PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The 2-year-old union local representing some members of the Berkshire Visiting Nursing Association continues to push for fair productivity standards and pay to preserve employees and quality of care.

 

The union reported that the BVNA, which is owned and operated by Berkshire Health Systems, has lost almost 30 permanent staff members since 2021, 90 percent citing an unsustainable work-life balance and many leaving for higher pay.  

 

The members, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, delivered a petition to Berkshire Health Systems President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz on Monday signed by 82 percent of its clinicians. On the horizon is another contract negotiation session and the health-care workers want to see a wage step scale and realistic productivity standards to address staffing losses.

 

BHS and the union have not been able to settle an agreement on both items but negotiations have been respectful, according to both parties.

 

"Our biggest, toughest issue is the productivity and the wages, which is typical but what is different about this time is that we have come way down on what we're asking for to the point that the productivity language is just basically what they ask of us today," co-Chair Tamaryn Clowdus explained.

 

"Because as we've been unionized we have been going back and forth, they have taken some of the pressure off of us of what they expect of us on a daily basis and kind of set a new standard of what we have to do in a day."

 

BHS Director of Media Relations Michael Leary recognized the employees' rights to organize and a willingness to continue civil negotiations.

 

"Berkshire Health Systems is committed to listening to the feedback of our valued clinicians, who are integral to our mission of advancing the health and wellness of everyone in Berkshire County," he said.

 

"We respect our employees' rights to organize, along with their rights to free speech and assembly. As always, we are committed to working with both our Berkshire VNA clinicians and the Massachusetts Nurses Association in good faith. We have been holding productive, respectful negotiations with the MNA for more than a year. We remain committed to negotiating in good faith, and we are confident that we will reach a fair and equitable agreement."

 

Unless new programs or procedures are enacted to make the work more efficient, the union would like their current productivity expectations cemented in the contract, Clowdus said. This balances the amount of time providing patient care and support and documenting.

 

She reported that nurses at Berkshire Medical Center make $6 to almost $10 more than BVNA clinicians and though they are not asking to be paid as much as the hospital workers, they would like a step-scale pay system to somewhat close that gap.

 

"If we continue to go without a step scale and the hospital continues with one, this wage discrepancy will continue to grow," Clowdus added.

 

"So we are not asking them to pay as much as the nurses at the hospital because we realized that would be too hard on the health system as a whole financially to suddenly have to come up with that but we are asking to have that fair step scale."

 

The BVNA is not planning on striking as long as BHS continues to negotiate.  Clowdus pointed out that striking in this industry not only withholds health care but also means that clinicians are not getting paid.

 

"So we decided that we would try to continue to push other ways," she said. "One is this petition to make sure management understands that this isn't just the bargaining committee asking for this, this is truly what all of the employees would like to see."

 

The agency had 1,748 hours of staff time available for care in 2021 and according to records, has lost 29 permanent staff members since.  

 

Over the summer, BVNA closed admission to many Berkshire County towns and had 1,382 hours of staff time available for care. The association will resume services for the affected towns but only has 1,206 hours of staff time available.

 

With the drop in permanent staff, there has been an increase in traveler staff, who are paid at a higher rate and come from out of the area.

 

The petition emphasizes the fact that the BVNA has experienced a significant loss of permanent staff since at least December 2021, destabilizing homecare service access and posing a serious risk to the continuity of patient care.

 

The clinicians voted to unionize in December 2021 and started negotiations for its first contract in early 2022. It includes nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, and social workers and has more than 40 members.