nurseThe Newsletter of the Massachusetts Nurses Association n Vol. 82 No. 4 Staff Nurse Assembly: Advocating for patients and our practice June/July 2011 St Vincent Hosptal, Worcester For the latest news: massnurses.org Nurses’ Guide to Single Payer Health Care Health care costs and the needless attack on public sector employees nurse From the April 27 edition of Mass-Care budget, consumes almost all of municipali- ISSN 0163-0784: USPS 326-050 In late spring, the Massachusetts House of ties’ new revenue each year, and we are getting Representatives passed a budget that would literally nothing for our new spending each President: Donna Kelly-Williams, ‘09–‘11 allow cities and towns to strip public employees year. A single payer plan for Massachusetts, Vice President: Karen Coughlin, ‘10–‘12 Secretary: Rosemary O'Brien, ‘09–‘11 of their right to bargain over health care ben- which is not experimental and has been tried Treasurer: Ann Marie McDonagh,‘10–‘12 efits. This is tragic for three reasons: and proven around the globe, would save the First, it is not true that public employees state between $1.5 and $2 billion according Regional Directors, Labor: enjoy better wages and benefits than the rest to estimates from UMass economist Gerald Region 1: Ann Lewin, ‘09–‘11; Sandra Hottin, ‘10–‘12 Region 2: Patricia Mayo, ‘09–‘11; Ellen Smith, ‘10–‘12 of us. Compared with private employees with Friedman. This would close our budget defi- Region 3: Karen Gavigan, ‘09–‘11; Donna Dudik, ‘10–‘12 the same education level, public workers have cit. Municipalities, like all other employers, Region 4: Patricia Rogers Sullivan, ‘09–‘11; Tiffany Diaz better benefits but lower wages. This trade-off would pay a 7.5 percent payroll tax, and would Bercy, ‘10–‘12 turns out to apply to all of us: the econom- not have to face rising health care premiums Region 5: Dan Rec, ‘09–‘11; Barbara Tiller, ‘10–‘12 ics literature has found that employers do not ever again. Almost all municipalities cur- Directors (At-Large/Labor): pay for any health care costs, but rather pass rently spend upwards of 15 percent of payroll Beth Amsler, ‘10–‘12; Colette Kopke, ‘09–‘11; Kathie Logan, these costs on to employees in the form of lower on health care costs—the city of Boston, for ‘09–‘11; Kathy Metzger, ‘09–‘11; Diane Michael, ‘10–‘12; wages. When the country goes through periods example, spends about 20 percent. Marie Ritacco, ‘10–‘12 ; Colleen Wolfe, ‘09–‘11 of rapidly climbing health care costs, real wages Lastly, although you have all heard a lot of Directors (At-Large/General): stagnate or decline. In fact, almost all of the rhetoric about public employees having lavish Fabiano Bueno, ‘10–‘12 ; Gary Kellenberger, ‘10–‘12; stagnation in lower- and middle-class wages benefits paid for by taxpayers (which we have Katie Murphy, ‘10–‘12; Ginny Ryan,‘10–‘12; Paula Ryan, is due to our health care system producing just disproven—public employees are paying for ‘09–‘11; Nora Watts, ‘09–‘11 out-of-control costs. Unionized workers just their own benefits with lower wages), remember have the luxury, if you can call it that, of trad- who pays for most tax revenue: rich people! Mas- Labor Program Member: Gloria Bardsley, ‘09–‘11 ing better health coverage for their families in sachusetts has a flat income tax, which means it exchange for lower wages than private sector is not as progressive as the federal income tax, Executive Director: Julie Pinkham workers receive for the same work. If the House but still—because income inequality is so high Managing Editor: David Schildmeier budget were to become a reality, it is likely that in Massachusetts—a very large share of our total Editor: Jen Johnson Production Manager: Erin M. Servaes municipal employees who have been sacrificing tax revenue comes from high income house- Photographers: Amy Francis, Charles Rasmussen wages for years to retain health care coverage, holds paying their share. When we shift costs will lose both and fall behind their private- from tax revenues on to patients, which is what Mission Statement: The Massachusetts Nurse will inform, sector counterparts. the state is proposing by cutting coverage for educate and meet member needs by providing timely infor- Second, none of this is necessary. We are public workers, we are also making our health mation on nursing and health care issues facing the nurse in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Through the editorial the only country in the world with health care care financing much more regressive, and letting voice of the newsletter, MNA seeks to recognize the diver- costs as high, and growing as rapidly, as ours. high-income earners off the hook. sity of its membership and celebrate the contributions that In exchange for our high and rapidly rising To read more about the reality of public members make to the nursing profession on the state, local costs, we actually get worse health outcomes employees’ benefits and wages, visit peri.umass. and national levels. and extraordinarily poor access to needed edu/fileadmin/pdf/working_papers/working_ Published 10 times annually, in January, February, March, n care. Health care is now about half of the state papers_201-250/WP233.pdf. April, May, June, July/August, September, October and On average, state and local November/December by the Massachusetts Nurses Asso- government employees in ciation, 340 Turnpike Street, Canton, MA 02021. New England earn more Subscription price: $25 per year. Foreign: $30 per year than private-sector work- Single copy: $3.00 ers. But, state and local Periodical postage paid at Canton, MA and additional mail- workers are also, on aver- ing offices. age, older and substantially Deadline: Copy submitted for publication consideration better educated than pri- must be received at MNA headquarters by the first day of the vate-sector workers. When month prior to the month of publication. All submissions are state and local government subject to editing and none will be returned. employees are compared Postmaster: Send address corrections to Massachusetts to private-sector workers Nurse, Massachusetts Nurses Association, 340 Turnpike with similar characteris- Street, Canton, MA 02021. tics—particularly when workers are matched by age and education—state and local workers actually earn less, Contact [email protected] with comments or questions. on average, than their private-sector counterparts. The wage penalty for working in the www.massnurses.org state and local sector is particularly large for higher-wage workers. Taking benefits into account reduces , but does not eliminate, the wage penalty for state and local workers. Source: “The Wage Penalty for State and Local Government Employees in New England.” Political Economy Research Institute. Thompson and Schmitt; Sept. 2010. 2 June/July 2011 Massachusetts Nurse Executive Director’s Column Are you owed overtime pay? By Julie Pinkham payment allowed avoid litigation, are aiming to implement com- MNA Executive Director under the law. puterized time systems. As part of this effort, Recently you may have received a letter from If there are sev- hospitals may propose to utilize a rarely used the law firm of Thomas & Solomon LLP solicit- eral instances of “in between” category of moving nurses to ing you to join a lawsuit against your employer RNs not being exempt status, but with the right to still receive for unpaid wages, especially those for missed provided unin- overtime. This can be done for professionals meal periods. terrupted meal who work greater than 20 hours and make more As a member of an MNA bargaining unit, periods or not being than a certain weekly amount. Currently, there your contract provides you with the right to be paid for missed are no MNA facilities using this system and as paid for overtime work and work beyond your meal periods, then a result, it is unchartered territory in terms of daily, regularly scheduled hours. As an hourly, the bargaining unit its implications to bargaining unit members. non-exempt paid professional, we urge you to should consider Julie Pinkham Moreover, at least half of MNA hospitals cur- use the grievance and arbitration process to filing a class action rently have computerized time systems, many assert your claim for overtime pay because, grievance for missed meal breaks. This gives if the MNA prevails on your claim, you will the MNA the right to obtain payroll informa- We urge you to use the receive the full pay due to you. However, if tion to prove the contract violation and get grievance and arbitration you join the lawsuit any settlement will deduct the RNs the pay they deserve. It is therefore attorney fees, be limited to those in the class important that you contact your local MNA process to assert your claim eligible for the settlement, and you will likely committee if you believe you are not receiving for overtime pay because, receive only a portion of the wages due to you, proper overtime pay or your breaks as required if the MNA prevails on your not the full amount for non-paid wages. by law and your contract. Hourly, non-exempt wages require, in part, It is also extremely important that you per- claim, you will receive the full that during each shift in which you are sched- form your work while on duty. You may feel pay due to you. uled to work more than six hours, you have the direct or indirect pressure from the employer right to an uninterrupted 30-minute meal break. to not work beyond your scheduled shifts if it of which include benefit/accrual payroll sys- This means that you are free to leave the unit, do will result in overtime, yet you may need more tems.