles, she said.
“So, (for employees), no wage increases, plus they’re going to increase their out of pocket costs for healthcare,” MacIver said.
District 1199 represents about 4,000 hospital and healthcare employees, ranging from housekeepers to pharmacists.
“Yet they budgeted, for the administration, what they called ‘at risk wages’. They’re bonuses, that is in their budget," MacIver said.
She said it is disconcerting that all the cuts being made are generally to those who provide direct care to patients.
“And then you look at staffing. We tried to talk about staffing at the table this year, and they just didn’t want to have any conversation,” MacIver said, citing concerns with employee retention, “yet they won’t sit and talk with us about retaining nurses, treating them with respect, treating them in a manner that’s going to make them want to stay and fulfil the mission of the hospital.”
The site she once used to gather staffing information has since been shut down, or made inaccessible, making it that much more difficult to raise the issue, she said.
“Staff are getting more patients per nurse, per patient care tech. The numbers are getting worse.” MacIver said.
Jeanie Beshires, a patient care technician at UNMH, cited concerns with hospital reporting practices regarding staffing numbers.
“They are also including student nurses, who are being trained in these positions, who have no experience and can’t actually be cut loose to work independently yet," she said, "but hospital admins, execs count them as part of the staffing, to beef up their numbers.”
MacIver said it is her understanding that the hospital is preparing to apply for Magnet status through the American Nurses’ Credentialing Center.
“If a hospital gets Magnet status, it is considered a nurse-friendly hospital,” she said. “In my humble opinion, UNMH is not a Magnet hospital, they’re far from it.”
