Nurses Union cries foul
File complaint vs. Northern Inyo Hospital District.
Northern Inyo Hospital nurses represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have filed unfair practice charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), demanding that the Hospital District bargain in good faith over grievance and progressive discipline.
This according to a press release issued Thursday.
The release added, “Bargaining surveys showed overwhelmingly that a fair grievance procedure and the District’s Medical Leave policies are of great concern to nurses. These policies are linked because of the District’s practice of terminating sick employees after just 16 weeks of leave.”
In April, the Hospital District’s Board of Directors changed the Hospital’s grievance policy by eliminating the Board of Directors as the final decision makers in any termination appeal, and delegating the final determination to Hospital CEO Victoria Alexander-Lane.
The press release came on the heels of a Town Hall-type public meeting called for Wednesday night by Lynne Greer and Becky Taylor.
Where do we go now?
The above refrain was repeated so often at a citizens meeting held Wednesday night at Jill Kinmont Boothe school in Bishop that I felt like it was 1987 (Guns ‘n Roses).
The purpose of the meeting called by Lynne Greer and Becky Taylor and attended by 100 or so Inyo County residents was, essentially, to figure out how best to force the Northern Inyo Hospital Board to acknowledge employee and patient unrest and make some changes.
There were four talking points outlined on the agenda. 1.) Denial of access to the Board, 2.) Loss of physicians. 3.) Unionization of the nurses. 4.) A fear-based work environment where people are afraid to speak out publicly.
One person not afraid to speak out was Laurie Archer, an 8-year veteran of NIH who works in the recovery room. She said she’s never seen morale so low, and characterized the work environment as one of fear, intimidation and disrespect.
Ken Kilgore called the behavior of the CEO and Board “baloney.”
“There’s no empires,” he began. “This is Bishop. We live here because people are nice … nobody gets to tell us how to run things. We’re gonna change it … Unions are a good thing when management is tough. They’re not as tough as they think. They’re not gonna run us like that.”
Taylor said that thus far, citizens have been “completely shut out by the [NIH] Board of Directors.” She added that she feels the Hospital’s problems are identifiable at the CEO level and that if the current Board won’t replace the CEO or engage the public’s concerns, that it needed to be replaced via recall.
Here’s the Catch 22. Taylor said she was told that a request for placement on the Hospital Board agenda can’t come from a member of the public, but has to be generated internally.
Hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Mark Robinson urged those in attendance to seek out what the other side has to say, but when asked what he would do to get the administration to engage, he said, “Well, I guess you ask them.”
When it was suggested that people attend next week’s Board meeting on June 17 at 5:30 p.m., Robinson warned that nothing can be discussed at the meeting that’s not on the agenda. Further, he said, the Board chambers are pretty tiny so … if they end up kicking some people out, it’s because of fire code regulations.
How convenient.
Where do we go now? repeated Greer.
They went where so many have gone before them – a few people raised their hands and they formed a committee.
It became clear to me as I sat there what the business model apparently is. Very modern. Very corporate. Eliminate some staff. Squeeze the remaining employees. And then, via the LAF(ias)CO, make up an excuse to drive off your competition, because how can you compete once you’ve cannibalized yourself?
No small embarrassment
This is one of those only in Mammoth moments.
I get a press release last week regarding the 4th of July parade and I’m appalled to learn that the theme of the parade this year is not liberty, freedom, etc. Nope. The theme is “No Small Adventure,” the marketing slogan currently used by Mammoth Lakes Tourism.
Maybe we should get someone to ride a horse at the front of the parade shouting bastardized patriotic slogans such as “Give me TBID or give me death.” Or “Don’t fire until you’ve got the numbers on their credit cards.” Or, and Katie just lobbed this one in, “My country ‘tis of knick-knacks and bath lotions, sweet land of self-promotion.”
“Oh say can you sell?”
