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- The 75 registered nurses and nonprofessional workers who are members of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees at Bergen Community Blood Bank in Paramus, N.J., ratified their first contract; the group voted for the FNHP affiliate in December 1998. Community outreach and support played a big role in the union's bargaining success when management at the 46-year-old blood collection facility refused to bargain in good faith. Last spring, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services investigated the center at the union's request and found significant violations of blood collection and handling rules. The union worked with state and federal agencies to help the center improve its processing procedures and, with the center's existence at stake, the employer finally decided to bargain. Workers now have a strong contract that ensures appropriate staffing levels, a safe working environment, and quality delivery of blood products, as well as a 9 percent salary increase over two years and bonuses tied to years of service. "I think the contract represents a new era for the blood center," HPAE president Ann Twomey told the Bergen Record. "Hopefully, it marks a strong alliance to rebuild the center and the blood supply in New Jersey."
- Federation of Nurses/United Federation of Teachers' membership within the Visiting Nurse Service of New York is growing, says FN/UFT special representative Angela Kahn, thanks to the union's assistance with the accretion of two new units into the VNS. GHI Home Care on Staten Island was purchased by the VNS (renamed Group Home Health Care); the acquisition, after union negotiations, meant 75 new nurses became members. The VNS also picked up a home care unit in Nassau County, which meant some 40 more FN/UFT nurses came on board. Both units are still growing, says Kahn, who notes that the FN/UFT now has some 1,400-1,500 members in the VNS.
- Members of the newly affiliated Health Care-PSEA (see p. 3) at Indiana Hospital in Indiana, Penn., successfully bargained a new contract in early November that provides for limits on mandatory overtime--including allowing nurses' refusal twice a year and working no more than five days in a row and having every other weekend off. The contract also addresses reassignment of nurses--a problem that can present a danger to patients--and recognizes the value of an experienced nursing staff through maximum increases at the top of an expanded 15-year wage scale.
- Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals leaders received honors for service to the community and their union in 2000. Shirley Uribe, president of the WFNHP retiree chapter, received the 2000 Werner J. Schaefer Labor/United Way Community Service Award; Diana Zaragoza, president of the St. Francis Hospital Service Chapter (WFNHP Local 5001), was given her local's "Unionist of the Year Award" and honored with a position in the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement; Candice Owley, WFNHP president, WFNHP Local 5001 president, AFT vice president and national FNHP program and policy council chair, was given the Wisconsin Women's Network Stateswoman of the Year Award.
