UPDATE: New L&M talks on Monday after locked out workers reject "attempted bribe" by managment

Unions representing nurses, techs file charges with federal labor board against Lawrence & Memorial management over bad faith negotiating tactics, terminating medical insurance

Locked out workers say no thanks to $700,000
L&M CEO Bruce Cummings

By Matt O'Connor

UPDATE: L&M administrators have agreed to come back to the table and resume talks. We believe a mutual resolution over our health service concerns is not only possible, but the best way to resolve the crisis of care impacting the community.

While the location has not been finalized, representatives of L&M Corp. have agreed to meet with our union's combined negotiating committee members at 1:00PM on Mon., 12/16.

On the question of whether talks would be "open" or "closed," we reached agreement on a proposal that our full membership be allowed to sit in with our negotiating committee. In place of direct discussions with the administration, the federal mediator will facilitate a "shuttle diplomacy" approach to exchanging proposals and counter-proposals between both sides.

This will allow for nurses and techs not on the committee to gain firsthand information, have their questions answered, and bear witness to this critically important process. 

New London - Lawrence & Memorial (L&M) Hospital administrators this week committed multiple violations of federal law in rebuffing efforts by the facility's healthcare professionals to resolve the crisis of care impacting their community. 

Their union's representatives have filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over "bad faith" negotiating tactics and the ongoing lockout, now in its 12th day. An additional charge is planned over an "offer" publicly announced yesterday by the hospital's spokesman that is provoking a strong response from the caregivers.

"The corporation's latest 'offer' is little more than an attempted bribe of our nurses and techs," said Kim Brault, a nuclear medicine technologist in L&M Hospital's nuclear medicine department, PET/CT center. "Instead of sitting down and talking to us so we can come up with a mutual agreement to end their lockout, they're trying to buy us out. It's an insult to us as healthcare professionals. What's worse, it's an insult to our community, because our patients and their families are standing with us," said Brault, a member of AFT Local 5051, the union representing the hospital's approximately 250 licensed practical nurses (LPNs), healthcare technologists and technicians.

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Brault's comments refer to an "offer" posted yesterday on a public website maintained by the hospital that included "ratification bonuses" if approved by next Monday. Language pertaining to patient care delivery concerns was unchanged from a proposal rejected by the combined negotiating committee for the two local unions whose members are now locked out. Additional proposals were also included that referred to wages, benefits, work rules and other issues not yet addressed in previous negotiating sessions with representatives of Lawrence & Memorial Corporation (LMC).

"This was never about money. This has always been about patient care," said Dale Cunningham, a registered nurse (RN) in L&M Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. "Our patients need us. A hospital that's relying on 'rent-a-nurses' can't pretend it's operating a high quality facility," said Cunningham, a member of AFT Local 5049, which represents approximately 540 RNs at the hospital.

Cunningham's comments refer to the caregivers' concerns over limited access and restrictions on delivery of care for the patients served by L&M and its affected subsidiaries during the lockout. Operating room (OR) procedures remain curtailed as of today, and medical doctors have canceled numerous scheduled surgeries since Monday. The facility's oncology (6.2) and overflow/training (3.6) units have remained closed since the lockout was imposed on November 30.

"We have a lot of questions for L&M's leadership about who's really paying to maintain their lockout," said New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio. "As a non-profit institution, L&M greatly benefits from New London by not being on our city's tax rolls. So the question is whether city taxpayers are subsidizing this lockout. That's no way to spend patient care dollars that we as New Londoners help make available for our community hospital," said Mayor Finizio.

The mayor's comments refer to the economic price tag for the corporation's lockout, which sources estimate at $2.5 million in the first week alone and expect will quickly rise. Unemployment insurance claims for the nearly 800 workers who have been without pay since November 30 are expected to be approved next week and will greatly inflate the corporation's costs. Union leaders also plan to seek backpay as restitution for the illegal lockout of its members, further adding to the tab for LMC's actions.