Introducing Our New Labor Program Director

Maine Nurse, Feb-Apr 2004 by Leavitt, Steve

I would like to introduce myself to the nursing community of Maine. I have been active within Maine State Nurses Association for approximately ten years at both the local and state levels. While a member at the local level, I held the offices of president, vice president and treasurer. At the state level, I held offices as secretary, regional representative 5-6 (York & Cumberland County) and vice president.

I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in nursing through the RN to BSN program at the University of Southern Maine. I earned a diploma in Registered Nursing from Lawrence Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Massachusetts and a diploma in Licensed Practical Nursing from Youville Hospital School of Nursing in Cambridge. My wife and I relocated to Maine from Cambridge. My wife, Diane, is a Business Educator at Windham High School. We celebrated our 23rd anniversary this year. Diane and I have three children: James, Christopher and Jessica, ages 17, 15 and 13. Our boys attend Cheverus High School and enjoy this educational experience a great deal. Jessica looks forward to the opportunity to attend this fine school next year.

The reason I became active in my state association can be attributed to two factors. The first is related to the advice I received from a special colleague whom I fondly remember to this day. Most of us can recall that special mentor who impacted our careers. Mine was a nurse educator. This educator taught me both in a clinical rotation as well as a professional issues course. It was in this professional issues course that she shared with the class that two out every ten people was a nurse. She further stated could you imagine the powerful voice we, as nurses, could have if we came together and spoke as one. She then advised the students to become active within their state nursing organizations.

For me, this was a powerful realization and it helped launch my commitment to the betterment of the nursing field. The other factor was my first job in Maine. I was employed in an acute care facility. The direct care nurse did not have a voice regarding the nursing operations and patient care. Coming from a unionized facility in Massachusetts, this was unacceptable to me. I soon sought out an employer that was unionized. Furthermore, it was unionized with my professional state organization, the Maine State Nurses Association.

While working in the field of nursing I soon discovered that this advice, while true, would only work in a Utopian world of nursing. I soon discovered that all nurses do not possess the same interest. The mindsets that exist between the direct care nurse and the nurse managers/executives are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Although nurse executives would like to support the direct care nurses and patient needs, which go hand in hand, the nurse executives cannot. The lack of support is due to their administrative ties. The nurse executive becomes entrenched with management and becomes distanced from nurses' needs. The nurses' needs include, but are not limited to, thorough assessment performance. Let's remember that nursing is a unique profession. We treat human responses to potential or actual problems. In order to do this we need quality time with the patients.

Maine State Nurses Association has initiated bill LD 616, Safe Staffing RN/Patient Ratio. When passed, LD 616 will allow nurses to effectively provide safe quality patient care. LD 616 mandates hospitals to staff in such a way that nurses would be able to deliver safe quality patient care. Once this quality time is allocated, nurses will flock back to the patient bedside, thus solving the current shortage of working nurses. Why would any nurse or health care provider be against LD 616?

I applied for the position of Program Director because of my strong feelings and convictions regarding advocacy for nurses and patients. In order for the voices of direct care nurses to be heard, collective bargaining is the only choice. The Maine State Nurses Association members of our collective bargaining units have a strong voice. We are able to make our voices heard without chance of disciplinary action from the employer. For example, the Maine State Nurses Association, along with its supporters, were able to pass the first nursing-related mandatory overtime law in the nation. This was possible through the testimony from bargaining unit members, who could speak out without fear of reprisal.

The hospital administration, including the nurse managers/executives, will resort to many scheming tactics in order to prevent nurses from having a voice of advocacy for their patients. Administrations have been known to hire union-busting firms with claims that they hire them because managers need assistance in abiding by the law. This serration is contradicted by anti-union consultant's long history of unlawful conduct. Administration will pay these firm thousands of dollars. Where did these dollars come from? If these dollars were available, why didn't the hospitals improve the conditions prior to the threat of a union? The money spent on the union-busting campaign could have been better spent on hiring nursing staff and improving patient care. Nurses who have gone through the anti-union campaign can attest to the following short-term changes made by management and administration: