FPE/AFT member says hospitals are 'sweatshops'

"Hospitals are the sweatshops of the new millennium," said Nancy Kapplan, a member of the FPE/AFT-affiliated Connecticut Federation of Educational and Professional Employees' University Health Professionals local, during a December Capitol Hill news conference where proposed legislation to ban mandatory overtime for nurses was unveiled.

Kapplan joined Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) who, with Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), introduced the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act, H.R. 3237, in the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure would prohibit hospitals and healthcare facilities that are Medicare providers from requiring mandatory overtime of nurses, except in the rare event of an official state of emergency. Under the proposed legislation, nurses would be allowed to volunteer for overtime if and when they felt they could provide safe, quality care.

Kapplan, an intensive care unit nurse at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, told reporters that many hospitals have turned mandatory overtime into a staffing tool rather than an emergency fallback, a practice that has driven nurses out of the profession. Forced overtime, she said, compels nurses to make medical decisions with minimal sleep or food, thus jeopardizing patient care.

Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.).

Colorado governor spares no expense to bust unions

For legal services to fight a union lawsuit challenging an executive order that eliminated payroll deduction of union dues for state employees, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens is sparing no expense. Both Gov. Owens and Troy Eid, executive director of state personnel, have hired firms based in New York and Washington, D.C., to represent their interests. Eid also has hired a Colorado attorney.

Their willingness to spend taxpayer money to thwart public employee unions has drawn criticism. James Hansen, a Rocky Mountain News columnist, recently wrote: "Eliminating the [unions] from payroll deduction would save only pennies, no doubt a pittance compared to the fees charged by the governor's outside counsel. The unions on many occasions in the past have offered to pay whatever additional costs, if any, the state incurs by making the deductions."

The New York and D.C.-based firms charge $215 to $500 an hour; and Eid's Durango-based attorney charges $200 an hour, according to official records obtained by Coloradans United for Fairness (CUFF), the union coalition that filed the lawsuit, which includes the FPE/AFT-affiliated Colorado Federation of Public Employees (CFPE). The first invoice issued to Eid by the Durango attorney was for $9,350.

Gov. Owens issued the executive order last year, asserting his action would save Colorado taxpayers money by eliminating the administrative costs associated with payroll deduction. Meanwhile, the state continues to process automatic payroll deductions for about 100 nonunion organizations and companies.

Twenty-two lawmakers joined the CFPE in a show of support for the union and to demonstrate against Gov. Owens' backdoor maneuver to institute paycheck deception and bust unions, says CFPE president Jo Romero, including Senate president Stan Matsunaka, Sen. Peggy Reeves and Rep. Jennifer Veiga.

AFT releases 2nd report on healthcare work force

AFT Healthcare released The State of the Healthcare Work Force 2001 in December, the second report of its kind conducted by the healthcare division of the AFT. The report, which includes information on the demographics of healthcare workers, wages and benefits and unionization rates, concludes that unless working conditions and salaries improve, the future appears bleak for replenishing the depleting ranks of nurses and other healthcare workers. In addition to the nurse shortage, the report documents worsening shortages among the ranks of respiratory, occupational and physical therapists.

To obtain a copy of the report, contact Tim Evanson of the AFT Healthcare Department at (202) 879-4508.