Alameda Health System agrees workers won’t have to use vacation time if infected treating COVID-19 patients and forced to self-isolate
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OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 26: Alameda Health System nurses, doctors and workers hold signs during a protest in front of Highland Hospital on March 26, 2020 in Oakland, California. Dozens of health care workers with Alameda Health System staged a protest to demand better working conditions and that proper personal protective equipment be provided in the effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
By DYLAN BOUSCHER | dbouscher@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
March 29, 2020 at 5:45 a.m.
This story is available to all readers in the interest of public safety.
Frontline workers at Alameda Health System won a significant concession from top management after demanding changes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Hours after holding a protest outside Highland Hospital in Oakland, a public safety net facility that sees patients regardless of their insurance status, the nurses were assured they won’t have to use vacation time if they become infected at work. The unionized nurses at Alameda Heath System confirmed a key victory on Twitter on Thursday.
The group earlier in the day had been protesting staffing issues and supply shortages at the facility.
Among the staffing issues raised was the practice of nurses not being compensated if they became ill after attending to patients with COVID-19 and having to use vacation time for days spent self-isolating.
Two hours after the workers rallied, CEO Delvecchio Finley announced the hospitals would pay workers exposed to the virus on the clock, according to John Pearson, an emergency room nurse at Highland Hospital. The hospitals will start compensating exposed workers on April 1. But at least two employees exposed before then, an ER tech and nurse at Highland, will not lose vacation time for days spent self-isolating, Pearson said.
“This win is really meaningful to us because it shows that what we’re doing is working and that it’s going to take pressure of workers sticking together just to keep the public safe,” Pearson said. “I’m worried that if we don’t have strong state and federal level resources coming in extremely quickly and on a big scale, that we are not going to be ready for this and the death toll is going to be a lot bigger than it needs to be.”
But the sick time victory proved to be a little hollow on Friday when AHS laid off one of two clinical nurse specialists responsible for teaching health care providers new equipment and techniques.
CEO and Chief Nurse gave our ONLY ER Nurse educator a lay-off notice & are trying to force her into a non union job that’s much worse, exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to water down our training. *PUT THEM ON BLAST:* dfinley@alamedahealthsystem.org jmcinnes@alamedahealthsystem.org pic.twitter.com/THQLRDBHuG
— John Pearson RN (@OaklandNurse) March 27, 2020
Management at the hospitals did not immediately respond to comment.
Negotiations between the union and AHS leaders continue on a contract originally set to expire Tuesday, but an agreement was reached on a one month extension. Health care workers asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to retake control of and management over AHS, arguing not doing so could worsen the pandemic outbreak.
Pearson, the chapter president for SEIU Local 1021, the union representing approximately 3,600 Alameda Health System workers at four hospitals and three clinics across the East Bay, has spent the last several weeks asking local and state officials via Twitter to send more personal protective equipment to the facilities.
He said community donations of disinfecting wipes, disposable N-95 masks and gowns, though appreciated, are not enough at Highland, where Pearson said hand sanitizer is also running out, contradicting management reassuring workers there is enough available.
Beyond the statewide lack of medical gloves, gowns, masks and shields, Alameda Health Systems workers raised concerns about a shortage of PAPRs, filtered masks worn by patients undergoing COVID-19 treatment. Two days before the Highland Hospital rally, the union organized a fundraiser on GoFundMe to purchase five more on top of the three the system already owned.
San Leandro Hospital workers said AHS issues are not exclusive to Highland.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 26: Alameda Health System nurses, doctors and workers hold signs during a protest in front of Highland Hospital on March 26, 2020 in Oakland, California. Dozens of health care workers with Alameda Health System staged a protest to demand better working conditions and that proper personal protective equipment be provided in the effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
By DYLAN BOUSCHER | dbouscher@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
March 29, 2020 at 5:45 a.m.
This story is available to all readers in the interest of public safety.
Frontline workers at Alameda Health System won a significant concession from top management after demanding changes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Hours after holding a protest outside Highland Hospital in Oakland, a public safety net facility that sees patients regardless of their insurance status, the nurses were assured they won’t have to use vacation time if they become infected at work. The unionized nurses at Alameda Heath System confirmed a key victory on Twitter on Thursday.
The group earlier in the day had been protesting staffing issues and supply shortages at the facility.
Among the staffing issues raised was the practice of nurses not being compensated if they became ill after attending to patients with COVID-19 and having to use vacation time for days spent self-isolating.
Two hours after the workers rallied, CEO Delvecchio Finley announced the hospitals would pay workers exposed to the virus on the clock, according to John Pearson, an emergency room nurse at Highland Hospital. The hospitals will start compensating exposed workers on April 1. But at least two employees exposed before then, an ER tech and nurse at Highland, will not lose vacation time for days spent self-isolating, Pearson said.
“This win is really meaningful to us because it shows that what we’re doing is working and that it’s going to take pressure of workers sticking together just to keep the public safe,” Pearson said. “I’m worried that if we don’t have strong state and federal level resources coming in extremely quickly and on a big scale, that we are not going to be ready for this and the death toll is going to be a lot bigger than it needs to be.”
But the sick time victory proved to be a little hollow on Friday when AHS laid off one of two clinical nurse specialists responsible for teaching health care providers new equipment and techniques.
CEO and Chief Nurse gave our ONLY ER Nurse educator a lay-off notice & are trying to force her into a non union job that’s much worse, exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to water down our training. *PUT THEM ON BLAST:* dfinley@alamedahealthsystem.org jmcinnes@alamedahealthsystem.org pic.twitter.com/THQLRDBHuG
— John Pearson RN (@OaklandNurse) March 27, 2020
Management at the hospitals did not immediately respond to comment.
Negotiations between the union and AHS leaders continue on a contract originally set to expire Tuesday, but an agreement was reached on a one month extension. Health care workers asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to retake control of and management over AHS, arguing not doing so could worsen the pandemic outbreak.
Pearson, the chapter president for SEIU Local 1021, the union representing approximately 3,600 Alameda Health System workers at four hospitals and three clinics across the East Bay, has spent the last several weeks asking local and state officials via Twitter to send more personal protective equipment to the facilities.
He said community donations of disinfecting wipes, disposable N-95 masks and gowns, though appreciated, are not enough at Highland, where Pearson said hand sanitizer is also running out, contradicting management reassuring workers there is enough available.
Beyond the statewide lack of medical gloves, gowns, masks and shields, Alameda Health Systems workers raised concerns about a shortage of PAPRs, filtered masks worn by patients undergoing COVID-19 treatment. Two days before the Highland Hospital rally, the union organized a fundraiser on GoFundMe to purchase five more on top of the three the system already owned.
San Leandro Hospital workers said AHS issues are not exclusive to Highland.
“I have witnessed the deficiencies of Alameda Health System management, ranging from utter indifference to patient safety to a blatant disregard for their frontline healthcare workers,” Mawata Kamara, an ER nurse in San Leandro, said in a news release. “Any calls for accountability and transparency has been met with silence. It’s clear to us as frontline workers that a systemic change needs to happen immediately if we want to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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