by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Hospital union members voted to approve a contract between the union and UNM Hospital on Tuesday.
Eleanor Chavez, director of Local 1199 of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, said the contract is not completely satisfactory, but members of the union were ready to move forward after frustrating negotiations between the hospital and the union.
Margaret Trace, a nurse at the hospital, agreed.
"There were good aspects and not-so-good aspects in the final contract," she said.
Employees will get a 3.5 percent wage increase under the contract. Chavez said employees will also get paid 17 percent extra during the night shift.
Trace said the wage increase was not good enough.
"Many of us feel a 3.5 percent increase across the board isn't the best the hospital could have done," she said.
Steve McKernan, hospital CEO, said he was happy the union approved the contract.
"We're pleased that an agreement was reached, and ratified by the union," he said. "They affirmed what the negotiating teams agreed on."
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Chavez said one of the biggest issues during negotiations was that the hospital was severely understaffed. The hospital's negotiating team agreed to discuss staffing problems with the union at labor management meetings, she said.
Trace said she wanted the hospital to take more concrete measures against understaffing.
"We would've liked to seen more specific staffing language," she said. "We would've liked to see them more proactive about staffing levels."
Chavez said about 80 percent of the union voted to approve the contract.
The hospital and the union reached a tentative contract agreement on July 6, hours after about 40 union members picketed in front of the hospital. About 30 of them marched into McKernan's office to deliver a vote that said hospital employees were not confident in his ability to run the hospital.
McKernan said the actions taken by the union had no effect on the outcome of the negotiations.
"They've done informational picketing over and over and over," he said.
Trace said the overall feeling of the negotiations was hostile, especially because the hospital hired lawyer Robert Tinnen to handle the negotiations.
Chavez called Tinnen a union buster.
McKernan said the hospital did not hire Tinnen to try to remove the union.
"We hired him as a consultant for negotiations because he's an experienced negotiator," McKernan said. "We do not have a policy of trying to get rid of the union."
The contract did not address the union's concerns about a document called "Standards of Performance," which outlines how the hospital expects employees to act. Chavez called the document a loyalty oath.
The document states employees are expected to give good impressions of the hospital.
"We consider our customer's expectations in how we present our facility and ourselves. We have only one opportunity to make a positive first impression," according to the document. "This commitment is reflected in our ethics, appearance, manner, expression and concern."
Chavez said the document is open to interpretation by managers, so employees could have points taken off their annual evaluation for making negative statements about the hospital. She said that could include union picketing or venting to co-workers in the break room.
McKernan said the document does not imply that employees could be punished for saying negative things about the hospital. He said the hospital has an obligation to allow everyone to speak their minds.
"I'm an American. I believe in the First Amendment - the right to free speech," McKernan said. "I want it for myself, and I wouldn't want to take it away from anyone."
Since the contract did not deal with the loyalty oath, Local 1199 filed a complaint with hospital human resources, and is supposed to meet with them July 14 to discuss the problem, Chavez said.
Jill Taylor, director of employee labor relations at the hospital, said she could not comment on any problems with employee evaluations.
Chavez said she hopes the meeting will convince administration to remove any possible penalty for saying negative things about the hospital.
"They're going to be pretty dumb if they want to keep it in there," she said. "But they might insist on it - they've been pretty dumb in the past."
