By Matt O'Connor
Today, nurses and techs showed up as
agreed to last week to resume talks to end the lockout of nearly 800 caregivers
by the corporation that operates L&M Hospital. But at 1:00PM, their
representatives were a "no-show," making good on a threat made
yesterday to refuse to meet unless talks were restricted to our union’s
negotiations committee.
It's bad enough that we came ready
to work toward a resolution and managers stayed home. Before the talks were
even scheduled to start, they spun another story in a "Fast Blast"
email message to other corporation employees.
The communication, sent before
10:00AM, falsely claimed "the negotiation session scheduled for today has
been canceled by the unions' negotiating team."
This deception is the latest example of why it is unacceptable to allow the corporation to keep its employees out of the room during what should be an open, transparent process.
What these managers don't get is
that they have created -- and are continuing to perpetuate -- a climate of
mistrust among the hospital’s caregivers and the entire community.
That's why today we placed an
"open letter" in The Day to the board of directors appealing for them
to take action.
It is imperative that the board get
their CEO and hospital managers to end the lockout, return these caregivers to
their patients' bedside, and restore the community's trust in their community
hospital.
The time is now to act. Every day
that passes without a resolution is another day of compromised care for this
community.