Fight Burnout! Beat Stress! Take your Breaks!
You Don't Get One? CLAIM YOUR MONEY NOW!
Union Proposes Break Relief Nurses
We are extremely passionate about quality nursing care and the nurse’s ability to provide it. The survey we did earlier this summer showed that the majority of us do not ever get our breaks because there is nobody to cover us and we feel guilty leaving our colleagues with extra patient load.
The bargaining team created the BREAK RELIEF NURSE PROPOSAL to provide the nurse with the ability to provide safe patient care and protect the nurse from physical injury, burn out and moral injury. Management has refused to acknowledge the toll missed breaks take on us and will not agree to this proposal. But we can win this if we fight for it. We need all our members to be involved in fighting for a fair contract.
Current Contract: Take Your Breaks
Here’s what is in our current Queen’s contract. PLEASE make sure you are documenting your missed meal breaks and late meals!!
When we don’t take our meal breaks, we don’t get paid, so we are working for free. The hospital is making money off of you not reporting your missed breaks and late lunches.
Studies show that when nurses miss breaks, their stress levels increase and that takes a toll on our bodies. If we don’t take our breaks, we can get injured, sick, and even make errors.
Here is what the contract guarantees now:
• 30 min lunch granted for everyone.
• If you take < 30 min lunch break taken, you are to be compensated in full for the 30 mins.
• If you work > 6 hrs into your shift without taking a lunch break, you are entitled to OT (1-1/2) rate for all time worked after the 6 hrs up until the lunch break.
Ex. If you work a 12 hr shift and start work @ 0700 and eat @ 1500 = 2 hrs OT.
• If you work > then your scheduled shift, a free sack meal is given @ Café Aloha. Ex 16 hr shift. Request this from the CN.
• All meal violations need to be documented under your name on the daily schedule and CN/mgr informed. Simply write “late lunch and the time you took it”. It is important to document so we can prove to management that we are missing our breaks.
15 minute break: Here is what the contract guarantees now:
• 15 min breaks allowed in each 4 hours of your scheduled work shift. If you work a 12 hr shift, you get 3, 15 min breaks.
• If no rest break is taken for each 4 hours allotted, you are entitled to OT (1-1/2).
-If 10 hr shift, you get 2 x 15 minute breaks and 1 x10 min break
• All break violations need to be documented under your name on the daily schedule and CN/mgr informed. Simply write: No 15 min break taken, in AM and/or PM with whatever # of breaks you missed.
Here is what we have proposed at bargaining for a Break -Relief Nurse:
11.3 A Break -Relief Nurse
A Break-Relief Nurse is a Registered Nurse who is assigned the role of relieving employees from their patient assignments for their rest periods and/or meal breaks. The Break-Relief Nurse shall not have a permanent patient assignment. Break relief nurses shall not replace the resource nurse on their unit (i.e Code Nurse, Resource Nurse etc) currently in place and should not be a part of each unit’s staffing matrix. Break nurses will be HNA bargaining unit members only.
The Employer and the Union agree that providing meals and rest breaks during the employee’s shift are important for health and safety. The Employer will ensure that managers maintain an appropriate meal and break release process to ensure each employee receives timely breaks on each worked shift.
Employees will not be disciplined or receive and recrimination by reporting missed meal periods or rest breaks.
(a.) Meal and Rest Period Coverage
1. The assigned break relief nurse will relieve the nurse of their assignment by receiving reports on their patients and relieving them of their phone immediately before a rest or meal period
2. The Break Nurse shall assume care of the individual assignments to bridge patient care gaps during rest or meal times.
New Technology to Replace Nursing at Queens?
When asked by the bargaining team why they do not want to improve staffing, management said they believe new technology can supplement staffing. They did not elaborate on what this means, but it could mean some kind of AI technology.
HNA: We want ratios in the contract.
Queens: We don’t want to put ratios in the contract because of developing technology.
HNA: What is that technology?
Queens: no response
The bargaining team asked again about staffing levels and was told they believe they are fully staffed.
Queens: We are close to par levels and we already staff by acuity. We are fully staffed.
HNA: Where? Is the ER adequately staffed?
Queens: no response
HNA: you have so many open positions– 60+ Full Time positions as of last friday. 100 jobs on the board.
Queens: we are committed to hiring those positions and have no barriers.