Better pay key factor in maintaining staffing, quality patient care
PEF on front lines in campaign to boost nurses’ pay, staffing
By LENORE BORIS, RN
Nurses consistently state that their primary focus is on delivering high-quality, safe nursing care to patients. Salary and benefits are secondary, they say. Or, as one nurse states, “monetary compensation is not at the top of my list. My care of residents is uppermost in my mind.”
Nevertheless, PEF nurses understand the close connection between pay and staffing. A nurse for the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) summarizes it this way: “In order to get adequate staffing, you need attractive salaries and benefits.”
Increasingly, PEF nurses, especially the more experienced ones, find state nursing pay lags behind that of the private sector. And, increasingly, the combination of poor pay and poor working conditions, is undermining the nurse staffing in state healthcare facilities.
HELP WANTED: Nurses
Take a look at the classified ads in any Sunday newspaper and you are almost sure to find plenty of recruitment ads for nurses. The demand for nurses continues to grow while the supply keeps shrinking. So, it’s no surprise that private healthcare employers are aggressively seeking nurses. Offers of bonuses, full-tuition reimbursement and enhanced salaries give these employers a clear edge over the state in recruiting nurses
PEF nurses report being canvassed by other employers. And more and more of them are enticed by the better pay and working conditions into leaving state service.
Pushing for pay upgrades
PEF was among the first to realize that state pay levels have not risen fast enough to compete for nurses in the dwindling labor pool, and that understaffing is already reaching critical levels in some state facilities.
Nearly two years ago, PEF began asking state agencies to support a reallocation of nursing titles to higher pay grades. So far, only DOCS is actively supporting it.
Recently, PEF submitted its arguments and evidence in support of the reallocation of some nursing titles to the state Division of Classification and Compensation.
But until all of the affected agencies support it, requests to reallocate multi-agency titles such as those for nurses have little chance of getting the necessary approval from the state Civil Service Department’s Division of Classification and Compensation and the state Division of Budget.
The union has repeatedly brought up nurse staffing and pay at both facility and statewide joint labor-management meetings.
Behind the scenes, PEF nurses report that their agency or facility directors of nursing privately support the need for salary improvements. Some of these managers have even asked local PEF leaders what they can do to help PEF nurses obtain a reallocation. PEF encourages them to tell their commissioners why the nurse reallocations will benefit their agency and the clients.
Meanwhile, many PEF nurses have written to their commissioners to request support for the upgrade.
State boosts differentials
But the news isn’t all bad. Immediate relief is on the way for some PEF nurses.
The state has announced that it’s boosting geographic differentials and recruitment pay for direct-care nursing titles in New York City and at Helen Hayes Hospital.
While these pay boosts do not result from union negotiations, they are a very important sign that the state Division of Classification and Compensation and the state Division of Budget have heard and are beginning to respond to PEF’s call for improved nurses’ pay and staffing.
These changes and improved pay and benefits linked to legislation and the new contract are significant steps toward more equitable treatment of state nurses and a more competitive edge in recruiting and retaining them.
No one understands better than PEF how far the state still has to go in improving nursing pay and conditions, and the union is moving ahead to press both the state executive and legislative branches for more improvements.
Currently, PEF activists are testifying about the dangers of understaffing at a series of state legislative hearings throughout the state.
Attrition,
layoffs have decimated state agencies
New PEF committee named to head full-staffing campaign
By SHERRY HALBROOK
PEF Vice President Joe Fox has been named by President
Roger Benson to head a new PEF Full Staffing Committee.
Also serving on the committee are:
• PEF Region 4 Coordinator David Stallone, a
vocational instructor at Auburn Correctional Facility and
PEF chair at the state Department of Correctional
Services;
• Christina Brady, a nurse 3 in Schenectady and PEF
labor-management chair at the state Office of Mental
Health;
• Gregory Case, a rehabilitation counselor 2 in
Utica and PEF Executive Board member;
• Doris Dodson, a nurse 2 in Stony Brook and PEF
Executive Board member;
• Willis Toms, a parole officer in New York City and
a PEF Executive Board member;
• Tom VanBrammer, a civil engineer 1 in Albany and a
PEF Executive Board member; and
• Teddy Vazquez, an employee at the state Insurance
Fund on Long Island and a steward in PEF Division 240.
While PEF has been fighting for full staffing of state
services for years, it has usually been on an
agency-by-agency basis. This new committee is intended to
bring a comprehensive and coordinated approach to that
effort.
“Full staffing is a top PEF priority, and I have
asked this committee to develop a plan that uses
legislative, public-relations, labor-management and other
tactics to achieve higher levels of staffing in many
state agencies that have been decimated over the years by
layoffs and attrition,” says PEF President Roger
Benson.
“We have had some success in adding staff to state
agencies over the last few years and stopping some of the
worst budget proposals to cut staff,” says Fox.
“In most cases, however, we have been unable to
galvanize the support necessary to ensure that all
current vacancies are filled in an expeditious manner. To
accomplish this goal, we need to do a better job of
documenting disruptions to services, backlogs and
especially the negative effects on the people who rely on
those services.”
Fox has already contacted PEF labor-management chairs at
all state agencies to ask for their help in gathering
data and documentation on staffing levels and associated
problems, as well as actions taken to correct them. They
are asked to provide this information by January 4.
“Only people who provide these services on the front
lines can provide this very necessary information,”
Fox adds. “The sooner we receive it, the more likely
we will be able to develop the next steps in time to
address the problem during the 2001 legislative session.”