SB 1067 Save Staffing Legislation

This came up as a FB memory from 9 years ago. 

Unsafe staffing is not new, it was not caused by Covid, and it is not caused by a “nursing shortage.” 

It is a result of the decisions of hospital administrators.

 The status quo is not acceptable. 

SB 1067 sets minimum staffing standards and gives hospital administrators 5 more years to hit them. Ambulances will not back up in parking lots and floors will not shut down. 

Nurses will step up, as we always have, but SB 1067 will force hospital administrators to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. 

Tell legislators to support SB1067 

 

All I want for Christmas (for Healthcare Heroes)

 The greatest holiday gift we could give our “healthcare heroes” this year is a concerted effort to improve working conditions. Our nurses and other healthcare professionals are worn out, and that is bad for them, and for patients. AFT Nurses & Health Professionals has completed a staffing shortage task force report, with the input of experts in the field and thousands of experts at the bedside, our dedicated members. AFT Connecticut will hold a press conference on January 9 to present this report which will guide our efforts to improve conditions. I hope you can join us. Confirmed speakers so far include AFT - American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten and State Senator M Saud Anwar deputy president and co-chair of the Committee on Public Health. 

The report and links to the press conference can be found at http://aftct.org/23_Safe_Pt_Care_PC 

Our report gives us a roadmap of proven strategies, including:

* Improving recruitment (and diversity in the workforce), with strategies like high school career and techinical education programs, apprenticeships and nurses bridge programs;

* Expanding targeted financial aid and loan repayment programs, including the National Health Service Corps and the Nurse Faculty Loan Program;

* Enacting federal and state laws mandating safe staffing ratios for the whole care team, putting safe staffing requirements into governmental regulations, and negotiating safe staffing levels into collective bargaining agreements;

* Banning mandatory overtime through a wide-ranging approach: federal and state legislation, regulation and collective bargaining agreements;

* Pushing Congress to pass the federal Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, and working with legislatures on greater safety protections;

* Pushing for pandemic protections in federal law, such as an Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services emergency preparedness rule;

* Advocating for funding and programs to support health professionals' mental health;

* Working at the federal and state levels to increase oversight of mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare industry, including the impact on patient care;

* Making shared governance part of the collective bargaining agreement -- like the partnership between Kaiser Permanente and our Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals and other unions; &

* Last but far from least, championing the right for healthcare workers to form unions, and fighting employer union-busting tactics.

Connecticut AFL-CIO CT Senate Democrats #DoBetter #healthcareheroes

Windham Nurse’s Strike

 Our AFT Connecticut AFT Nurses & Health Professionals Windham Hospital Unions United Windham Hospital Registered Nurses Local 5041 and Windham United local 5099 have ended their 2 day Unfair Labor Practice strike/picket and returned to the bedside (where they prefer to be). I want to congratulate both locals on a successful strike/picket and show of solidarity. 

Your ability of come together in solidarity exceeded my expectations and I congratulate you and your leadership teams. 

Now it is up to Hartford HealthCare to come back to the negotiations table and bargain in good faith. 

The “unofficial anthem” of the past 2 days seems to have been the song Where not Gonna Take It

Whoa-whoa, we're not gonna take it

No, we ain't gonna take it

We're not gonna take it anymore

We're not gonna take it

No, we ain't gonna take it

We're not gonna take it anymore

No way!

It seems fitting. 

Thank you everyone for your support of our members. 

Labor Day 2022

 I’ve been working, well, a long time. But my introduction to Organized Labor came later in life when we formed the Backus Nurses. It was then that I understood the family that is the Labor movement. 

Happy Labor Day to my AFT - American Federation of Teachers and Connecticut AFL-CIO families and my siblings all over the world in other unions. Thank you for the incredible work you do in your day jobs and your union work. 

Thank you also to the professionals who work for us, the managers and staff of our unions, including the AFT Connecticut staff union, AFTSU, OPEIU - Office and Professional Employees International Union and others I’m sure I’m missing. 

Happy Labor Day!

Hartford Healthcare should do the right thing

 Hartford HealthCare waited till the last day possible to file an appeal on the state’s decision that they need to reopen Labor & Delivery at Windham Hospital. Windham United to Save our Healthcare is not surprised with this delay tactic. It is something we have come to expect from this healthcare corporation. The fact is, HHC manufactured a decrease in births at Windham Hospital and then tried to use that decrease to justify closing L&D, which they did without state approval by circumventing the Certificate of Need law., resulting in a fine by the state. 

The number of births in the Windham area have not decreased. HHC has just forced them to other facilities, causing increased risk to mothers and babies. 

It is well past time for HHC to do the right thing, the thing the state of Connecticut has instructed them to do, reopen L&D at Windham Hospital. 

WUSH and AFT Connecticut have spots on the CoN task force and we will advocate for Connecticut’s patients and families.