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RN, NP, MHS, and CRC Union Vision
We voted to unionize in order to demand the tools we need to do our jobs effectively. These include increased compensation, especially compensation for experience, adequate shift differentials, safer patient-to-nurse ratios, and hazard pay and protection of benefits during a state of emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
This past year, US News and World Report once again ranked McLean Hospital the “number one free standing psychiatric hospital in the nation." Our integrity, innovation, and dedication to high quality patient care have historically set us apart from other psychiatric facilities, but these values are difficult to uphold when morale among the nursing staff is at an all time low.
Chronic short staffing, unsafe patient ratios, low pay and differentials, frequent mandates, and a lack of support from senior leadership have taken their toll on the nursing staff who provide patient care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With constant mandates and patient ratios sometimes exceeding 10:1, burnout is inevitable. Overworked and understaffed, it is impossible to continue to provide the same level of high quality care which has made McLean Hospital what it is today.
As nursing staff, our chief concern is the safety and well-being of our patients. RNs, NPs, and MHS/CRC’s choose to work at McLean because of its reputation for excellence, but the hospital can no longer recruit or retain based on reputation alone. We have watched in dismay as our colleagues and experienced leaders have left for higher paying jobs, while our managers struggle to coax in new recruits with our meager compensation. The resulting shortages have left the units overworked and understaffed, impacting performance and patient satisfaction.
With the help of AFSCME Council 93, we are working to address these issues. We have chosen to affiliate with AFSCME because of their service-oriented model which provides us with maximum resources to engage in collective bargaining with hospital leadership.