Nurses union rejects hospital concessions

DANBURY -- Union members at Danbury Hospital have overwhelming rejected concessions hospital officials say would have saved 25 nurses from joining the unemployment lines.

Mary Consoli, president of the Danbury Nurses Union, said 96 percent of their members in a vote Thursday rejected the concessions that included the elimination of evening and weekend shift differentials and adjusted overtime payments.

Consoli said the layoffs will have a direct impact on patient care, and she accused hospital officials of unfairly blaming the union for the layoffs.

"Any loss of nurses will affect the care our patients receive," Consoli said.

Hospital officials, however, carefully considered actions that would "have the least impact to our patients and the care they need," said spokeswoman Andrea Rynn.

All told, the two hospitals now have about 725 nurses, Consoli said.

The layoffs are part of 116 positions eliminated at the hospitals last month by the Western Connecticut Health Network. Executives said the cuts were required because of a reduction of $30 million in state budget assistance. The job eliminations would leave the network with about 4,280 employees.

"Unfortunately, the state cuts went though and they are today's reality," Rynn said. "We simply have to take steps to reduce our operating expenses. "

"In order to save 25 nursing jobs, we proposed a reasonable alternative to the nurses through pay practice changes that are comparative with other staff (in the network) and other hospitals in the region," she said.

Union officials say the hospital, which they said could have reduced executive salaries or its 3 percent profit margin, is to blame, and not the state or union officials.

"This is a budgetary decision that was totally in their hands," Consoli said. "The hospital, and not the union, controls the purse strings."

While the network reported a total profit in the past two years of $70 million, officials with the nonprofit organization said they use that money to pay down debt and purchase new equipment.

Consoli the union gave "significant" concessions several years ago when the hospital said it was in difficult financial times, including the elimination of a traditional pension for employees in favor of a defined contribution plan.

The differentials that the hospital wanted to eliminate in the current round of concessions, she said, were negotiated over several years because the night and weekends shifts were difficult to fill.

Nonunion workers, she said, will have to begin working under the new terms starting Sept. 1.

"I feel really bad for these people," Consoli said. "If they had to do cuts, why didn't they do an equal percentage from the top down. That would have been much more equitable."

Rynn said the hospital has a responsibility to manage its business to "ensure we will be here in the future for our patients."

"We are resilient and grateful to our employees who find creative ways every day to continue to provide the high quality, safe care we are known for, and that our patients have come to expect," she added.

dperrefort@newstimes.com; 203-731-3358; www.twitter.com/DirkPerrefort

Source: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Nurses-union-rejects-hospital-concessions-4704150.php

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