Our hospital is hemorrhaging Nurses. We learned that in a two-year period, 44 nurses left the hospital per year, and 26 new nurses were hired per year, for a net loss of 18 nurses per year. That may not sound like much, but our hospital employs roughly 99 RNs in positions covered by the union. If we continue to lose 18 nurses per year, in five-and-a-half years there will be zero nurses. That may sound like an extreme conclusion, but management’s neglect of the nursing staff is extreme and it’s no exaggeration to say we have a retention crisis. We have to stop the bleeding now.

Even management acknowledges there's a retention crisis.

To underscore how deep the problem goes, management expressed hesitation to extend education benefits to new hires out of concern that new hires would then leave and “take” that education with them. That’s how little confidence management has in its current ability to retain nurses.

Lucky for Prime management, we’re here to help save them from themselves. We presented a proposal for improving compensation so that RNs will be motivated to work at our hospital. Our patients require safe staffing levels, which requires Nurses to want to work at our hospital. Adopting our proposal would show that the administration respects and values Nurses’ contributions.

Member Voices

As Nurses, we have to be problem solvers. Unfortunately, we’re in the position of solving easily avoidable problems that management has created. Even they acknowledge that the hospital suffers from a retention crisis. Now they need to understand the retention crisis will continue as long as we’re one of the lowest-paying hospitals in the Valley. Our compensation proposal will help make our hospital more attractive to Nurses and help keep Nurses at the bedside caring for our patients.

Another major problem is our hospital’s security shortcomings. Coming in to work should not be a fearful experience. Our proposal on Health & Safety will enable Nurses to work our shifts confident and assured that we have a safe environment for providing patient care.

Homer Marmol, Bargaining Team Member
Med Surg

Gloria Mateos, Bargaining Team Member
CCU