Message from the President

Hello everyone. As we talked about in January, our contract is up in September, and we are expecting to go into contract negotiations at some point in the next few months. We’ve been talking about preparing for negotiations since late last year, but this month we’ve started preparing for real.

The LEB and HPAE staff reps met on four days this month to go through the contract section by section to identify areas for improvement. Among other things, we discussed areas where contract language is outdated, areas where contract language does not provide adequate protection for our members and our patients, and areas where we always want to fight for better, including pay and staffing. We put together bullet points on some of the changes we think we will want to make and started writing some of the simpler proposals.

But I want to be clear about one thing—this process doesn’t only belong to those of us who were in those four meetings this month. We have about 1,600 members, and we want our next contract to reflect the needs of everyone as much as possible. That’s why we are putting out a Contract Survey to better understand everyone’s needs and priorities. I am asking each one of you to take a few minutes to fill out the survey, and to take a few more minutes to peer pressure your fellow nurses to also fill it out for themselves. If you ever peer pressured your friends into smoking or doing drugs, here’s your chance to clear your conscience by making them do something slightly less fun but much more productive. If you were a preachy straight-edge type, I hope you’ll start preaching on this, because it’s worth it. If you’re wondering which one I was, you’ll have to find me and ask, but I’m not telling you until you do your damn survey.

I also want to remind everyone that our comrades at SOMC (HPAE Local 5138) are currently in negotiations for a new contract, with their contract expiring in April. I hope everyone will keep their eyes and ears open for opportunities to show them our support. To give you an idea of HMH’s approach to our staffing concerns, they told the 5138 bargaining team that those concerns are “HPAE propaganda.” Pricks. Anyway, Local 5138 should be posting negotiation updates to their webpage from time to time.

Upcoming Local 5058 Meetings

Please mark your calendars and try to attend meetings when possible. Any member in good standing is welcome at all meetings. Our next meetings are rep/contract action team meetings on Zoom on March 15th at 6p at 730p. Links to sign up will be sent out.

Also, our annual Local 5058 Education Day will be in person on Wednesday, May 7th. There will be a program including CEUs, so it will qualify for a paid conference day per our contract for full and part timers. Keep it in mind when figuring out your work schedule for May. Here’s a full list of Rep and General Membership meetings coming up between now and July:

Again, all members are welcome at any meeting! This is an excellent opportunity to stay informed, ask questions, and get involved in the direction of our union. We are actively looking for members to represent their departments as part of the Contract Action Team (CAT). With negotiations coming up this year, CAT plays a critical role in ensuring that our collective bargaining efforts are effective. Your involvement can make a significant difference as we approach negotiations!

2025 Contract Negotiations: Safe Staffing

One of our biggest priorities in contract negotiations this year will be to add real, enforceable staffing language to the contract, including mandatory minimum nurse to patient ratios and other language to ensure safe staffing. HMH has just kept putting off trying to fix the problem, because Bob Garrett doesn’t want to spend more money to ensure the hospital is providing safe care. It’s funny, because we asked ekam, the HMH AI chatbot, about safe staffing, and the bot seems to get it (check out the end of the newsletter).

But seriously, you don’t need us to explain why this matters – you know from your own experience how important this issue is. Short staffing has been hurting us and our patients for too long. The leadership of Local 5058 does not intend to let HMH kick the can down the road again this year, and we need all the members of Local 5058 with us showing how important this issue is. Use your Contract Survey to tell us what you think an appropriate ratio for your department is, and to detail any other issues that you think we should address in our contract proposals.

Also, please remember to fill out short staffing forms (PDF here with info on how to find the form) at any time when you feel staffing is unsafe – the form protects you, and we want to throw them in the faces of management at contract negotiations if they don’t take the problem seriously.

Some Notes on Disciplines and Grievances

Some general reminders: our contract provides “just cause” protections, meaning that the hospital can only discipline us for a good reason. The contract and the law also require that you be provided with a union rep for any investigatory or disciplinary meeting if you request one. You are legally protected if you respectfully refuse to answer questions until you are provided with a rep. The rep can be any union member, including a trusted coworker, unit rep, union officer, or union staff. Your rep can serve as a witness, ask questions of management, and push back if you are being treated unfairly. They can request a break to speak with you privately. You can find more information about just cause and Weingarten rights on the HPAE website.

Disciplines and related grievances make up a big part of the work of the LEB, and we do sometimes have success getting disciplines reduced or dropped altogether, either by making our arguments at the meeting where the discipline is issued, or through the grievance and arbitration process which is also detailed in our contract (Article 13).

HIPAA violations are one issue we have seen in some recent disciplines. Remember that HIPAA includes a “need to know” principle, meaning you should only access a patient chart for a legitimate job-related reason, i.e. when there is information that you need to know to do your job. The most obvious example of a legitimate reason is that you are directly involved in the patient’s care. There are other examples of legitimate reasons, but personal curiosity is not one of them! Modern EHRs, including Epic, are fully auditable, capable of tracking every click, every piece of every chart you view, and for how long. Don’t put yourself in a position where you might get in trouble if the hospital audits access to a chart.

Current Contract Highlight: PTO

Managers will sometimes conveniently forget that we are allowed to put in for PTO in certain situations, like on holidays, but we don’t want you to forget. Any union member is allowed to put in for PTO for a holiday on which they are scheduled to work, and it should be treated like a PTO request for any other day. In nearly all departments that are open on weekends, we are allowed to put in for PTO for weekend shifts also. There are exceptions for a small handful of departments where the staff work every third weekend and in exchange have agreed not to put in for PTO on weekends.

If you need a refresher on rules and deadlines for PTO scheduling, check out our contract, article 8.04G on page 39. If you have any issues, please feel free to reach out to [email protected].

A Conversation with HMH’s Ekam

How does ekam, the HMH AI chatbot (yes, they have a chatbot at chat.hmhn.org) think Bob Garrett should be spending the money he makes from the care we provide? Let’s find out…

Ekam on spending priorities

Ekam on staffing ratios