Rank & File 21LOOK FOR BARGAINING UPDATE: INFO PICKET 8/18
Since receiving the economic counterproposal from Kaleida there has been an outcry from members and our bargaining teams. The time has come for action, we must show Kaleida we are United and unwilling to accept a concessionary contract or less than our patients deserve. Bring everyone you can: parents, children, friends, and neighbors to our picket on 8/18!
CNO PROCLAIMS BGH iS OVERSTAFFED
The Chief Nursing Officer at BGMC was recently quoted in a 15N morning meeting, two weeks ago saying that Buffalo General was OVERSTAFFED.
We do not wish to be accused of taking quotes out of context, however the CNO indicated that Buffalo General was overstaffed and that charge nurses should be going to charge nurse meetings. It is unclear where the disconnect is; nearly every department and unit have been chronically short staffed. Kaleida’s vacancy list has between 900-1400 open positions, and 350+ travelers filing in a few gaps. Clearly the word overstaffed should NEVER be used and is profoundly offensive to many!
In a hospital system that frequently sees RN assignments of 1 to 7, 8, or 9, and PCA / CMA assignments of 1 to 30:In a system that has the remaining employees doing the work of the 900-1400 vacancies without being adequately compensated for added job duties:In a system facing the worst healthcare shortage in history:In a hospital system that treats its employees with a
lack of respect coupled with lack of resources:
OVERSTAFFED IS NOT REALITY!
Increasing Number of Agency Personnel
Kaleida currently has over 350 agency travelers working in our hospitals with more coming each week. They are contracted with ProLink Staffing, and as published by the Buffalo News: expected to cost Kaleida over $90 million this year alone. There have been some instances of sub-par care, and as a reminder, there should be STARs reports filed if patient-safety or quality-of-practice is in question. Additionally concerning, the workforce supplier Huffmaster (who supplied Catholic Health with workers in October of 2021) has 22 open positions for “New York” including the follow job titles:
Allied Health ProfessionalsReceptionists / Unit ClerkCertified Occupational Therapy AssistantEnvironmental ServiceFood Service WorkerCytology TechHistology TechClinical Lab Scientist (MT / MLS / CLS)Medical Biller / Coder
Occupational TherapistPhysical TherapistPhysical Therapist AssistantCT Tech / X-Ray TechEchocardiographer TechMRI TechRad TechUltrasound TechReceiving Clerk
RegistrarRespiratory TherapistBoiler OperatorElectricianGeneral MaintenancePlumberSpeech Language PathologistSurgical / Scrub / OR TechRN
