BY ANDY GARDNER

North Country This Week

MASSENA -- Representatives from the New York State Nurses Association union representing nurses at Massena Hospital say they don’t think St. Lawrence Health System is moving quickly enough to get a new contract in place.

Massena Hospital officials say they are in the process of starting negotiations and declined further comment.

Massena Hospital, formerly Massena Memorial Hospital, was taken over by St. Lawrence Health System on Jan. 1. MMH was owned by the Town of Massena, but the collective bargaining agreement didn’t transfer, said John Pollack. He is an upstate program representative for NYSNA. And along with that went the nurses’ ability to participate in the New York state pension program.

Regan Burns, a Massena Hospital registered nurse and president of the hospital’s NYSNA chapter, said they have several issues with St. Lawrence Health System.

"We were asked to give up our quality affordable health insurance we've had for years. They replaced it with a much lower quality plan we're required to pay higher deductible and higher rates monthly,” Burns said. Their old plan was through the NYSNA union and the new plan is Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Burns said SLHS also did away with staffing ratios established at MMH, which she says puts more strain on the nurses.

"Basically they adjusted the staffing ratios to suit their needs. Before we had set ratios,” Burns said. “There is no ratio, so they can give you as many patients as they think they can."

Pollack said although the nurses are eager to work and provide much-needed healthcare, it’s hard for them to do their jobs when they don’t know what they could be walking into each day.

"NYSNA is going to do everything in its power to protect healthcare in Massena and protect patient staffing and handling,” he said. “Nurses for sure are grateful for the opportunity to maintain employment."

He does not feel St. Lawrence Health System has been as eager to work with the nurses as they were with the Town of Massena and state Department of Health to take over the hospital.

"They're just not as quick as they would be with the town of Massena or when somebody needs a $20 million grant. They put us in a corner and lock us up a bit and say 'we'll get to you when we get to you,'" Pollack said. "One of these situations where instead of negotiating the impact of the closure … so the transition could be smooth for all parties involved, they terminated NYSNA's bargaining agreement and set their own terms and conditions beginning Jan. 1. With those terms and conditions they don't include provisions where at premium rates of pay to encourage volunteer overtime or coming in of a day off … a lot of things that could have been discussed prior to closure that could have provided an opportunity to secure a new contract without as much harm, or impact on patient care."

Burns claims the lack of a collective bargaining deal is leading to a high turnover rate among Massena Hospital nurses.

"Unfortunately with all the transition and lack of info throughout the transition, many people have left" "I would say easily 15 to 20 [nurses quit] … right when" MMH closed its critical care unit last year, she said. "It's not typical, and since we don't unfortunately have anything to offer at this point, such as a new contract or new benefits, we're not getting any nurses to come and stay … there’s no retention and no recruitment at this point."

Tina Corcoran, Massena Hospital’s senior director of public relations, said they are working on sitting down with the NYSNA negotiators.

“Massena Hospital is in the process of setting up dates to negotiate a new contract,” Corcoran said.

"What we're trying to achieve here, would be to bargain for a fair contract with St. Lawrence Health System that would be comparable to the benefits that were bargained in the former contract, which again, backing up to the whole point that had they given us any consideration, or courtesy … prior to the transfer, a lot of these items would have been addressed instead of coming up on a daily basis,” Pollack said.