Aug 21, 2020   SOURCE: PR NewsWire

Mercy Medical Center Nurses and Supporters to Picket Outside Springfield Hospital August 24 to Fight Back Against Owner Trinity Health's Refusal to Bargain in Good Faith and Protect and Support Nurses

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Aug. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Mercy Medical Center represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association will join supporters for an informational picket on August 24 to bring attention to hospital owner Trinity Health's failure to respect the rights of nurses, listen to their concerns and support and protect them during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Informational Picket Info
When: Monday, Aug. 24 from 4 to 5 p.m.
Where: On the sidewalk outside Mercy on Carew Street in Springfield
How: Nurses, healthcare workers and community supporters will don masks and maintain responsible social distances as they picket. Media are welcome to attend and follow similar social distancing guidelines.

"Trinity Health barrels ahead with changes that negatively impact nurses and our working conditions while publicly praising its frontline workers," said Jaime Dorunda, RN and Co-Chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee at Mercy Medical Center. "Trinity has changed our schedules and hours and refuses to implement recommendations we make to protect staff and patients."

"Trinity's behavior is demoralizing after nurses and our frontline colleagues have worked hard to safely care for patients under extremely challenging conditions for months." said Alex Wright, RN and Co-Chair of the MNA Bargaining Committee at Mercy Medical Center. "They are not listening to nurses and healthcare workers on the front lines and are ignoring our concerns."

    --  Mercy Medical Center management and corporate owner Trinity Health are
        not respecting nurses by refusing to bargain in good faith and are
        making unilateral changes to RN schedules, hours and working conditions
    --  Trinity is targeting poor/unfair treatment toward more experiencing
        nurses and does not care about retaining them
    --  Trinity has ignored RN recommendations on protective equipment,
        staffing, and other safety measures during COVID-19
    --  Despite its enormous resources - Trinity earns $19 billion a year
        nationally and has received at least $600 million in COVID-19 relief
        money - Trinity cuts corners and refuses to support frontline staff,
        creating unsafe and unfair working conditions

MassNurses.org ? Facebook.com/MassNurses ? Twitter.com/MassNurses ? Instagram.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association