NEW ORLEANS — The first day of contract negotiations for the very first nurses’ union in Louisiana just wrapped up on Monday.
Nurses voted at the end of last year to form a union at University Medical Center.
And before the hospital and nurses sat down at the bargaining table, the nurses rallied its members.
Nurses at University Medical Center showed up early Monday morning to stir up enthusiasm as their bargaining unit kicks off day one of union negotiations.
“You are the trailblazers for nurses throughout this region, and so you should be very proud of what you've done to even get to this point because do you think that LCMC wants to sit across the table from you all as equals?” a man on a megaphone called out to the crowd that replied, “No!”
In December, three-quarters of the 600 nurses at UMC voted to be the first in Louisiana to unionize. Now, lawyers, managers, and representatives begin face-to-face negotiations on what wage and workplace demands will and won't be met.
“We face problems like inadequate staffing and workplace violence, and we don't really have anything written anywhere that protects us from those things. And so it's important for us to set a precedent for how we want to be treated and how we want our patients to be treated,” said Dana Judkins, a registered nurse at UMC who attended the rally.
“We need to show the community that our efforts are serious. We're extremely concerned about safe staffing supplies, workplace violence, and we want to take the best care of our patients as we possibly can,” said UMC neurosurgery nurse practitioner, Lauren Waddell.
The type of violence the nurses are referring to is possibly from patients, who at times are agitated, because there's not enough staffing, so their needs aren't getting met. The other type, they say, is visitors coming into the hospital and bringing weapons.
UMC's CEO answered the questions we emailed to him by sending a videotaped response.
“Workplace violence is something we take very serious, and I want you to know at UMC our patients are safe, and our employees are safe, and we spend a significant amount of our time, and our resources, ensuring that we have a safe workplace,” recorded John Nickens, CEO of University Medical Center.
UMC says well-compensated traveling nurses are a reality in a day when there is a nursing shortage, and in critical care areas, nurse-to-patient ratios are 1-1 or 2-1.“With all of our challenges, I can tell you I'm incredibly proud of our nurses.” Nickens said in closing.
Now, it's up to lawyers to find the middle ground.
UMC is the state's safety net hospital for people who don't have access to health care.
With the national nurse shortage, some fear that strict staffing demands would mean beds would have to be closed, leaving people without health care.
Nurses say better staffing makes it safer for patients.
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