Union signals new landscape for nurses

By Cadence Mertz
Free Press Staff Writer

Mari Cordes had begun to hate her job. Not her work as a registered nurse, but her job. She recounted stories of her fellow nurses at Fletcher Allen Health Care leaving work in tears at the end of a shift, crying out of stress and frustration on the way to the parking lot.

Cordes had been through it before. She worked at Copley Hospital before coming to Burlington. She left the Morrisville hospital because of the chronic short-staffing and "unreasonable" demands on nurses, she said, the same reasons nurses there unionized in April 1997.

Cordes saw the same problems at Fletcher Allen, where she has worked for 2 years.

"We're exhausted, frustrated. People are leaving because they're burnt out, getting sick, back injuries, just not willing to jeopardize their health and well being," Cordes said of working at Fletcher Allen. She loves her work, she said, but she was hating her job.

So she joined the union movement that swept up Fletcher Allen's registered nurses during the past nine months. Nurses at Vermont's largest hospital voted 672-345 last week to unionize. They will be members of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, under the auspices of the American Federation of Teachers.

The vote results were announced late Thursday. Friday, nurses and managers returned to work. While nothing had changed, technically, the landscape was altered.

"It changes it in a very profound way," Chief Operating Officer Thad Krupka said of the vote's impact on the relationship between nurses and management.

Hospital board Chairman Philip Drumheller on Friday named Edwin Colodny the hospital's interim chief executive officer while the search for a permanent leader is conducted. Nurses, too, must select the leaders who will represent them in the long push toward a contract and reconcile their differing opinions on the union.

The nurses who voted against unionizing will wait to see the outcome.

"The honeymoon stage is now. Let's see who's still left over in a year," said Irene Bonin, a registered nurse who voted against the union.

Healing

Fletcher Allen on Friday morning was quiet, Bonin said. A celebratory buzz still hung in the air, but nurses got down to business. She said nurses with differing opinions were civil toward one another.

Nurses who have been through the union-building process elsewhere in the state offer advice on how to manage the next step.

"They need to stick together," said Judy Hulsebus, a registered nurse and chief shop steward of the union at Rutland Regional Medical Center. "Be patient because it's worth it."

There was animosity between the "yes" voters and the "no" voters at the Rutland hospital in the aftermath of a 1998 union vote, Hulsebus said. Some nurses refused to speak to each other. They needed a few months to cool down, Hulsebus said.

She warned that nurses need to respect each other's opinions on the vote and look forward to getting the best representation possible for the negotiating phase.

Licensed practical nurses at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital voted in August to join a union, said member Mark Herman-May. Theirs is a small group, representing fewer than 30 members, and distinct from the long-standing registered nurses' union at the hospital. The new union members now are choosing who will represent them at the bargaining table, Herman-May said.

The heated back-and-forth between staff and management leading up to the union should be forgotten, he said.

"Remember to be fair. Now is not the time to turn around and screw management," Herman-May said. "It's a pretty exciting time for us."

Communication between management and nurses at the Burlington hospital will be crucial to moving forward, said Mary Botter, newly appointed as Fletcher Allen's chief nursing officer. She said she saw no reason to expect any animosity as the hospital returns to its post-vote rhythm.

The contract

It could be months or a year before the Fletcher Allen union has a contract.

Registered nurse Stuart Whitney also teaches at the University of Vermont's nursing school. Faculty voted in a union in April 2001 and no contract has been signed yet, Whitney said. The faculty union is organized under United Professions of Vermont, which is also under the auspices of the American Federation of Teachers.

Rutland nurses approved their union in June 1998. An unsuccessful attempt to disband the union stalled contract negotiations, Hulsebus said. The first contract was signed in October 1999.

Colodny said he worked through many union negotiations during his tenure at USAirways Inc. He was the airline's president and chief executive officer from 1975 to 1991. The secret to agreeing on a contract is understanding the limitations on both sides, Colodny said.

"You have to have a document you can live with," he said Friday.

Pro-union nurses at Fletcher Allen said narrowing the hospital's nurse-to-patient ratio will be a priority at the bargaining table. By gaining a seat at the bargaining table, nurses would have more say in staffing levels, registered nurse and union organizer Tara Risinger said in the days before the vote.

One reason Cordes feels so frustrated at shift's end is because she feels she does not have adequate time to devote to each patient, she said. Nurses are expected to care for more patients at a time, while patients demand increasing levels of attention, she said.

The number of patients at the hospital grows monthly, said Chief Operating Officer Thad Krupka. Nurses are difficult to attract. Hospital management will necessarily approach the bargaining process with these limitations in mind, Krupka said Friday.

Expectations

Hulsebus believes Rutland nurses are better off today than before they had a contract. The Rutland contract outlined a grievance process that management and nurses must follow, she said. The contract has capped the percent nurses pay on their health insurance and increased the amount of time off to which they're entitled, Hulsebus said.

The most important thing, she said, is the contract gives nurses a voice.

Bonin remains skeptical of the union's ability to bring change.

"I think the union people were probably screaming the loudest because they just picked up 1,300 new customers," Bonin said of the celebrations Thursday night. Union dues are $35 a month, Risinger said.

Bonin said she wants the union to prove her wrong. A year from now she wants a contract in place and job improvements. If working conditions don't improve, she said, an increase in pay may make little difference.

Nurses must reach out to the doubters, Cordes said.

"I think we need to maybe take a little breather and approach the 'no' voters in particular with sensitivity," Cordes said. "In the beginning let them know that we very much want and need their input in the full process."

The union needs the input of all nurses, she said. A year from now Cordes wants to feel that nurses command respect, that they are in control of how nursing care is delivered at Fletcher Allen and that nurses are responsible for few enough patients to do a good job, she said.

"OK, here we are. Now all the energy should be going in the same direction," Bonin said.

Contact Cadence Mertz at 660-1847 or cmertz@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.