NARH union decries demands

facts wrote:

Hey Glenn, shouldn't the big story here be that the hospital is looking for a buyer or a merger? Employees received a letter some weeks back confirming this. We've been told it's Berkshire Health, Baystate or UMass Medical Center that they're trying to woo. Also, check the financial bond rating sites and look for the most recent bond rating for North Adams, which came out recently... the financial outlook is very dim for our local hospital and the managers don't want to admit it.

manny wrote:

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Maybe the outlook is dim due to the cost of having to retain and compensate union employees that are neither the best nor the brightest. That's what unions are for, right? Protecting the worst and preventing one from rewarding the best.
In this economy you're lucky you have a job. Stop whining and maybe if you're lucky our hospital won't end up like GM.

Judged:

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tinkerbell wrote:

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I dislike people like you who don't know what there talking about. I happen to work at NARH and I am a union member. How would you like to go 2 years without a raise. We took the hospital on or backs for 2 years for what so they could cry again they don't have money. Now they don't want to give us a pension, and a lot of other thing they want to take away from us.How bright are you? Do you work or are you on disability? That's what everybody says be happy you have a job so that means let them walk all over you and kiss there a-- because I have a job. Don't think so.

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tinkerbell wrote:

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I dislike people like you who don't know what there talking about. I happen to work at NARH and I am a union member. How would you like to go 2 years without a raise. We took the hospital on or backs for 2 years for what so they could cry again they don't have money. Now they don't want to give us a pension, and a lot of other thing they want to take away from us.How bright are you? Do you work or are you on disability? That's what everybody says be happy you have a job so that means let them walk all over you and kiss there a-- because I have a job. Don't think so.

tinkerbell wrote:

<quoted text>
I dislike people like you who don't know what there talking about. I happen to work at NARH and I am a union member. How would you like to go 2 years without a raise. We took the hospital on or backs for 2 years for what so they could cry again they don't have money. Now they don't want to give us a pension, and a lot of other thing they want to take away from us.How bright are you? Do you work or are you on disability? That's what everybody says be happy you have a job so that means let them walk all over you and kiss there a-- because I have a job. Don't think so.

facts wrote:

Hey Glenn, shouldn't the big story here be that the hospital is looking for a buyer or a merger? Employees received a letter some weeks back confirming this. We've been told it's Berkshire Health, Baystate or UMass Medical Center that they're trying to woo. Also, check the financial bond rating sites and look for the most recent bond rating for North Adams, which came out recently... the financial outlook is very dim for our local hospital and the managers don't want to admit it.

tinkerbell wrote:

Lets put it this way I was making a whole lot more in 2000 working at a mill then I am now yeah I know the mills not here anymore. That's a whole different story. But we worked hard to get what we have why should we just let them take it all away.

Wonk wrote:

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Listen--if you were a millworker and now are a unionized employee at the hospital, you probably have a marginal skill set, no college degree, and if it weren't for your union would be collecting unemployment by now.
If you think you're being shafted, perhaps you should take a look at the history of labor/mgmt relations and find out what it was TRULY like to be exploited labor. A coal miner in West Virginia in the 30s. A farm worker in the 70s. A WalMart worker today.
Quitcher bitchen. We all hate working for a living, but it beats the alternative.

Tink 2 wrote:

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The fact of the matter is that neither BHS nor Baystate wants NARH.
Another fact is that this little 65 bed hospital is once again top heavy with management, but alway cuts from the bottom. Staff is cut to the bone yet keeps NARH in a good light with the public for coming in top percentiles across the nation with compliances. It's the little people that are working their butts off -not the mega managers. The present CEO/President is merely using NARH as a stepping stone for his career and wants his legacy to be that of "union buster". For once it would be nice for the Board of Trustees to be actively involved in the future of NARH and not just go with the flow of the spoon fed garbage that is fed to them. The only thing that has kept the doors open at NARH is the commitment/dedication and longevity of its employees - not these
fly by night Administrators.

Franklin wrote:

For most business's to turn a profit and have a decent relationship with employees it must not have a union. Study after study have proven this.

tinkerbell wrote:

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Wonk Maybe I went back to school. Have you ever heard of that. This union has xray techs, LPN's, Pharmacists, operating room techs, central service(there the ones who sterilize the operating room equipment), Secretary, housekeepers and a whole lot more. So yes there is well educated people in this union. Sorry have to go to work respond more later

Wonk wrote:

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Those well-educated housekeepers and sterilizers are really the impressive ones in your list. Where'd you go back to school? And if so, why are you still in a menial unionized hospital job?
You ain't fooling anyone into thinking you're a pharmacist. Maybe a pharmacy tech....someone who puts pills into bottles. Otherwise, how many years of training do you need to use an autoclave?
Quitcher bitchen.

call me cynical wrote:

The whole thing is a hospital ploy to make the unions look bad--make outrageous demands to take back previously negotiated items and then act shocked when the unions say no. The only one whining here is the hospital.
For example, on overtime, who in their right mind would agree to give up being paid OT after 8 hours knowing the hospital could then just mandate you to stay another shift? Why bother calling in someone else to cover a shortage or hire extra help when you can just mandate someone to stay? At least now they have to pay you overtime so it encourages them to find alternatives to having people do double shifts. Anyone in health care knows this is a very real problem.