Nurses union plans to picket at Howard University Hospital after negotiations turn sour

Washington Business Journal ^ | 4/9/2014 | Tina Reed

[markomalley]

The D.C. Nurses Association plans to picket outside the entrance of Howard University Hospital on Thursday.

The union claims Howard University and hospital officials are violating federal law in their negotiations to reduce the workforce, union leaders said in a statement Wednesday evening. The union, which represents more than 500 registered nurses, pharmacists, dieticians and social workers, is calling the job action an "informational picket."

“DCNA is concerned that management’s failure to follow negotiated procedures after it made the decision to lay off registered nurses will result in unnecessary chaos within the hospital and will compromise the quality of care to patients,” the statement said.

Howard University was not immediately available for comment Wednesday evening.

In February,  Howard said it planned to cut about 200 staff positions in the subsequent months, about 4 percent of its workforce. The 482-bed teaching hospital said the cuts would likely impact nursing staff as well.

Howard University is one of the District's largest employers with close to 4,900 employees, according to Washington Business Journal research. Its metro-area enrollment is more than 10,000 students.

The school has been dealing with financial and strategic struggles of late, after a university trustee wrote a letter in June publicly detailing large problems within the university and hospital. Last fall, the university hired a consultant to help it find a buyer or partner for the struggling hospital. In July, the hospital announced a plan to furlough nearly its entire workforce, requiring 1,700 employees to take the equivalent of 12 days of unpaid leave over the next year. In June, Howard cut about 75 staff positions across the university and the hospital.

[McGavin999]

Do they think picketing will make money miraculously appear out of nowhere? These people are children, they have no idea how things really work. If our economy collapses, these are the people who will starve to death or be killed for stealing from those who produce.

[Enterprise]

"Do they think picketing will make money miraculously appear out of nowhere?"

I'm sure that all their financial problems will go away now that Obamacare is settled law.

[mdmathis6]

While it is true that you can’t make money appear out of no where, given that it is Howard University in DC, and given the local politics, the Nurses are at least partially right in focusing on the fiscal policies of the University...given the lavish spending on its administrators salaries and perks and other corrupt spending practices.

[MinuteGal]

Union bosses don't care if the economy is collapsing around the country like a deck of cards as long as their members aren't affected like everyone else.

And Obama will see to it that union members will be taken care of to the exclusion of the general populace....through the use of various money-laundering, kick-back, executive order, bail-out, blackmail and strong-arm tactics on employers as well as a multitude of other creative or illicit schemes to protect the Union lay-bull.

Leni

[Buckeye McFrog]

Union Thugs vs. Black DC Leftists.

Truly the Battle of the Century!

[1Old Pro]

A large hospital in Eastern Mass. closed it’s doors last week - thanks to the union.

Unions are a cancer and no longer needed in our society

[Mears]

What hospital in Eastern MA closed?

.

[bert]

While I oppose unions in general, I believe strikes like this one serve a useful purpose.

They act as a popoff valve. Pressure and anger builds among employees that are essentially powerless to change events resulting from actions over which they have no control. A strike allows the disgruntled employees to vent, to channel the energy into a harmless release. Once released, the pressure does not rebuild, it is gone

[1Old Pro]

North Adams
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/03/25/north-adams-hospital-closing-jobs-lost/94y5o1bpzBnPXkRdKpwPIJ/story.html

[Mears]

Thanks-—but that’s western MA———I was a tad confused since I live in Eastern MA. It’s like 2 different worlds.

.

[Bob Ireland]

***Union bosses don't care if the economy is collapsing around the country***

You have heard me mention parallels to Stalin and the USSR; the important thing to see here is that the Party comes first - before all else. The country be d@mned! The Party is everything.

If one would examine the history of Stalin, he never rose to power as Premier or Prime Minister or President... He ruled as SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY. He took a position considered incidental and whipped it into a bone-chilling tyranny.

I charge the Democraps with the same horror. The Dem Party is everything... the country is just a vehicle for their rise to power. Every issue they criticized W. for they are 10 times more guilty of... all by design. The Party is supreme... the country is incidental.

This is evident also in the Quantitative Easing fiasco which is going to end - one way or the other - in disaster: all to the benefit of the Party, as they step in to run the country as they know it should have been run from its beginnings. No doubt the IMF will step in to override our sovereignty and tell us we have to embrace socialism. The Democraps will nod sagely. ...we have to open our borders to everyone in the world to come and plunder our gross wealth. The Democraps will nod sagely.

Of course the UN will step up and help to dissolve the greedy nation once known as the home of the Yahnkees. {sigh}