Boston VNA Healthcare Professionals to Announce 7-Day Strike with Visit on July 15 to Board Chair at Luxury Tower in Fight for Improved Patient Care and Working Conditions

BOSTON, July 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 39 healthcare professionals (HCPs) of the VNA of Boston, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will announce a seven-day strike, planned for July 26 to August 1, when they visit the luxury Boston apartment tower of VNA Care Board Chair Rita S. Advani on Thursday, July 15.

The HCPs – physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and speech therapists – will attempt to deliver Advani a letter describing their challenges negotiating a first MNA contract with corporate owner VNA Care, which has offices in Worcester, Needham, and Danvers, and refuses to agree to key provisions around patient care conditions, health insurance and retirement security.

Strike Announcement Event
When: Thursday, July 15 at 5 p.m.
Where: Outside Harbor Towers Apartments, 65-85 E India Row, Boston, MA
What: Boston VNA healthcare professionals and their supporters will gather outside the luxury tower to encourage VNA Care Board Chair Rita S. Advani and other board members to help them reach a fair contract and avert the strike planned for July 26.

Established in 1886, VNA of Boston is the oldest organized VNA in the country. Its HCPs provide essential in-home care and recovery services to thousands of patients across Boston, Brookline, South Boston, Hyde Park, West Roxbury, Roxbury, Brighton, the North End, Chinatown, Quincy, Everett, Winthrop, Milton, Revere, and more. The medical needs of Boston VNA patients are varied and complex. They include post-surgical conditions such as total hip or total knee replacements; stroke; Parkinson's Disease; Multiple Sclerosis; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS); cardiopulmonary conditions; amputations; and post-trauma care (breaks, fractures).

Eighty percent of the HCPs turned out to vote on June 22 and voted 100% to authorize their MNA Bargaining Committee to call for a strike if necessary. The HCPs elected by their colleagues to represent them on the bargaining committee have determined a strike appears necessary to secure a contract and the critical staffing improvements their patients need. HCPs voted to authorize the strike after many months of negotiations and VNA Care creating significant roadblocks to a contract agreement.

A seven-day strike would interrupt care for hundreds of patients, families and their associated healthcare facilities, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. Boston VNA HCPs do not want to go on strike but have been forced to plan for a strike because VNA Care refuses to agree to essential contract provisions.

A main sticking point in negotiations is how patient assignments are handled:

• VNA Care refuses to safely limit patient care assignments given to HCPs on a daily basis.
• Excessive caseloads makes it extremely difficult for HCPs to provide the level of care patients deserve, especially patients who need complex treatments following hospitalization or surgery.
• Instead, VNA Care wants unlimited ability to assign cases to HCPs with no regard for the complexity of patient care requirements.

HCPs are forced to triage their patient assignments, leaving some patients waiting longer or ending up with less care than they deserve. When patients leave a hospital or outpatient clinic following surgery or the diagnosis of a complex illness, they increasingly rely on caregivers like the Boston VNA HCPs. The lack of enforceable patient care standards is a major problem for HCPs and their patients.

Additional roadblocks to agreement created by VNA care:

• VNA Care wants the right to increase health insurance costs or decrease coverage unilaterally. HCPs are seeking the same health insurance arrangement VNA Care has with its registered nurses so HCPs can count on accessible and affordable coverage for themselves and their families.
• VNA Care does not want to guarantee any retirement contributions for HCPs. The HCPs have proposed receiving the same 401K match as other network employees.
• VNA Care is proposing to cut sick time for newer HCPs, from 13 days annually to six, a change that would only force clinicians to work while sick and threaten the safety of patients. The agency is also proposing to reduce bereavement days.
• VNA Care refuses to agree to a wage scale that properly values the care HCPs provide and their increasing experience level as they continue to work for the agency. Wage scales are a standard in union contracts that provide for fair and transparent pay increases and help with recruitment and retention.

"We are dedicated to this process and getting a fair and equitable contract," said Rod Hemingway, MNA Co-Chair and an occupational therapist. "They have not respected us and have decided they just don't want to give us the predictability we need. A contract will give our members stability in our wages and benefits, so we can plan our lives and care for our children or family members. People want to grow roots down deep at the VNA. We want to care for our patients and make the agency the best it can be. When new staff come in, we want them to stay and become trusted, experienced healthcare professionals. There is no reason we can't be the agency of choice."

"It is frustrating that they are purposefully delaying our contract. They are coming to the table for show, not to make any progress, and are not even willing to give us equity with the nurses," said Nikki Ducey, a physical therapist and MNA Co-Chair. "Nurses agree the workload is the same and should be counted the same. We are all working together to treat the patients and for our own employer to value us differently, and really less than, is awful. We are looking for predictability and reliability. They want complete discretion. I have been here almost 10 years and they have taken so much away. They took away the retirement match and I have not had a raise in five years. To not know what those benefits will look like from year to year is very discouraging."

"We have been committed to our patients, to our union and to this negotiation process," said Debra Nowak, MNA Co-Chair and a physical therapist. "We stand in solidarity as we take all steps necessary to protect our patients and secure a contract that adequately supports and empowers our clinicians."

Background on BVNA HCPs and Negotiations

The HCPs voted to join the MNA as part of a National Labor Relations Board election in late 2019. The MNA also represents registered nurses working for the VNA of Boston, who have a separate contract.

In recent years, many hospital-based services for patients have shifted to in-home services, making VNAs and HCPs an essential and ever-expanding part of the American healthcare system. Hospitals now move patients back home faster than before as doing so reduces costs and opens in-hospital beds. This has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the region's at-home patient population as well as in the complexity of those patients.

However, the working conditions for the HCPs who care for at-home patients have not kept pace with environmental changes or the market, which is what prompted the Boston VNA's HCPs to unionize with the MNA. In December, the HCPs delivered a petition signed by 100% of members to the office of the VNA's CEO Todd Rose. The petition stated that they expect the organization to bargain with them in good faith for a first contract that is fair, equitable, and good for patients and members alike.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association

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