Local 5105 Negotiations Update and Membership Meetings (May 15)

Hi {{ FirstName | default: ‘Friend’ }},

First of all, we want to truly thank the nurses from the surgical service clinical groupings (PACU, SPA, OR and MASC), ICU, 2N, MBU, and LD who came out to the breakout sessions to speak to the employer’s’ proposed changes to their clinical grouping language. The passion, knowledge and conviction you all spoke with was extremely powerful, and sent a clear message to the Hospital that our members are engaged and ready to do what it takes to fight back against management’s harmful proposals.

At bargaining, both parties exchanged economic proposals this week, and we are VERY far apart. We proposed a 10% across the board increase in the first year and management came back with 3%, which is an insult. They dismissed our other economic proposals such as increased charge pay and increases to the 401K by saying they wanted to focus on wages, and then gave us a wage proposal that is well under the current inflation rate. They are asking us to solve their staffing issues for them by doing more with less, while at the same time proposing wage increases that will do nothing to encourage the retention and recruitment of nurses. All of management’s current proposals on the clinical groupings and per diems are still on the table, and they continue to dismiss staffing ratios that we NEED to properly care for our patients.

Now is the time for us to raise our collective voices. Next Tuesday, May 9th, our local will be doing a car caravan led by our Safe Staffing mobile billboard! We NEED strong member participation to send a powerful message to our employer and the public! We will be meeting in the Lumberton Plaza parking lot (1638 NJ-38, Lumberton, NJ 08048) at 6:00pm. Look for the huge mobile billboard and join the caravan! We will be driving around the Hospital demanding safe staffing both at our hospital and statewide. We’ll have car markers for folks to decorate your cars to support our safe staffing message! The event will be done in time for those working at 7pm to then go to work.

We also continue to strongly encourage EVERYONE to sign up for our safe staffing rally on May 11th in Trenton. We need a huge turnout to convince our legislators that SAFE STAFFING SAVES LIVES! Please register here to attend the May 11th rally and make your voice heard! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/may-11th-rally-for-safe-staffing-registration-533967339687. The bus for the rally will be leaving from the Lumberton Plaza parking lot at 10 am.

Finally, we will be holding a critical membership meeting on Monday, May 15th at 8:00am, 4:00pm and 8:00pm. We’ll be updating everyone on bargaining, and asking each member to vote to authorize our committee to call for concerted action up to and including a strike. We want to be clear that while this is a strike authorization vote, we would call the membership together for another vote before making any decision about going on strike. This vote allows us to call for other concerted activity such as informational picketing, and gives us leverage at the table when we meet with management again on May 18th. The vote will be done through AAA, and instructions for voting will be sent out closer to the meeting. The meetings will be entirely virtual at this link: https://aft.zoom.us/j/93813484145?pwd=bnU2TndhRWlVTzUrbDdsdXZVcE41Zz09

In solidarity,

Your Local 5105 Bargaining Committee