St. Elizabeth nurse union demonstrates for higher pay, more staffing

Dozens of St. Elizabeth staff members marched outside the hospital last Thursday holding an informational picket while their union negotiates for more benefits in their contract.

It seems this is becoming nearly a bi-annual affair, as nurses also picketed in 2022 and 2019.

And while progress was made when contracts were finalized in those years, union leadership feels St. Elizabeth always falls behind other Virginia Franciscan Mason hospitals in terms of pay and benefits, which leads to an inability to find and retain nurses and causes safety issues for staff and patients.

“… [H]ere we are again, falling behind,” said acute care RN Kelly Patton, who is also on the SEIU 1199 NW union bargaining team. “Just when we get where we’re good, and we can be competitive and get the experienced nurses in that are willing to work with less, we lose them again.”

St. Elizabeth President Danna Shaner, RN, said that hospital “remain[s] committed to the bargaining process and working toward the best possible outcome for our nurses and the community.”

“Since earlier this year, St. Elizabeth Hospital and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have negotiated in good faith to reach a fair contract for our nurses that also supports excellent patient care and reflects our role as a critical access hospital serving this community,” she said. ‘We made substantial progress during our last negotiation session and are confident we will reach an agreement soon.”

PAY AND STAFFING

According to Patton, St. Elizabeth nurse pay is not comparable to other Virginia Franciscan Mason facilities.

“The wages aren’t competitive to what St. Michaels and St. Joes [have],” she said. “… [T]hey have a great contract.”

According to the union, St. Elizabeth Hospital’s current hourly base pay is $42.58, compared to St Michael’s new hourly base pay of $46.02 and Saint Joseph Medical Center’s $47. 86.

By 2027, St. Elizabeth staff are hoping to close that gap with a base pay of $49.14, which puts it at about a dollar less than St. Michaels’ and a few cents less than St. Josephs’ at that same time.

In total, SEIU 1199 is proposing a 14.75% pay increase through 2025.

Though Shaner did not mention specifics, she said “Our most recent proposal upholds this promise and offers double digit wage increases to our nurses along with many other added benefits.”

The lack of break nurses has also been a theme throughout these demonstrations.

Patton said that other facilities are provided break staff that take over a nurse’s duties while they take a break.

“We’re expected to take our brakes and still take care of people. That makes it tough,” she said. “We miss a lot of breaks.”

Shaner said there are no dedicated break nurses at St. Elizabeth, but also that this is not an item currently being negotiated on.

“We closely monitor breaks and have additional resources available to support our care teams,” she continued. “In the rare event that we experience a staffing shortage, we have a specific process in place to address this promptly to ensure we maintain the highest quality patient care and support for our team members.”

The hospital has proposed formally recognizing a rapid response “SWAT” nurse, create hourly incentive for short-notice call coverage, and added pay for nurses if they haven’t received the specified hours of rest between shifts.

Patton also said that operating room staff are often overworked because they often respond to emergencies on top of working their regular shift.

Sarah Haulsey is one of those nurses, having recently gotten off her shift to join the demonstration but would be on call that night. The five operating nurses, she continued, have to take one on-call night a week and switch off who is on call for one weekend a month.

She said it’s not uncommon for her to work an 18-hour day between her regular duties and responding to emergencies.

Days off, she added, are rare.

“We’re so small, and we all wear different hats throughout the day that it would be impossible to be able to give people the day off after your own call,” Haulsey continued.

Patton said other larger hospitals have separate teams for emergency responses so as not to affect the regularly-scheduled nurses.

“We run on so much less. We don’t have the staff,” she continued. “We run lean. So, so lean.”

Shaner said the hospital works hard to “minimize these asks… whenever possible” and added that, as a part of negotiations, as proposed a “’rest between shift changes’ for nurses to receive time and a half their next working shift if they haven’t received the specified hours of rest between shifts.”

FURTHER EDUCATION

A new talking point this year is SEUI 1199 is negotiating for St. Elizabeth administration to pay into the union’s Multi-Employer Training Fund.

According to Grace Drechsel, SEIU 1199 communications specialist, employers pay into the fund, and that money, plus additional government and private grants, provides nurses the financial aid necessary to to cover tuition, further their professional education, or even pay their license fees.

St. Anne Hospital, St. Joseph, and St. Clare — all under the management of Virginia Franciscan Mason — are training fund members.

“They flat out told us we’re not going to get it… once again, we can’t have something another facility has,” Patton said, adding that she had to pay multiple hundreds of dollars out of her own pocket to renew her nursing license. “… We’re trying to be the best nurses we can possibly be, but we can’t afford $500 and $600 classes… not with what they’re offering me for wages.”

Shaner said that the hospital has proposed an approach “that keeps education dollars for our nurses here at St. Elizabeth versus paid to the union. We want to ensure resources are used effectively and transparently and in ways that support our nurses’ professional growth and strengthen the care we provide to our patients.”