Centerpoint nurses still negotiating their contracts

On Mother’s Day, registered nurse Pauline Moe worked the night shift at Centerpoint Medical Center.

It was not a typical 12-hour shift. Not when she was responsible for 10 patients. She was overwhelmed that night.

Not often does she have 10 patients. Usually, it’s 8-to-1 on nights and 7-to-1 during the day shift.

“It was so detrimental to patient care,” Moe said.

Nurses United for Improved Patient Care, Local No. 5126 was formed last November to combat what Moe and other nurses go through when there’s a high ratio of nurses to patients and other workplace concerns for RNs.

Currently, the hospital and its owner HCA Midwest Health Systems, are in negotiations with the union to enter into a contract with its registered nurses at Centerpoint.

Negotiations started in February and the two have conducted 30 bargaining sessions, according to a written statement by Centerpoint.

Both parties have reached many “tentative agreements” regarding terms and conditions of employment. Additional sessions are scheduled for next month.

“It is Centerpoint Medical Center’s goal to develop a contract that meets the operational needs of the hospital and is reasonable and fair to our registered nurses,” according to the statement.

The union did a survey of nurses at the hospital. It found the top three priorities were wages, staffing and floating(transfereing nurses to different departments), according to union president and registered nurse Mary Nash.

Staffing is the No. 1 concern of those three, Nash said, if she was to prioritize them. Staffing is the reason why they started a grassroots campaign in 1999 to think about forming the union.

“It’s unsafe,” Nash said of overworked nurses “It’s unsafe for the patient and it’s unsafe for the nurse. That’s why errors happen.”

A law that went into effect this year in California mandates specific nurse-patient ratios that all hospitals in the state must follow. The ratios must be between 4-to-1 and 3-to-1, depending on the unit.

Under the new law, lives are being saved, the ability to be effective advocates for patients is stronger, and more RNs are entering the work force, according to an article on medicalnewstoday.com.

It’s legal for nurses in 49 states to be assigned 10 or even 15 patients at a time, far more than what is safe, according to the article.

Betty Blackmore, Centerpoint public relations director, said she couldn’t answer the question as to the hospital’s ratio of nurse to patients.

But Moe said the goal at Centerpoint is to get the ratio down to 6-to-1 on days and 7-to-1 on nights, Moe said.

Nash said the hospital is “not interested” in setting a specific ratio in the contract.

“We are working with our registered nurses to determine the most appropriate staffing mix for our patients based on population and type of unit,” said Lynn Barrett,chief nursing officer at Centerpoint.

In fact, the hospital has hired 48 nurses since March and is currently hiring nurses, Barrett said, despite a nationwide shortage of nurses.

However, it’s not just staffing that has been the sticking point on the negotiations. Also, wages and floating are important in the contract.

All three components are “packaged” together to give nurses better working conditions, she said.

“One thing calls for another,” Nash said. “You’ve got to have the nurses, so therefore to get the nurses you’ve got to pay a decent wage and in order to keep the nurses you can’t float them all over the hospital.”

Wages is also an important part of the contract. Even though the average pay for a RN in the Kansas City area is $52,000, according to indeed.com.

The union wants a pay increase for its nurses. Nash said the hospital has offered a 1 percent cost of living raise each year.

Centerpoint offered a new wage/benefit package that gave nurses significant pay increases averaging 25.9 percent during a three-year contract, according to a written statement by the hospital.

The hospital also offered a revised 401(k) plan that provided up to 9 percent matches for its most senior nurses. Centerpoint was willing to put the new wages and benefits into effect immediately and continue to bargain over other areas.

“The union has not accepted the offer,” according to the statement.

Nash said that the union has indeed not “agreed to everything.I can only speak to what the nurses feel that are the most important.”

The other two medical centers owned by HCA, Lee’s Summit and Menorah in Overland Park, Kan., have contracts in place.

Nash didn’t want to comment on the components of those contracts in regards to staffing and wages. When the Medical Center of Independence and the Independence Regional Health Center were closed and replaced by Centerpoint, the new hospital had to negotiate a new contract.