WCVB gets the statement from State Police about an incident at the Logan Hilton early this morning at which Tufts Medical Center claims locked-out nurses and supporters threw coffee at a bus taking replacement nurses to the hospital: State Police say nothing was thrown and the protesters quickly and willingly dispersed when troopers told them to because they didn't have a permit.
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Just so I understand this
By E. Debs
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 4:45pm
Tufts can't afford to meet the compensation demands of their local staff so locks them out.
But Tufts can afford to fly in, hotel, and feed out of state replacement staff for their local locked out nurses.
Okay now. Boarding the next train to Crazy Town in 30 minutes...
When you're playing the long game,
By Bob Leponge
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 11:45pm
that's generally how it's done.
Playing the long game
By Dave-from-Boston
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 8:51am
Don't understand…what do you mean by that phrase?
Its an investment
By anon
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 10:17am
An investment in screwing down wages for a job that can't be automated even though they can afford them.
Likely also results in big $$ for their friends who "own" the "agency" that provides these scabs.
It does erode their cries of poverty, though.
At a guess?
By lbb
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 10:41am
The "long game" goes something like "Pay scabs a lot of money for a very limited time -- basically, the minimum amount of time they'll work for -- because you know that the nurses are only going to do a one-day strike with plenty of advance warning so you can get coverage, because you hope that paying high for a few days will let you continue to be a cheap fucker in the long run.":
At a guess?
By lbb
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 10:41am
The "long game" goes something like "Pay scabs a lot of money for a very limited time -- basically, the minimum amount of time they'll work for -- because you know that the nurses are only going to do a one-day strike with plenty of advance warning so you can get coverage, because you hope that paying high for a few days will let you continue to be a cheap fucker in the long run.":
LBB has it about right
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 11:12am
Looked at narrowly or transactionally, paying high prices for replacement workers is a bad deal. But if the corporation's objective is to reduce the negotiating power of this union and of unions in general, it's a good deal.
Duplicate post
By Bob Leponge
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 11:46pm
nm
Not to Take a Position But...
By anon
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 5:41pm
When you do the math just in terms of dollars it's easy to understand what management did. We're talking about replacements hired for five days, or roughly 1.4% of a year. Even if the cost of paying the replacements and their agency/ies, housing them at the Logan Hilton, feeding them, busing them to/from the hotel, etc. is five times the cost of what you pay the striking nurses for the five days of the lockout, you've only increased your annual cost for nurses by 5.6% for the current year. If the alternative is to roll over for an additional 5% annually for a, say, four-year contract, that's 20% of current-year wages (although the real NPV is somewhat less).
Of course there's a cost to poor labor relations as well as the institution's public perception but I have no idea how far apart the two sides were in the negotiation...
Interesting
By SwirlyGrrl
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 6:12pm
So our security masters are refusing to back up our corporate spokesheads.
Sounds like Tufts is going to go through a lot of gauze to cover all those scabs.
Security Masters!
By anon
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 8:21pm
Was tinfoil on sale today?
No
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 8:43pm
But it sounds like First Amendment rights to freedom of assembly were being sold off to the highest bidder.
I hope that you understand that the city has claimed in the past that a permit is needed for a gathering of more than three people.Does that sound right to you? They may have backed off of this, but it was a pretense to harass people in the mid-1990s.
My First Thought Was False-Flag Violence
By Elmer
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 9:57pm
An age old tactic to disparage any group is to commit violent acts in such a way as to imply blame to others. It is so uncharacteristic of nurses to deliberately cause physical harm to anyone, I found the initial account hard to believe.
Nurses are real-world Angels — relieving misery and saving lives no matter who their patients are. Nurses do things most other people would find unimaginable, yet have to be done. Doctors and nurses are the essence of health care and both should receive appropriate compensation. The Tuft's management is shameful for not recognizing what a precious resource nurses are!
Amen.
By Metoo
Sun, 07/16/2017 - 11:50pm
Amen.
The accusation was never
By Mr. Talky McTalkin
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 10:32am
The accusation was never directed at the nurse's union but the other unions that arrived to show support.
But it wouldn't be the first time violence erupted at a picket. Why do you think they hire the police for strikes?
In the old days...
By dd808
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 4:12pm
It was to bust heads!
RNs are VERY well compensated
By anon
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 6:38am
It's nurse's aides who do the thankless shit work.
Yes and no. The nurses
By guest
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 9:43am
Yes and no. The nurses aides work under the RNs, if anything goes wrong the RN (usually the charge nurse) takes the blame and is usually asked to resign or be fired.
Been there and seen it happen.
RNs do plenty of "shit work"
By bostnkid
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 10:17am
they also go to school and earn degrees, they also have a shitload more responsibilities and pressures then nursing assistants.
RNs are in short supply
By anon
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 10:18am
RNs also do the work that doctors used to do and have to have a lot of education and training that they pay for.
I'm curious why the demonstrators would need a permit, though
By Ron Newman
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 8:23am
Were they on public property or hotel property? If the former, I thought the First Amendment would protect the demonstration.
Well you're temporarily
By anon
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 8:49am
close public space from citizens who have an equal right to said space.
The U.S. Constitution does not apply to
By bulgingbuick
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 9:32am
union members.
Actually the MA SJC has said
By anon
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 11:31am
Actually the MA SJC has said in a few wacky rulings the federal constitution doesn't apply in MA where prohibited by MA law or the MA constitution.
Really?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 8:44pm
Care to share the case numbers/links to those rulings?
Being a nurse is not what it
By guest
Mon, 07/17/2017 - 9:39am
Being a nurse is not what it used to be. Some of the private places don't care if you leave. It is cheaper to hire new grads even if they only stay a year or two.
The pension jobs are less and less, they are trying to do away with them. The unions can only do so much despite all the union dues you pay.
I had to leave the profession sooner than anticipated due to concerns for my safety and the patients safety. It has been this way for a decade or two now....but it is getting worse.
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