After two months of meeting with Riverside Community Hospital management, and members preparing to strike over staffing, a team of Registered Nurse members of SEIU 121RN and Union staff successfully negotiated for six relief RNs to be hired and scheduled (3 day and 3 night shifts) seven days per week.

The Agreement States:

“The relief RNs will work with the sole purpose of providing lunch/break relief for RNs.”

Other Agreements:

The hospital will create new support positions that it is discussing with our sister Service & Tech Union to provide additional support to RNs.

Bid shift RNs will NOT be canceled if the cancellation would result in no coverage for lunches/breaks.

Upon receiving notice of a vacancy, management will make a good faith effort to initiate the position approval process and post such positions within 45 days after the approval process begins. Management will be trained within the next 30 days on this process to cut down on the posting time.

[caption id="attachment_5935" align="alignleft" width="300"]Our 121RN mediation team at RCH flexed our collective muscle! Back row, left to right: Carmen Sierra, ED; Jessie Ferguson, SICU; Yvonne Isidoro, 5th floor; and Lorraine Myrick, Peds. Front: Shelley Everly, 5th floor. Not pictured: Laura Shellerup. Special shout-out to Cheryl Gimenes for making this possible.[/caption]