Updates

July 08, 2010

The union nurses of Southern Ocean County Hospital local 5138 had their general membership meeting on May 5th. Attendance is historically light in non-negotiation years, but I was pleasantly surprised with the number of members that
did participate. For those nurses that were unable to attend I have been asked to write a summary.

Our President, Kathy Whalen and our local executive board have had multiple meetings with our new Vice President of Nursing, Dr. Richard Ridge. He continues to encourage collaboration and improved communication and has already demonstrated that he will continue to honor his open door policy. How refreshing it was to have Dr. Ridge give all of us his personal cell phone number for important issues. Dr. Ridge is setting goals for SOCH to become Magnet certified. The Meridian Health system already has several Magnet certified hospitals so our new administration wants us to align with the others. In order for us to be ready for Magnet status, Dr. Ridge is encouraging all RNs to become nationally certified in their specialty area. It will be generously rewarded with $1.75 per hour by our present contract. Also Dr. Ridge is encouraging continuing your college education as well. Many of our nurse managers are being mandated to complete their BSN in a timely fashion as a minimum standard of Meridian management.

Preparations for our next negotiations were discussed at each of the three meetings. This will be our first negotiation with Meridian. We are being led to believe that Meridian wants continuity of policies in all their facilities. This being said, our negotiating team is reviewing Jersey Shore Medical Center’s newest contract to see how it compares to our own contract. We are proud of our present contract and we plan to protect and improve it next year. Contract negotiations will probably include the addition of some form of a clinical ladder. We have discussed the policies of the clinical ladder at length with the union leaders at Jersey Shore Medical Center. We have been assured that their clinical ladder is not subjective like SOCH experienced years ago but monitored and collaborated with and by fellow union nurses.

At each of the three meetings important issues were brought forth by individual units. Staffing remains a major problem. Their remains a constant shortage of nurses’ aids, secretaries, techs and patient monitors. ER, CCU and Mancini have all had similar flexing complaints. Their is a pattern where management flexes a nurse and cancels them without asking if the nurse will be “on call.” Later in the shift these units get slammed with emergencies, multiple admissions and deteriorating patient conditions. Flexing continues to set the nurses up to fail which in reality is not providing safe, quality care to our patients. Many nurses told stories that were unacceptable for the standard of care that is expected at SOCH.

Contract violations persist with inappropriate flexing. Know your contract language and make sure it is honored. If you are asked to flex make sure you ask, “Is it my turn? Is somebody on overtime? Is there an agency nurse working?” Several grievances have won lost wages for inappropriate flexing.

The emergency room nurses have experienced months of mishandled staff schedules which included multiple scheduling contract violations. Hopefully by the time this newsletter goes to print the nurses, with their union representative Jean Holden and our local president, Kathy Whalen will have had their meeting with Dr. Ridge to straighten out this crisis once and for all.

Meridian has two surveys coming out. Please take the time to fill these out. It gives us a voice to express our opinions about our working conditions and our management.

Meridian has educational scholarships available to SOCH employees. Check out the Meridian website for details. Also Meridian is offering a sweet deal for employees on Great Adventure discount tickets. The Meridian website also offers many other discounts and services.

Our next Rep meeting will be June 3rd at the Jennings Road Community Center. Please welcome Steve Stafford as an addition to our present CCU unit reps Carey Cranmer and Linda Palmer. We look forward to working with you Steve! We are always open to adding new unit representatives so join us at our next meeting!

The addition of refreshments and door prizes was a huge hit at the general membership meeting. Congrats to Anna Pona, Joan Deckman, and Holly Gallagher for winning gift cards valued at $50 each!

In Unity,
Julie George RN, BSN, CCRN
Grievance Chair Local 5138

Newsletters

June 2010
March 2010
January 2010

Local Officers List

President - Kathy Whalen
Vice President - Sally Fessler
Secretary/Treasurer - Karen Daly
Grievance Chairperson - Julie George

HPAE Staff Rep - Jeffrey Hayden (856) 663-0300 ext. 316
HPAE Support Staff - Sandy Theriaque (201) 262-5005 - ext. 125