Striking for respect

 You will hear a lot of reasons why the Backus Nurses will be on strike Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Let me tell you the truth. 

After battling on the front line of this pandemic for over 8 months, after fighting for proper PPE, after working short staffed and mandated double shifts, after pausing negotiations for several months to fight this virus, these nurse heroes hoped Hartford HealthCare would finally show them the respect they deserve. 

That is why they agreed to meet yesterday. I attended as an observer. 

At 10:00 in the morning the nurses offered a full counter proposal on ALL outstanding issues. They had made significant movement on key issues in this offer. They indicated to the hospital that if it were ready to make movement a solution was possible. None of these issues were new. They had been on the table since June. 

After 5 hours of caucusing amongst themselves, management had answers on some non economic issues. They indicated they were working on the economic issues. 

After 4 hours of more caucusing, they returned to say they could delay increasing insurance premiums for one year but had no movement on wages, NONE. 

They indicated that they could not move at all on a counter offer they had been reviewing for 9 hours. 

The nurses offered to continue talking or pick up on Monday IF management could say they could offer a counter proposal. 

Management only repeated that they were standing on their offer of 11 days ago. 

So when nurses say they are striking for respect- they are.