Holiday Wishes

May you all have Happy Holidays. May the New year bring health and happiness and as always say a little prayer for those who stand in Harms Way.

Just a thought

I am a day late with this post.
My thought is simple, my all of our brothers and sisters in harms way make it home to those they love and love them.

Healthcare Plan

We would like to thank all of those who came out to vote on the New Healthcare Plan.
The plan won approval by an 87 to 6 vote.

Membership Meeting

United Nurses & Allied Professionals
Local 5086


Membership Meeting

Vote on Changes to the Medical Plan




WHEN: WEDNESDAY, November 5, 2008


8:00am- Central Intake Conference Room

2:00pm- Central Intake Conference Room

4:00pm- Central Intake Conference Room


Please Plan to Attend

Meetings

Tuesday November 4 at 4pm there will be an Executive Council Meeting at 4 pm in the Large Board room.

Wednesday November 5 at 8am, 2pm and 4pm there will be a General Membership meeting in the Central intake conference room.

The Topic will be Healthcare

Please plan on attending

Sharing our Blog

I spoke to other Locals from Vermont and we thinking maybe to share our blog with all the Vermont Locals. This would be a great thing for the Vermont locals, it will give us all a feeling belonging to more than just 5086. After all we are part of something bigger, something much bigger.
What are your thoughts? We could find out what is going on with other local here in Vermont and maybe see we are all fighting the same fight.

Leadreship Retreat

Here I am at Alton Jones conference center in Rode Island, at the UNAP leadership meeting with my fellow union brothers and sisters. The conference starts at 9am Wednesday so keep an eye on the blog for details.

October Newsletter

UNAP 5086



The executives of the union held a union membership meeting on September 2nd to discuss safety and communication issues. During the meeting, members spoke about how imperative it is to keep members informed on latest news and current updates regarding these issues. We discussed different avenues of communication. One thought was to email union members however; we are requesting feedback from the members regarding email. Would members feel comfortable with this avenue? As you know, Tom Flood union president union 2 has tried to rectify this communication issue by starting a Unap blog along with a quarterly news letter which has been posted in the bulletin boards. Tom also started a communication committee. We are trying really hard to rectify past communication issues. We want all union members to be informed as to what is going on. We have had few responses to information that has been delivered. Please let us know what your thoughts are on providing your email to us and other avenues of communication you might have. You may contact the members below.
Thank You



It seems that the Acuity of the units has gone up in the past few weeks and units are beginning to feel uneasy. Staff have been assaulted by patients and sent to the hospital with a number of injuries. Patients are feeling unsafe and staff feels unsafe at times and also feels unable to deal with the increase in raging, acting out patients lately. More codes are being called and the code themselves are more intense. STRESS levels are at an all time high.
Be careful out there and keep an eye out for your co-workers. We are in this together so let’s work together. Remember to report all unsafe conditions!

Remember to visit the UNAP homepage

The next Communication Committee will be on Tuesday October 14, at 1:30 in the Café.

The next Executive Council meeting will be November 4, at 4 pm in the large board room.

We are looking for members who would like to join the Grievance committee, if you are interested please contract Tom Flood or stop by the communication committee meeting on October 14.

Help Wanted

Looking for a few members willing to help with the grievance process. Will teach and mentor those interested. If you are interested please contact Mike Barry, Tom Manning or Tom Flood.

New Contract for Our Lady of Fatima Hospital

The United Nurses & Allied Professionals (UNAP), Local 5110, represents about 300 registered nurses at Our Lady of Fatima. Members voted 200 to 3 to ratify the agreement, which includes raises that will amount to 15 percent over the contract’s term; increases in shift-differential and on-call pay; dental coverage; a prescription-drug benefit; and tuition assistance, UNAP said.
“We set two goals for ourselves in this round of negotiations: to improve staffing and to secure a competitive wage and benefit package,” Lynn Blais, a registered nurse and the president of UNAP Local 5110, said in announcing the contract’s ratification. “With the unwavering support of our membership, we were able to approve both.”
Staffing levels had been a sticking point in the longrunning negotiations, the union noted. The new “groundbreaking” agreement will give nurses at Fatima “the right to appeal to a neutral arbitrator if the hospital continues to staff fewer nurses than the numbers that they have reported to the [R.I.] Department of Health, except in limited extenuating circumstances,” UNAP said.
for more info go to Contract Info

Lynn Blais is the local 5110 President.

Exectutive Council Meeting

September 23 at 4pm the Executive Council will meet in the Education Conference Room.

Safety is as Safety does

I was given a pin to wear today from my manager that read "Mental Health Worker" and I explained it is something that we would not allow a patient to have since it is a sharp yet Management wants us to wear them anyway! If I am not mistaken my swipe card already has "Mental Health Worker" on it in bold letters!
It appears that the more management say they want to have a safe work environment the less it becomes safe. Pins on units where patients are not allowed to have staples seems very strange. Does this sound safe to you? It sure doesn't to me!

Meeting with Management Revisited

Union officials met with Management on Thursday August 21,2008 with some results to show. Both sides will do some research and get back to each other by September 5.
There was no results on the staffing grid issue from T1.
Safety was a Key issue discussed and as Tom Manning pointed out we spent the least amount of time on this issue! Most workers feel that management has not sought out line staff to ask their opinion about any of the knee jerk reactions that have been implemented in the last month or any input at all. Although typical of management we had thought they would realize the huge amount of expertise that staff possess and what an important resource they are.
There appears to be a feeling of disrespect the retreat has towards the union and as a result management has not followed the contract and also has not notified the Union about changes they have made. This disrespect has to come to and end! There is a membership meeting scheduled for September 2, 2008 at 2 and 4 pm. We need you input at this meeting please make a note of the date and time. Look to the Union bulletin boards at the Retreat for more infomation.

Membership Meeting

We will have a membership meeting on September 2, 2008 at 2 and 4 pm in the West Conference Room.
We met with management and we would like input from members so we can go back with ideas to improve not only patient safety but Staff safety as well. I believe it is time that we all think outside the box for answers, we need well thought out strategies and not knee jerk reactions. Please come to the meeting and share your thoughts on how to improve safety.
Feel free to post and thoughts you might have on the subject all comments are welcome!

Acuity on the rise

It seems that the Acuity of the units has gone up in the past few weeks and units are beginning to feel uneasy. Staff have been assaulted by patients and sent to the hospital with a number of injuries. Patients are feeling unsafe and staff feel unsafe at times and also feel unable to deal with the increase in raging, acting out patients lately. More codes are being called and the code themselves are more intense. STRESS levels are at an all time high.
Be careful out there and keep an eye out for your co-workers. We are in this together so lets work together. Remember to report all unsafe conditions!

Update

We have a meeting with Management on August 21 to talk about some long standing issues. Things like staff grids, breaks and grievances. Jack from Rode Island will be at the meeting and we will let people know how it went ASAP.


Contract tip:
Article 20.9
states that if you miss work due to a patient hurting you , you will be paid 100% of your pay including differentials. Read the article, Know your rights

Election Results

The Election took place on Thursday July 17.
Here are the results

Bonnie Chase President Unit 1
Tom Flood President Unit 2
Mike Barry Exec. Vice Pres. Unit 2
Tom Manning Vice Pres. Adult Services
Jerry Irish Unit Rep. T-1 Unit 2
Pam Lords Floats Per Diem
Bruce Kendrick Floats Per Diems
Matt Shibley SW Rep
Beth Keindle RN Rep T1 Unit 1
Michele Desrosier RN T2 Unit 1
Ed Dowd Rep RN T3 Unit 1



Congratulations one and all!!!!!

Elections

Please remember to come out and Vote on Thursday July 18, 2008
in the West Conference Romm 8 to 10 am and 2:30 to 4pm.

Open letter to Management

On behalf of UNAP 5086, we are writing to express our deep concern about the repeated violations of our contract, primarily in regards to the staffing grids and the grievance procedure. We understand that this administration is new and that everyone may not be well versed in working with a union shop. We also understand that some of the administrators are attempting to follow the contract. Yet this is a binding, legal contract; and the administrations attempts, however sincere, still leave the Retreat out of compliance. Currently we have the following active grievances:

1. T 4 breaks
2. T 2 staffing grid
3. T 3 staffing grid
4. T 1 staffing grid
5. Admissions nurse job change

These grieveances all impact patient and staff safety and the Union will not allow anything but 100% compliance to the staffing grids.

We had hoped that the union and the administration could work cooperatively to make some of the changes that the Brattleboro Retreat needs to make in order to stay alive and flourish. The union is frustrated by the waste of time and energy spent in dispute. We’re working backwards and against everyone’s interests when we have to constantly negotiate contract violations.

The current administration has repeatedly stressed the importance of staff retention here at the Retreat. However when this self same administration walks all over us by blatantly violating the contract instead of approaching us first to discuss needed changes, the members feel disrespected and disinclined to work for this institution.

May Update

The professional issues committee is working on improving T4. Sue Mello thought it was a successful meeting with Vareen. The committee will be meeting again on May 29th to see how the plans are going.

Contracts are in and are being circulated if you need a copy see Mike Barry or Tom Flood.

Elections are due in June and you should be receiving in the mail Information about the Election. Also the budget is up for a vote in June also. Keep tuned for the times and date.

We have a step II grievance that is still going full force and we met with Management on May 16, 2008 to figure it out or move it to step 3. We presented our case and await Managements response. It is a staffing grid issue!

We also have a step III grievance that may go to arbitration, the grievance is centered on breaks. The grievance Committee will meet and discuss what to do next.
The May Day celebration on the commons was small this year but a good time was had by all that attended.

New Members

Monday May 19 starts a new orientation group of 11 new members. Please when you meet them introduce yourself and make them feel welcome. Mike Barry and Tom Manning have taken over orientation which happens at 12:30 on Mondays when there is a new class.

UNAP Scholarship

The UNAP scholarships were announced on May 14 at the Executive council meeting in Rode Island and one of the winners was Rachael Dowd. Rachael is the daughter of Ed Dowd who works on the Adolescent inpatient unit. Congratulations Rachael!

Web Page

OK it's back up and I am adding to it slowly. The contracts are there and you should be able to open them up and view them. Also the date of the next membership meeting is posted.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Web page is back!

Hey Rick B. from Rode Island was a huge help and as a result I will be updating the page. It make take me a few days so keep checking it out.

less we forget

It was a year ago today that the unthinkable happened.

Technical Difficulties

While attempting to update our web page I deleted it by mistake, my bad! The Computer guys are attempting to fix it. Sorry for any inconvenience.
As you can see the blog is still up and running.

Retreat contract signed

The new Retreat contract was signed on Monday, April 7. We are waiting to get the copies back from the printer. As soon as we receive them, we will distribute them to all our members. Stay tuned...
The contract is on the "S" drive if you have access to the retreat computers.

Danielle Perry joins UNAP staff

Former Local 5086 President and Brattleboro Retreat RN, Danielle Perry, is now working with the UNAP in Rhode Island as a union organizer. Danielle's responsibilities include organizing LPNs, Techs, and support staff at Fatima Hospital, where the UNAP already represents RNs, as well as Kent County Hospital, the second largest hospital in Rhode Island.
Danielle can be reached at 401-831-3647, extension 19.

Executive Council meeting in Rode Island

Just back from Rode Island and while I was there I put a few things on the UNAP home page. Use the link on the blog to check it out. There are one or two more things to add but it is a good start.
Did you know you can join the UNAP page? It's easy and if you do you can post comments or ask questions on the forum page. Just go to create new account and fill out the form.

Helping hands

Say Hello to the
Communication Committee!

Donna Johnson T1
Marlene Streeter T2
David King Tower Program
Sean Whelan O2
Scott Roberts A&E

I would like to thank them for stepping up to help us keep the information flowing to all of our members

Why a Union

Someone asked me the other day why have a union? Most people don't remember the days when you started work at 10 or 11 years old and worked in horrible conditions!
Job security, livable wages, health care and safe working conditions were all brought to you by UNIONS.

On the web

Keep checking us out for updates and information about your union!
We are in the process of up-loading to the UNAP homepage the contract and also the Constitution.

Web Page

We have linked the UNAP web page to this Blog. Look to the right side of the blog and you will see the link. Click on it and visit the page.
We will be adding more things to the page to get more info to our members.

Steady as she goes

The contract is all set to go to the printer. We worked hard to make sure the Staffing grids were included in this contract and we were successful.
We have a new communication committee that will begin to disseminate information in the form of a newsletter. Look for it in the mail at mid April. We also will place information in the bulletin boards.

Communication

Welcome to (United Nurses and allied Professionals) UNAP 5086 and all of it's members who work hard to insure the highest quality of care for those in our charge.

Today is the day we move past the anger and negativity. Today is the day we stand together united for the common good.