|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
February 17, 2004NURSES STRIKE: NMH, union will meet MondayHospital says Teamsters wanted sessionByRecord-Eagle staff writer PETOSKEY - Northern Michigan Hospital management and the Teamsters agreed to another negotiating session, but neither side sounded optimistic about ending a more than 15-month nurses strike. The two sides will meet Monday, said Ted Iorio, attorney for Teamsters Local 406. Hospital and union negotiators met on Dec. 31 and Jan. 19 - the first contract negotiations since the strike began on Nov. 14, 2002. Hospital president and CEO Thomas Mroczkowski declared a "new impasse" on Jan. 20 after union officials rejected management's revised final offer. Iorio said NMH is being compelled to return to negotiations because the union threatened to file unfair labor practice charges claiming the hospital was not bargaining in good faith. "How can we have reached impasse?" Iorio said. "We haven't even put an economic proposal on the table, and they haven't answered all of our questions yet." Hospital spokesman Thomas Spencer confirmed that management was returning to the bargaining table "at the request of the union." Spencer said the union withdrew half of the contract provisions previously agreed upon in the January session, "leaving us farther apart than we were before." "We'll have to see what happens when we get back to the table," he said. "Maybe the union will have changed its position." Teamsters officials denied they withdrew previously agreed-upon contract points. They said they only clarified contract language. "Despite every sign that they are not going to bargain with us, we're going to go to the meeting and try to work out an agreement," Iorio said. "They haven't taken one positive step toward bringing this contract to a conclusion. But we remain ever-hopeful." Some 200 or more nurses remain on strike from the hospital, seeking improved pay and benefits, lower patient-to-nurse ratios and a greater say in patient-care issues. The work stoppage is the longest nursing strike in U.S. history.
|
|
