Nurses hold on to their traditional pensions

In 1980, the registered nurses at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center (EHMC) went on a 98-day strike to get what they wanted. This year, it only took 30 days. The nurses ended their monthlong strike at Englewood Hospital on July 29 with a vote to ratify the tentative agreement reached two days earlier.

The 660-member local walked out on June 29 over issues of staffing, pensions, and recruitment and retention practices at the hospital.

Stephanie Orrico, the president of the local at the hospital, says community support and political pressure played a role in getting the nurses and the hospital back on track with the negotiations.

“Things were falling apart in the hospital under the care of agency nurses,” says Orrico.

The hospital hired U.S. Nursing Corp., a strike-breaking agency, to replace the nurses during the dispute.

New Jersey health department officials are currently investigating whether the presence of those temporary nurses contributed to an incidence of wrong-site surgery in which a doctor began operating on the wrong hip of an elderly patient.

Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) president and AFT vice president Ann Twomey told the Bergen Record the incident was “a direct result of the use of temporary agency nurses, who are not properly oriented.”

Another key factor in the victory was the solidarity and determination of the membership.

“We had a membership that totally stuck together and were not intimidated. We had single-mindedness and purpose. Our unity broke down the walls,” says Orrico

There was one more show of solidarity on Aug. 3: When all the nurses returned to work, they walked into the hospital together just as they had been together on the picket line for 30 days.

“I am proud of every nurse who stood up and stayed together throughout this strike and who can now go back to their patients’ bedsides knowing their fight was worthwhile,” says Twomey.

“This contract is the result of a hard-fought struggle by nurses who took a stand for patient safety, the nursing profession and nurses’ right to retire with dignity.”

During contract negotiations, the nurses rejected the hospital’s plan to replace the existing defined benefit pension, through which nurses are guaranteed a monthly payment for life, with a 401(k) plan.

“We all understand the problem with pensions. It’s in the newspapers every day, but the real issue was the impact such a [pension] change would have on our members,” says Orrico. “The hospital would have reduced our retirement by 30 percent, and it would have kept those dollars.”

The union met the hospital’s request for savings with various proposals, says Orrico.  But the hospital “kept coming back to say that’s not what it needed.”

Orrico believes the hospital’s refusal was its way of trying to break the union.

Under the terms of the new contract, the nurses will keep their pension plan. The union, however, did accept some modifications: It agreed to a 401(k) retirement savings plan for all new nurses hired after Jan. 1, 2007.

The contract also addresses salary increases, staffing and recruiting issues, and retention policies. “There’s new, strong language to ensure that staff ratios in the contract are adhered to and fair wage increases  take into account the hospital’s financial situation,” Jeanne Otersen, HPAE’s director of public policy, told the Bergen Record. “It’s unfortunate that it took a strike to go forward with it.”