UMDNJ Professionals and Nurses Vote to Strike 

As Labor Day passed and the annual changes in temperature and tasks began, HPAE members at the University of Medicine & Dentistry (UMDNJ) locals 5089 and 5094 remained in a struggle to win new contracts. And as negotiations continued to drag on, the workers channeled their energy and frustration into efforts to end the delay.

A massive rally was planned for September 16th on the Newark campus of UMDNJ to bring pressure on the University. A number of unfair labor practice charges also remained pending against UMDNJ, including one over management’s refusal to negotiate a change in management’s attendance policy that is often used to discipline workers for using their earned benefit time!

Strike Votes: “Yes!”
The registered nurses, members of HPAE Local 5089, voted overwhelmingly at the end of July to authorize a strike. The Professional staff members of HPAE Local 5094 then followed with their own strike vote a few weeks later in mid-August; giving their negotiating team an overwhelming “Yes” to the calling of a strike. 

Both groups were fed up with the lack of urgency displayed by UMDNJ’s management teams in both of the contract talks. Though the initial meetings had progressed well, they hit a snag as soon as things got serious. And, as usual, the snag had everything to do with management’s failure to make fair offers on the issues, and to show that they took the demands of their staff seriously. 

The Main Issue: “Respect!”
“This contract is about respect!”, roared Sam McVay, a Bio-Medical Technician, and Local 5094 negotiating team member at a rally held to support the contract effort in the early summer. 

“The work we do - taking care of sick and injured people - is not easy”, stated McVay. “Management can give us the respect we deserve by offering us a fair contract on time.” 

The workers continued to hold a number of rallies, joint meetings and a very well attended press conference in order to get their points across to management. With issues such as staffing, staff retention and patient care in common, members of both local unions felt that much was at stake.

“How can we give quality care when the University uses temporary agency nurses to staff the Hospital?”, stated Nadine Couch, RN, Local 5089 negotiating team member at an on-campus rally in Newark. “Administration spent over $2 million dollars in the first six months this year for agency nurses, yet they continue to ‘low-ball’ us in our negotiations. That has to stop!”

Members at UMDNJ Turn Up the Pressure in Contract Fight

Professional Staff Issues: 
Salary Compression and Unpaid Overtime

Salary compression is a major issue for UMDNJ professional staff - and a major reason why employees quit. 

New employees are often hired at salaries above those paid to current staff. As a remedy, the 5094 negotiating team proposed a salary scale with annual step increases based upon years of service in order to create a retention incentive for workers.

Most 5094 members are salaried and not eligible for overtime pay - and UMDNJ’s management has taken full advantage of that. Professional staff members often work beyond their regular work day - and sometimes weekends - with no compensatory time off. 5094’s negotiators proposed a direct comp time benefit to stop the abuse; proposing a one-for-one paid day off should an employee work an extra days. 

The lack of real advancement opportunities isanother major issue for the Professionals. In many cases, professionals apply for a position but have no real chance to get it because a manager already has decided to give the job to someone from “off the street”, or favored by management. In one instance, 2 respiratory therapists applied for an open position on the day shift doing the same work but were both denied the job, which was given to a less qualified worker in an entirely different job title! Decisions like that don’t exactly breed loyalty. 

RNs Issues: 
Staffing - Floating - Wages

As at most hospitals today, short staffing and floating are major issues for nurses at University Hospital. However, the amount of floating and the unfair way in which it is done ratchets up the level of abuse that UMDNJ nurses are forced to endure.

The University opened its new open heart unit early this year yet didn’t hire any nurses to staff it! Instead they floated nurses from other units. For the nurses it was “more of the same”, as the hospital’s PEDS ICU unit had been staffed the same way for years. What is particularly galling to most of the staff is that agency nurses are allowed to refuse to float without penalty, forcing regular staff to float instead. 

Both the difficult working conditions and low salaries create constant staff shortages on units, forcing the University to spend millions of dollars to agencies for temporary nurses. 

In the first five months of this year, UMDNJ paid an outrageous $2.5 million dollars for agency nurses, yet offered only a small increase to their own nursiing staff at the bargaining table. No wonder the nurses voted to strike!