When we secured our first MNA contract in 2022, the hospital committed to maintaining the existing RN staffing grids and making good faith efforts to recruit or otherwise bring in nurses to staff to the grids. Through the life of our current contract, management cannot reduce RN staffing levels below the 2019 grids they provided to us during negotiations.
Without this language, Southcoast can and has reduced RN staffing levels elsewhere in the system. St. Luke’s is the only Southcoast hospital with such RN staffing protections. When management tried to reduce RN staffing levels in a unit at St. Luke’s after our contract agreement was reached, we successfully halted their attempt.
Below are the enforceable RN staffing grids for all St. Luke’s units.
If you experience a violation of these RN staffing grids, please take the following actions:
- Notify your nursing supervisor or your department manager, then complete an unsafe staffing report. You can fax paper forms to the MNA at 781-821-4445. These reports document hospital violations of our RN staffing grids and track in real-time any instance in which a nurse is forced to take an excessive patient assignment that “poses a serious threat to the safety and well-being of my patients.”
2. Unsafe staffing reports help us keep track of violations of our RN staffing grids. Have you had to repeatedly document violations? Is management also failing to post needed positions, offer shifts, or reach out to nurses for staffing help? Report these concerns to our St. Luke’s MNA Committee by emailing slhunion@gmail.com. We can file a grievance over the contract violation if necessary.
Please note: Non-RN staffing levels are not guaranteed in our MNA contract.
Additional details about this provision can be found in Section 16.1 Staffing of our MNA contract.
